: SUPERIOR COURT

GWENDOLYN SAMUEL JUDICIAL DISTRICT OF HARTFORD

SHKEIA DICKERSON
LYNDA FAYE WILSON

v

DANNEL P. MALLOY : September 15, 2014
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION,
COMMISSIONER PRYOR


COMPLAINT



A. PARTIES:
1. Plaintiff Gwendolyn Samuel, is an African American parent and, at all
relevant times, the natural guardian of school age children that attend Meriden
Connecticut Public Schools and is a citizen of Connecticut, who currently, and at all
times relevant hereto, resides in Meriden Connecticut.
2. Plaintiff Lynda Faye Wilson, is an African American great grandmother
and, at all relevant times, the legal guardian of school age great grandchild that
attend New Haven Connecticut Public Schools and is a citizen of Connecticut, who
currently, and at all times relevant hereto, resides in New Haven Connecticut.
3. Plaintiff Shkeia Dickerson is an African American parent and, at all
relevant times, the natural guardian of school age children that attend Meriden
Connecticut Public Schools and is a citizen of Connecticut, who currently, and at all
times relevant hereto, resides in Meriden Connecticut.



4. The Defendant, Dannel P. Malloy, is and was at all relevant times,
Governor of the State of Connecticut, Pursuant to Article Fourth, 12, of the State
Constitution, he must ensure that the laws are faithfully executed. Pursuant to Conn.
Gen. Stats. 3-1, he is authorized to investigate and take proper action concerning
any matter involving the enforcement of the laws of the State and the
protection of all its citizens. Under Conn. Gen. Stats. 10-1 and 10-2, he is
responsible for appointing impartial members of the State Board of Education. He is
further responsible for receiving a detailed statement of the activities of the
impartial State Board of Education and an account of the conditions of the public
schools and such other information as will assess the true conditions, progress and
needs of public school children within Connecticut. Conn. Gen. Stats. 10-4.
5. The defendants, members of the State Board of Education; or their
successors; Pursuant to Conn. Gen. Stats. 10-4a, have general supervision and
control of the educational interests of the State. Pursuant to Conn. Gen. Stats. 10-4c,
they are responsible for preparing a comprehensive plan for the States public
schools to ensure suitable and substantially equal educational opportunities are
provided to all public school children in Connecticut.
6. The defendant Stefan Pryor, or his successor, is the Commissioner of
Education of the State of Connecticut, a member of the State Board of Education, and
the director of the Department of Education. Pursuant to Conn. Gen. Stats. 10-2 and
10-3a, he is responsible for carrying out the mandates of the Board of Education.

7. The defendants, members of the State Board of Education; or their
successors; Pursuant to Conn. Gen. Stats. 10-4a, have general supervision and
control of the educational interests of the State. Pursuant to Conn. Gen. Stats. 10-4c,
they are responsible for preparing a comprehensive plan for the States public
schools to ensure suitable and substantially equal educational opportunities are
provided to all public school children in Connecticut.
B. JURISDICTION AND VENUE:
8. The plaintiff bring this action and invoke the jurisdiction of this court
pursuant to article first, 8, and 20, as amended, and article eighth, 1, as amended,
of the Connecticut Constitution, as well as the due process and equal protection
clauses of the Connecticut Constitution and the U.S. Constitution, and Connecticut
General Statutes 10-220, as well as Connecticut Coalition for Justice in Education
Funding, Inc., et al, v. Governor Jodi Rell, et al, 295 Conn. 240, 254, 990 A.2d 206
(2010); Sheff v. O'Neill, 238 Conn. 1, 45-46, 678 A.2d 1267 (1996).
9. The plaintiff also invoke the jurisdiction of this court pursuant to their
civil and due process rights under 42 U.S.C. 1983 and the fifth and fourteenth
amendments to the U.S. Constitution and article first, 8, and 20, as amended, of the
Connecticut Constitution.
C. NATURE OF THE CASE:
10. The case is in the nature of a complaint for damages against the
defendants for violation of the plaintiffs Constitutional, statutory, civil, and common
law rights to the upbringing and education of their children, equal protections and to
equal representation on the State Board of Education by the appointment of Erin D.
Benham, President of the Meriden Federation of Teachers and Executive Committee
Vice President of the Connecticut American Federation of Teachers.
11. Denying Plaintiffs common law rights to the upbringing and education
of her children, by delaying critical aspects of a teacher evaluation system needed to
ensure that their public school children, that attend four out of three hundred and
fifty low performing schools in Connecticut, have access to effective teachers with the
knowledge and skills necessary to support high standards of learning.
12. Based on research by the United States Department of Education, an
ineffective teacher on students is enormous. Even when they are well-intentioned, as
most teachers are, such ineffective teachers have an enduring and negative effect on
the lives of their students.
13. Current teacher tenure, seniority and last in first out deny Plaintiffs
common law rights to the upbringing and education of her children by preventing
school administrators from prioritizing- or even meaningfully considering-the
interests of their students in having effective teachers when making employment
and dismissal decisions. Especially within the three hundred and fifty low
performing schools identified by the State Department of Education as not making
adequate progress in core subject areas reading and math at a whole school level by
forcing these critical decisions to be made primarily or exclusively on grounds other
than students' need, for effective teachers, and therefore perpetuating the
employment within the school system of a number of ineffective teachers who do
not serve students' needs and who, in fact, have a substantially negative impact on
students' education, these laws infringe upon the Plaintiffs parents common law
rights to the upbringing and education of her children.
D. FACTS IN SUPPORT OF CLAIMS FOR RELIEF:
14. Constitutional Educational Rights: The State Constitution guarantees
that every child is provided a substantially equal educational opportunity in its free
public elementary and secondary schools regardless of the childs town of residence
and that this court has a role in ensuring that our states public school students
receive that fundamental guarantee.
15. In addition, on March 22, 2010 the state Supreme Court ruled that
Connecticut school children are guaranteed an adequate standard of quality in their
public schoolthe state constitution requires "that the public schools provide their
students with an education suitable to give them the opportunity to be responsible
citizens able to participate fully in democratic institutions, such as jury service
and voting, and to prepare them to progress to institutions of higher education, or to
attain productive employment and otherwise to contribute to the state's economy
16. The defendants have ultimate responsibility for Connecticut schools
that cannot be delegated
17. Per Teacher Union request, the Governor of Connecticut and State
board of Education has delayed comprehensive critical teacher evaluations for
several years since 2010.
18. The Connecticut American Federation of Teachers (AFT) has over
29,000 members, which allows for undue influence over the State Board
of Education decision making process. The national American Federation
of Teachers (AFT) represents over 850,000 members which give Meriden
AFT President Erin D. Benham access to unlimited resources and political power to
influence decisions at the State Board of Education as opposed to the low-income
students and their parents that attend over three hundred failing schools in
Connecticut that are eligible for free and reduced lunch based on their income.
19. Connecticut American Federation of Teachers has a documented
history of opposing Parents, especially parents of color, special need parents and
impoverished families, as they advocate and exercise their legal power to ensure
their kids have access to safe and high quality schools. One example of aggressive
opposition was by AFT CT holding national trainings on How to Diffuse Connecticut
Parent Trigger with language such as Kill Mode
http://rishawnbiddle.org/outsidereports/aft_parentpower_guide.pdf
20. According to the latest round of campaign finance reports, in addition
to the $6.2 million that Connecticut taxpayers gave to pay for Governor Malloys re-
election campaign via Connecticuts Public Financing Program;
21. The American Federation of Teachers has used union dues to donate
$10,000 to Governor Malloys campaign via the Connecticut Democratic State Central
Committee and $250,000 to support Governor Malloy through the new Political
Action Committee, Connecticut Forward PAC which raises concerns of graft and
quid-pro quo. The Democratic Governors Association also donated $1.25 million to
the Connecticut Forward PAC.
22. Teachers salaries, benefits, pensions compose up to 70% of
Connecticuts education funding which allows for the presence of a conflict of
interest by virtue of Erin D. Benham being a public employee with great decision
making authority at the AFT level because she is the President of the Meriden
Federation of Teachers and Executive Committee Vice President of the Connecticut
American Federation of Teachers and as a member of the State Board of education
which allows for a set of circumstances that creates a risk that professional
judgment or actions regarding a primary interest will be unduly influenced by a
secondary interest. Secondary interest includes not only financial gain but also such
motives as the desire for professional advancement and the wish to do favors for
members or future members, but conflict of interest rules usually focus on financial
relationships because they are relatively more objective, fungible, and quantifiable.
The secondary interests are not treated as wrong in themselves, but become
objectionable when they are believed to have greater weight than the primary
interests. The conflict in a conflict of interest exists whether or not a particular
individual is actually influenced by the secondary interest. It exists if the
circumstances are reasonably believed (on the basis of past experience and objective
evidence) to create a risk that decisions may be unduly influenced by secondary
interests.
23. Importance of Effective Teachers: Connecticut public school
teachers play a vital role in providing Connecticut students with the education to
which they are entitled. Recent studies have confirmed that the key determinant of
educational effectiveness is teacher quality. See, e.g., Raj Chetty et al., The Long-Term
Impacts a/ Teachers II: Teacher Value-Added and Student Outcomes in Adulthood,
American Economic Review (forthcoming), available at
http://obs.rc.fas.harvard.edu/chetty/wl9424.pdf. Students taught by effective
teachers are more likely to attend college, attend higher-quality colleges, earn more,
live in higher socioeconomic status neighborhoods, save more for retirement, and
are less likely to have children during their teenage years. Id. Although the majority
of teachers in Connecticut are providing students with a quality education, the
Connecticut State Department of Education has identified over 350 Connecticut K-12
public schools that have failed to meet adequate yearly progress in core subject areas
of reading and math at the whole school level and are being taught by teachers who
fail to provide their students with the high educational standard of learning in core
subjects needed for students to be suitable to participate in democratic institutions,
and to prepare them to attain productive employment and otherwise to contribute to
the state's economy, or to progress on to higher education (CCJEF v. Rell, 295 Conn.
at 244-45
24. The impact of these ineffective teachers on students is enormous. Even
when they are well-intentioned, as most teachers are, such ineffective teachers have
an enduring and negative effect on the lives of their students. Research clearly states
that effective educators are the most important person in the front of the classroom.
25. Research also states if educators do not have an understanding of the
curriculum, subject content, and the developmental needs of students this creates an
academic achievement gap that has irreparably harm on children especially low-
income and minority students which limits their future ability to take full advantage
of the nations democratic processes and institutions, to secure meaningful
employment in the competitive high-skills/high-wage global and local marketplace,
and to successfully continue their education beyond high school. The states failure to
provide plaintiff schoolchildren with opportunities to meet the states own learning
standards has resulted in a system that fails Connecticuts students and offends the
Connecticut constitution. The complaint also alleges that the states lack of fiscal and
personnel over sight disproportionately impacts African-American, Latino, low-
income and special needs children, in violation of the Connecticut constitution and
federal law.
26. The majority of the 2.3 million people incarcerated in U.S. prisons and
jails are people of color, people with mental health issues and people with low levels
of educational attainment, and people with a history of unemployment or
underemployment.
27. The continued employment of these ineffective teachers in the
Connecticut public school system is the continued enforcement of certain
Connecticut statutes that effectively prevent the removal of ineffective teachers from
the classroom, and, in economic downturns, require layoffs of more competent
teachers. Teacher tenure, seniority and last in first out prevent school
administrators from prioritizing-or even meaningfully considering-the interests of
their students in having effective teachers when making employment and dismissal
decisions. By forcing these critical decisions to be made primarily or exclusively on
grounds other than students' need for effective teachers, and therefore perpetuating
the employment within the school system of a number of ineffective teachers who
do not serve students' needs and who, in fact, have a substantially negative impact on
students' education, these laws
infringe upon Connecticut students' fundamental right to public education in the
Connecticut Constitution (article eighth, 1)
28. Research through a Harvard study clearly states good teachers are
clearly a critical part of the educational landscape towards improving student
achievement, earnings, quality of life.
http://obs.rc.fas.harvard.edu/chetty/value_added.html
29. In 2010, As a result of the significant number of long term low
performing schools the State of Connecticut passed education reform laws, Public Act
10-111 and Public Act 12-116.
30. Parents across the state of Connecticut, with support from education
advocates introduced a Parent Empowerment bill which became law that allows
parents legal power to help improve low performing schools. The state of
Connecticut has refused to enforce the law leaving close to 200,000 kids trapped in
low performing schools without legal remedy to protect their constitutional
educational rights. In 2010 the number of low performing schools identified by the
state as not having met adequate yearly progress in reading and math on a whole
school level was one hundred and eighty-four (184) and as of April 17, 2013, the
state has identified three hundred and fifty (350) schools as not having met adequate
yearly progress in reading and math on a whole school level which translates close to
200,000 students, majority of color, English Language Learners, those with
disabilities and special needs, and or those children eligible for free/reduced lunch,
attending low performing and/or unsafe schools in need of improvement.
31. Public Act 10-111, resulted in the creation of School Governance
Councils intended to manage and facilitate the receipt of diverse advice, concerns
and recommendations from the parents/legal guardians of children who are enrolled
in schools managed by the local and state Boards of Education, in addition to the
concerns and recommendations of educational professionals and community
advocates. The intent is to engage broad participation in developing comprehensive
corrective school improvement plans to provide significant improvement in
students academic achievement. The opportunity for the direct participation and
input of parents in the process to plan for developing comprehensive school
improvement plans is unprecedented.
32. Public Act 10-111 also mandates that School Governance Councils shall
assist school administration in, inter alia, analyzing school achievement data and
school needs as they relate to the school's improvement plan. It further mandates
that School Governance Councils shall assist the principal in making programmatic
and operational changes to improve the schools achievement.
33. The School Governance Council consists of seven parents, five
teachers, two community members and students (where appropriate). The
nonvoting member is the principal.
34. In March of 2014 The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil
Rights released report that show students of color are more likely to have
inexperienced teachers. http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/expansive-
survey-americas-public-schools-reveals-troubling-racial-disparities.
Count One: Connecticut Constitutional and Statutory Violation.
Plaintiff have equal protection and due process rights under the
14th Amendment and legal protections from discrimination under Title
VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits racial and ethnic discrimination;
Prayer For Relief
WHEREFORE, Plaintiffs respectfully pray that this Court:
1. Declare that Defendants appointment of Erin D.
Benham, President of the Meriden Federation of Teachers and Executive Committee
Vice President of the Connecticut American Federation of Teachers null and void
2. Issue an injunction preventing appointment of Erin D. Benham,
President of the Meriden Federation of Teachers and Executive Committee Vice
President of the Connecticut American Federation of Teachers from taking office
3. Award such other and further relief as the Court deems just and
proper.

Respectfully submitted,