Shawn McCollough got right to the point at the April 27 meeting of the Nogales Unified School District governing board.

“I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize to that group,” said McCollough, who was hired as superintendent in June 2008.

He referred to the nine members of the Meet and Confer Team of the Professional Educators of Nogales, the local teachers’ organization, who sat in the rear of the meeting room.

PEN filed a formal grievance April 21 against McCollough over his conduct in a meeting on April 9. PEN delivered copies of its grievance to the five members of the NUSD governing board because they supervise McCollough.

PEN alleges that McCollough showed up one hour and 45 minutes late to the meeting with the team. The meeting was a follow-up to an April 3 meeting on budget and negotiation issues with two team members �“ district employees Maria Neuman and Neal Krug.

During the April 9 meeting, McCollough became angry and accused Neuman and Krug of “being dishonest in their previous conversation,” according to the grievance. The point of contention was whether the two agreed with McCollough on April 3 that retired teachers who returned to work at NUSD could be laid off if the district took a large cut in state funding.

These educators are referred to as the “ESI group” because each retiree had to work for Educational Services Inc., an educational employment agency, for a year before being rehired by the school district at 80 percent of his or her previous salary.

A “heated discussion” ensued and McCollough “continued to direct aggressive verbal confrontations toward several other individual team members,” according to the grievance. Later in the April 9 meeting, McCollough apologized for his outburst.

“I am sorry for my behavior that day,” McCollough said in the board meeting. “I will learn from my mistakes, grow from my mistakes and be a better superintendent.”

Krug came to the podium and asked the board for “contingency language” in the teachers’ contracts now being negotiated.

It’s possible that federal stimulus funds could help compensate for cuts the state legislature made to school district budgets, Krug said. But the money could not be applied to teachers’ salaries unless that language is included in the contracts.

“I think it was a good apology,” Krug said about McCollough’s statement.

But the grievance stands, said PEN President Molly Harral, an NHS teacher.

“We’ve never filed a grievance in this capacity,” she said. “I’ve been here 12 years and I can’t recall this ever happening.”

A majority of teachers in the district belong to PEN, which represents all NUSD teachers, Harral said. PEN is in the midst of negotiations for teacher contracts that must be issued by May 15.

School board members have 15 days �“ until May 6 �“ to respond to the grievance, said Melinda Bernal, organizational consultant for the Arizona Education Association, PEN’s parent group.

“(The PEN members) filed the grievance because they thought the superintendent’s behavior was out of line,” Bernal said.

The teachers used the grievance as their only recourse, Bernal said. “We view grievances as things to improve working conditions.”

PEN members allege that McCollough violated board policies on staff ethics, administrative goals, and qualifications and duties of the superintendent. It requests that McCollough provide a formal public apology to its team, and that board members discipline the superintendent “in a manner of the board’s choosing.”

Board member Hector Arana requested that the superintendent’s evaluation be placed on the agenda for the May 11 meeting.

“My understanding was that (the grievance) would be addressed at that time,” said Board President Dr. L. Hunter Nash.