Search Associates--just/unjust blacklisting

[TK427]

So here's my dilemma:
When I started my international teaching career 5 years ago, I had signed up for Search. They helped me get my first job overseas. By the time I got my 1st placement, I was on the 3rd year of my membership (I was teaching in the USA and decided to leave when my job was eliminated due to budget cuts in the market crash of '08)...SO when I got my first international job, my Search account expired the 1st year I was overseas. I notified them of my placement in a position and then my account expired. My first job was a 1 year contract to replace someone who "pulled a runner" and disappeared... I decided to leave after my first year due to personal/environmental reasons due to the country I was in. I found my 2nd job at my second school through word of mouth. A friend gave me a lead on a job: this person had worked with me at my 1st international gig. They told me of an opening at their new school and so I applied and also got a job there. My Search account was still inactive and I'd need to re-pay the enrollment fee...but I never did. My 2nd International job turned out to be crazy. Bad admin, crazy staff, crazy board of directors. The Board tried to re-write our contracts mid-year in the 1st year of a supposed 2 year contract that I signed. This in and of itself represents a contract violation. Many colleagues were upset, and refused to sign the "new" contract (they basically took away benefits in the re-write). This precipitated a mass bailout of staff. Some were at the end of their 2 year contract, and some were new hires just like me. Many people on Search had contacted their associate to ask what legal recourse they had: and got pretty dismal answers. But regardless, Search was made aware of what this school was trying to do to teachers. I remember one teacher who left mid-year getting "blacklisted" but then later the Associate apologized after sending a nasty email--the reason for the apology was that the Associate was unaware of the events that were unfolding at the school based on what the Board of Directors was trying to do in not honoring the 1st contract and re-writing a new, worse, contract. So when you're stuck in a situation like that, you have to ask yourself "what is in my best interest?" I decided to break contract and go elsewhere. As I see it, legally, the Board of Directors violated the contract FIRST when they re-wrote my contract and were trying to force me to sign a 2nd version. I also WASN'T re-activated on Search Associates, nor did I get this position through Search Associates. I think you see where this is going.

Fast forward to my next placement: I've fulfilled my first contract, have worked 1 extra year beyond my contract even...but now it's time to change and move on. I log in to Search Associates and request re-activation, after paying the enrollment fee a few years ago just to be "in the system" but Archived. So I get a letter stating:
"Before we can move forward with your reactivation, we need a letter of release from your previous director sent to your associate that says you were released from your contract. When we receive that letter, we will move forward with your reactivation."

So my questions are:
1) How do they even know? Did someone rat me out (my old director?) I never got that job thru Search, so how can they attempt to blacklist me?
2) My old principal from that school gave me a reference for my current job (because he knew the horrible situation). So I know that some people understand when you're up against a horrible situation and have no legal recourse other than to leave. So why didn't Search ASK ME WHAT HAPPENED? (because they obviously know)
3) If I admit to Search Associates that I did break contract, and then explain my situation, will it not even matter since they mostly see things as BLACK/WHITE and I'm clearly guilty?
4) There's probably no way I can get this letter they're asking for...it's been 4 years and pretty much at this point everyone's moved on from that school that I know. So is it worth trying to get a letter and maybe hope there's no institutional memory?

[PsyGuy]

1) They dont know, they have zero clue, that is why they are asking for a letter. There is a gap in their relationship with you and they want to ensure they arent repping someone with a negative past.

2) Again, they have no clue.

3) Probably, maybe, my magic 8 ball is broken. Likely they wont take you, but your associate may understand, depends who it is and what kind of day they are having.

4) Sure you could ask. I would suggest making up your own letter and using a friend as the contact point, assuming you just didnt come clean with your Search associate. Personally, this is one of those situations where the truth is a pretty strong story, with its own spin.

[Vernacular]

The truth: rarely pure and never simple. Doesn't sound as though you'be been blacklisted, yet. It sounds as though your rep is doing his/her procedural checks. Get a letter from your most recent employer - the one with whom you had a positive relationship - and have them send it to Search. Or alternatively, have Search contact him/her. Failing that, follow Psyguy's subsequent suggestions. It's worth remembering that Search doesn't pretend to be a non profit organization, and that there are now many agencies chasing the same penny.