The Los Angeles Times reports that suspended teacher Rafe Esquirh is being investigated for abusing a child 40 years ago.
This must be every teacher’s worst nightmare: being accused of behavior to which there were no witnesses. The accusation alone, even if false, can ruin one’s reputation
In this situation, an allegation about what did or did not happen 40 years ago, how is it possible to establish guilt or innocence?
I tend to be skeptical because of a situation that occurred when I lived in Washington, DC, in the early 1990s. Half a dozen girls accused their teacher of inappropriate touching. The case seemed overwhelming against the teacher. But when the girls were questioned individually, they retracted their accusation. They wanted to punish the teacher for assigning too much homework and being a tough grader.
Everyone is innocent until proven guilty.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
After 40 years, the truth of the allegation may never be known. But what’s interesting – and a couple commenters on the article have noted it – is that apparently the accuser filed a complaint 10 years ago, but nothing ever happened. Now, 10 years later, they’re acting on this complaint? Hmmm.
Yes Dienne…When so much filth is being covered up at LAUSD, why did the administration choose this moment to do this jailing of an exemplary teacher? How can they justify opening up a can of ostensible 40 year old worms that has no witnesses after waiting 10 years to bring it up? Why now, at the moment this brave teacher (who was a young teen age kid 40 years ago) files a class action suit against the district for jailing endless excellent teachers?
The over 400 teachers that Deasy and the BoE put in teacher jail, for the very first time, has primo attorney Mark Geragos to speak for them. Isn’t this a red flag as to the timing of this charge? After Vergara was settled in the favor of Broad and his partners, Deasy said to the press that “now he could fire teachers rapidly”, and he did.
How can we get the truth about Holmquist, the district’s lawyer who covered up for Deasy (never even looked for nor found the emails between Deasy and Apple and Pearson), and those members of the BoE who went along with all the Deasy scams and bad decisions, and the heavy hand of Eli Broad which is always in the background at LAUSD?
The interim Supt. Cortines has an ugly sexual harassment case already filed against him. Can it be this new charge against a teacher can be a distraction to the public to avoid focus on Cortines’ court case? Can it be that all the sturm und drang is to focus away from potential theft, fraud, and all the investigation of Deasy by the FBI and the SEC? Deasy now works directly for Broad to deconstruct public schools.
It just occurred to me that perhaps Cortines was actually hired as interim (against the large public outcry for another better candidate with clean hands) so that he could be manipulated (blackmailed) to do exactly this kind of dirty deal? We have seen the outside forces of the Rheeform contingent do so much of this kinds of chicanery that anything seems possible.
Keep in mind that according to these papers filed:
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2111957-la-school-report-21-pra-response-w-docs-2.html
… for the last three months, LAUSD has assigned two investigators whose full-time job—9-to-5, Mon.-Fri…. perhaps more time than that—is to search and search and search, leaving no stone unturned in the process, for testimony and evidence that will nail Rafe.
Cortines is saying this will not be concluded until August… maybe longer.
WTF?
According to the papers, they are not objective investigators… taking the case wherever it leads them… with minds that are open equally to ALL evidence / testimony, whether or not it is incriminating of exculpatory.
No, per their instructions, their goals are to gather ALL of the incriminating stuff, and completely ignore ALL of the exculpatory stuff— in effect, covering their ears and saying…
“Lah, lah, lah… I”m not listening… Lah, lah, lah…”
like Eddie Murphy in BEVERLY HILLS COP — when someone says something positive or approving of Rafe.
to 00:16 … for the “Lah, lah, lah… ”
They actually told Rafe, “We’re only interested in talking to people who don’t like you.”
Again… WTF!
There’s another agenda at play here, and it ain’t protecting kids from abuse / molestation.
My guess is that if and when those two investigators did talk to teachers who disliked Rafe, they unilaterally prodded them thusly:
“Would you be willing to state that you saw Mr. Esquith touching children a lot, in ways that might be inappropriate?”
… or something like that. This is how police work in… well… a police state, not a democracy.
Are the names of the two supposed “investigators” known? Someone has to know. Get the names out in public view.
Duane..there seem to be 4 investigators, not two. Go to the link to the Geragos official filing and they are all listed by name and job description.
Duane et al…see Drew Pepper’s comment scrolling about 3/4 of the way down this page. He identifies the 4 investigators. Thanks for making it easy, Drew.
The 4 mentioned certainly do not sound like trained social workers, and they certainly broke laws by taking students out of class to interrogate them without their parents being present….doing it so harshly and aggressively will certainly have some parents suing the district for this unnecessary trauma. These district people never learn form their plethora of mistakes. They are just bullies and thugs.
They are not objective .cortines has been heard telling suits, “get simething on thos teachers!” It’s a baby boomer purge to unload us because our retirement packages are onerousto the privatizers. They want profit and if it means lopping off innocent heads than so be it.
Thank you for this invaluable link to the case filed against LAUSD by Rafe’s attorneys. It reveals not only the despicable behavior of LAUSD but also how the LA Times and MSM is clearly in cahoots with helping LAUSD to slander Mr. Esquith’s reputation. Any authentic reporting would have included the many damning details articulating LAUSD despicable witchhunt behavior.
While they are smearing Rafe Esquith, remember that LAUSD teachers are the best http://www.changethelausd.com/while_they_are_smearing
I am not a lawyer and i don’t know the applicable precedents. I just wonder if this accusation is bogus and is actually retalitory in nature, can. He sue for slander. After all they knowingly said someting untrue and it did cause damage to his reputation and ability to eork. Principals would think twice about accusing teachers falsely if they felt that there were potential economic consequences.
This sounds like a witch hunt where they are looking under every rock to find an excuse to dismiss him. Is the accuser being paid to make the charges?
Bingo…
Can someone clarify this accusation? Is this teacher being accused of “pushing” the chid too violently 40 years ago or is there some kind of sexual abuse charged?
“This week, L.A. Unified investigators interviewed a man who alleged that Esquith physically and sexually abused him in the 1970s.”
Thank you — those are pretty vague comments. Is there any word on what exactly happened? Usually you have to be quite specific to make those charges — a child (and especially an adult) can’t just say “He abused me” because that is far too vague.
Also, it’s possible to characterize the Mark Twain joke as “made sexually suggestive jokes in the classroom” because you want to leave people with the impression that the teacher joked about a girl’s large breasts or something else inappropriate. I think we all agree that as recited in the papers, making a reference to performing nude like the actor in a Mark Twain novel did is nowhere near that kind of inappropriate.
Hmmm, About four years ago during the Miramonte witch hunt, Deasy has every single employee’s file looked through- both at the school sites and downtown. So wouldn’t this have turned up then? Something is very fishy about this.
I have to side with the district on this one. Why would a 39 yr old man make these kinds of allegations if they weren’t true? I think the district has an obligation to fully investigate.
While they are obliged to investigate, I would question why these allegations are being made now.
Because allegations can be fabricated. He is an outspoken teacher, so he has to go.
Sorry, Arts Smart. Don’t be fooled by an accuser.
Let’s go back in the years 1970. It took him 35 year to file a report in 2005. Today is 2015
Teacher Rafe Esquith has been popular since 1990.
If you are abused, you will do whatever you can to revenge as soon as you are old enough like 15 – 25. This accuser waited until now to file a report and did not remember the board member whom he addressed in his report. He did not follow up on his report for 10 years!!!
First thing in my mind is that how is his past career. Was he involved with jailed sentence in his teen-age? Is he troubled with the law recently? How does school district contact him to fabricate the episode?
I hope that you are a GOOD-SENSE teacher. Back2basic
That’s the main issue; the timing is wrong. If they didn’t feel they had anything prosecute forty years ago, do you think the evidence is any fresher? Something is rotten in the LASD.
Yes, retired teacher, something always seems wrong at LAUSD.
I urge readers to search online for the recent filing of a lawsuit (a public court record) against interim Supt. Cortines (who instituted ‘teacher jail’ years ago when he functioned as Supt. before Deasy) with 14 of the most obscene sexual charges for homosexual grooming and aggressive overt sexual misconduct with another employee at LAUSD whom he evidently coaxed to come to LA, and whom he then hired for a highly paid position in the district. This is also on record in articles at the LA Times.
And then there is former Supt. Deasy who is being investigated by both the FBI and the SEC for potential fraud in the iPad fiasco he imposed on the district and the taxpayers.
A fortune of over $600 M was lost to the district because of former Supt. Deasy, And LAUSD seems set up to pay, yet again, for Supt. Cortines’ sexual mishaps.
There is far more going on that demands the public’s attention than that of a and world wide respected teacher quoting of Mark Twain.
The taxpayers of LA who are on the economic hook for all this should be marching on the LAUSD building at Beaudry St. with pitchforks, demanding a thorough cleaning of this house of corruption.
“Why would a 39 yr old man make these kinds of allegations if they weren’t true?”
Fame. Fortune. Spite. Wrath. Jealousy. Family squabble. Psychologically disturbed. Pride. Do 39 year old men not lie? Should I list more, or should we abandon all mental faculties like you did and “simply” assume Esquith abused that kid 40 years ago and has had a 40 year dry spell since then?
Yes, LAU has an obligation to keep sexual predators and physical abusers out of the classroom. LAU also has an obligation to do so immediately and wait not ten years later.
Whether the allegations were true or false, LAU failed to do its job again.
Excellent point. I just reread the article and didn’t catch the fact the first time that this accusation goes back to when Esquith was a teen summer camp counselor. Now I’m skeptical!
Arts Smart how can a 39 year old man accuse someone of abuse 40 years ago? It would have happened before he was born? And what were the allegations? You never answered that question.
NYC,
I think the letter to LAU was written when the accuser was 39. He is now 49 and Esquith is now 61. This would make the boy 8 or 9 and Esquith 20 or 21 depending on the birthdays when this allegedly happened.
The allegations are a constantly shifting mist: IT started from the Twain quote, then moved to the Shakespeare trust, and now it has morphed into a 40 year-old crime.
For money?
I thought the alleged abuse took place 40 years ago. Was the accuser -1 years of age at the time?
I’m confused
If you saw my comment above then you should know that the district had every employee looked at carefully after Miramonte. So that begs the question, if they didn’t think that was important then, why now?
Yes Barbara, that is a problem. It is a huge problem for the district. If the allegations are true or false, the district has a decade of delay on this. They received that letter from the accuser ten year ago! Either way, district heads will roll.
As usual, I’m not going to remain silent on this:
I skeptical of the latest accusations, but I’m doing
my damndest to bear in mind that I’m predisposed
not to believe it…and, as I explore this situation,
keep an open mind to it being possibly true.
That said, here are some thoughts:
1) THE 2011 DEASY CRACKDOWN
Four years ago, in the aftermath of
the Miramonte scandal, John Deasy hired hundreds of
retired administrators to go through every teacher
file since 1970… that’s probably 300,000 – 500,000
of files… if you take in every long-term and short-term
man or woman who taught in LAUSD since 1970.
Anything with even the slightest hint of
sexual impropriety or abuse or whatever
triggered that teacher being immediately
removed from the classroom.
So why was this accuser’s letter among the
files that were so thoroughly searched?
LAUSD is saying it only came to light in the
last three months?
It doesn’t make sense.
If the accuser contacted LAPD and accused
a teacher of molestation in 2006, the LAPD
would have been all over that. LAUSD’s
attorney also said that LAUSD contacted
LAPD in response to the letter.
So where’s the documentation from LAPD
that this was investigated? That LAUSD
informed them?
So there should be some record of an investigation
on the part of LAPD. Apparently, there is no
such record, or at least, the existence of such
a record is not mentioned in this article.
If LAPD has no record of an investigation—
and LAUSD does not have some documentation
of its having contacting LAPD… date, time, the officer in
the LAPD Sex Crimes unit contacted, etc.—then
that means every single person who saw the
2006 letter should be prosecuted for not informing
law enforcement. As mandated reporters, it would
be a felony not to report it.
Also, LAUSD would have immediately removed
Rafe, pending the outcome of that police
investigation. Any and all current and past
students of Rafe would have been questioned
by police.
So why wasn’t Rafe pulled, and investigated
back in 2006? Why weren’t his students at the
time questioned?
2) THE STORY DOESN’T RING TRUE:
IT SEEMS CONCOCTED
Here’s an excerpt from THE LOS ANGELES TIMES:
==================================
“At that point in my life my parents had been divorced.
Rafe was charismatic and I looked up to him a bit
as kind of a father figure,”
Bennett said. “I had a fair amount of adoration
for him, but it was this really weird thing where
it was full of humiliation and a lot of fear.
It was very chaotic.”
Bennett said he didn’t report the alleged abuse
at the time. About a decade ago, he said he
learned of Esquith’s nonprofit work with young
children and contacted law enforcement authorities.
He also sent a letter describing what he’d been
through to an L.A. Unified board member. He
couldn’t remember the board member’s name, but
he said that district investigators who called him
this week said they had found the letter and asked
him to recount his story.
“My hope is that this would inspire other people
to come forward if there are others who have
had my experience,” Bennett said.
Holmquist said the district first learned of the
allegations in 2006 and reported them to the
Los Angeles Police Department. No charges
were filed at the time, and it’s unclear
whether the district took further action.
—————————————————–
Rafe is 60, so that makes him a 20 year-old
college student at the time.
Rafe was 20, and the accuser starts talking
about Rafe being this “charismatic figure”,
a “father figure”, for whom he “had a lot
of adoration.”.
He’s giving the description of Rafe that
is the public persona in the last ten years
or so as Rafe’s work has come to the
media’s attention.
At the time of the above description,
Rafe was working as an unknown after-school aide.
The after-school aides don’t teach. They’re
more like baby-sitters, who will offer assistance
with homework if asked. The idea that 20-year-old college
student Rafe—the embryonic early incarnation—
was known or experienced by kids in an
after school program as “charismatic”, a “father figure”…
for whom the accuser “had a lot of adoration.”
The setting of an after-school care is not
like a classroom, where such a relationship
described would or could develop.
All of this I find hard to believe.
It’s almost as if the accuser had gotten this
from media coverage or Rafe in the last
few years.
Might there have been an incident where
Rafe—in the context of his after-school care
duties—pushed this man when he was child? It’s
possible, but it’s a big leap from that to “molestation.”
Also his claim that he did this “in the hope that
other victims will come forward.” That also
sounds concocted, like something out of a
TV movie, or a 60 MINUTES piece on
pedophilia.
Will others come forward? Time will tell.
Why HAVEN’T’ there been other victims in
Rafe’s 35 years of teaching who have come
forward to make this accusation?
You know that in the last three months,
LAUSD has been doing their damndest
to get other victims to accuse Rafe…
interviewing dozens of his past and
present students in the hopes of finding
others….
So far… nothing.
After all, aren’t pedophiles incurable and hopelessly
compulsive life-long predators? You know,
where they can’t stop themselves, or help
themselves?
Rafe couldn’t have just done this once in his
college days, and then thought…
” Oh well, I got that out of my system,
never doing that again… from now on, I’m
going to get my jollies just from teaching.”
Again, it doesn’t make sense.
3) TWO LETTERS… AND DONE
The accuser noticed that his alleged
molestor was now a nationally-renown
teacher, and that so outraged him
that it prompted him to…
write just two letters… and just let
the whole thing die.
There was no follow-up to either
LAPD or LAUSD, “Say did you get
my letter where I accused Mr. Esquith
of molesting me? Would you like to
interview me in greater detail?
What are you going to do to
remove this mad pedophile on
the loose in your school system?”
No, he just went back to his life,
moving on as if nothing happened.
No lawsuit, no nothing…
4) 40 YEARS… ???!!
Again… 40 years ago… Jerry Ford was president,
for God’s sake. Asking someone to
answer questions about whom you knew,
what you did, etc. in 1975…
I couldn’t do it.
5) THERE ARE PRECEDENTS OF ACCUSATIONS
TURNING OUT TO BE HOAXES:
The one that come to mind is the accusations
against Chicago’s Cardinal Joseph Bernadin
in the early 1990’s.
The man accusing Bernadin of molesting him
ultimately recanted the whole thing, and apologized.
from Bernadin’s wiki page at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Bernardin#Clerical_abuse_scandal
=====================
Bernardin himself said in a press conference
that he had been accused of three cases of sexual
misconduct.
One of his accusers, former seminarian Stephen Cook,
claimed to have been abused by Bernardin and
another priest in the 1970s.
However, Cook subsequently dropped Bernardin
from his lawsuit, being no longer certain that his
memories (which had emerged while he was
under hypnosis) were accurate.[2]
The two later reconciled.[3]
——————————————-
I’m hoping that this is the case with Rafe.
6) LAUSD BADLY NEEDS TO CRUSH RAFE
Did you notice how LAUSD gave THE LOS
ANGELES TIMES writer Zahira Torres the accuser’s
contact info the day AFTER the suit was filed—a class
action suit that could possibly embrace hundreds of
teachers? It was filed by a very powerful and
high-profile law firm.
We’re talking tens of millions of dollars in
potential settlements and judgments in
a class action case are on the line here.
Rafe is also an outspoken opponent of corporate
reform in general, and COMMON CORE specifically.
He achieves the highest results from his students
BY DOING THE EXACT OPPOSITE. He’s proof
that this stuff is NOT what works.
Thus, LAUSD might be using the media to
smear Rafe. Rafe’s lawyer makes no
bones, calling this all “a set-up”.
From the L.A. TIMES:
http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-lausd-esquith-20150626-story.html
————————–
“It’s a total set-up,” Geragos (Rafe’s lawyer) said.
“We’ve reached the heights of unbelievable smear
tactics…. It’s despicable conduct and we
will hold them accountable.”
————————–
Perhaps the whole thing is just a conspiracy,
one that include those within LAUSD,
or in the world of corporate reform.
Time will tell.
To retired teacher:
Yes, you are correct, and there is no doubt about “”the accuser”” who is a LOSER and who needs MONEY/ lesser jailed sentence so that he is willing to do whatever the “”witch hunt”” tell him what to say.
I would go all the way to examine his “”2005″” letter, and look for the board members of that year 2005. Mr. Rafe Esquith was a teenager 40 years ago when he worked at JCC and when the accuser was 9 or 10 and was in the middle of parental divorce. This is so obvious a make-up story from school district with the help of corrupted authority.
The female teacher who made a complain about nudity, and the principal who took her complain without a logical mind, both should be in the court and be responsible for Teacher Rafe Esquith’s dignitty.
This is beyond reality. What on earth can this story happen? In the past 30 + years of teaching and being exemplary to his community and his school, I would say that teacher Rafe Esquith deserves respect and praise, NOT a witch hunt.
School District, Superintendent, Principal, a nonsensical complainer, a corrupted accuser should receive JAILED SENTENCE for defaming an exemplary teacher and citizen WITHOUT BAIL That is what we call a justice. Back2basic
What better way to discredit a public school teacher. Not just any teacher, but one who has demonstrated his calling for many years and shows the way to make education work; one who has become an inspiration and role model for all of us who work with almost nothing to motivate and educate our children.
Those powerful, elite behind-the-scenes folks who hate public education and/or stand to make large sums (and many already have) if they can from public education tax dollars do not want anyone who can so clearly demonstrate that public education works gumming up their well financed propaganda machine.
This tragedy is 3-fold: 1) The school children loose their amazing teacher, 2) the administrators, whose job (and reason for existing) is to provide a quality education for children have attacked their own best example of doing so, and 3)The underfunded education budget will, of course, pay for this witch hunt and the lawsuits that follow. The children suffer all three ways. Only the “reformers” can come out ahead.
Folks…I wish people who comment here would not be so quick to use the word ‘molester’ or ‘pedophile’ even in denigrating the district and the news reports. This embeds ‘evil doing’ in the minds of many…and there has been NOTHING showing anything evil happened to anyone 40 years ago, or thereafter, with this exemplary teacher.
When you create hypotheses in writing, it gives media a chance to use your words taken out of context, and to further damn an innocent teacher who has only been charged with quoting Mark Twain and pushing a person 40 years ago. These charges in no way conflate with the potential felonious behaviors of those in the top roles of administration at LAUSD. These are the administrators who put excellent teachers into teacher jail and now want to stop the class action suit against them, and seemingly will stop at nothing to avoid the charges against them.
Please tone down your rhetoric.
Go Mark Geragos!
Also, here’s the actual papers from the lawsuit filed,
which LAUSD followed up with a day later by giving
L.A. TIMES reporter Zahira Torres the the contact
info of the Rafe’s alleged victim:
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2111957-la-school-report-21-pra-response-w-docs-2.html
It’s quite a scary read… right out of
the works of Arthur Koestler or Franz Kafka,
or a Stalinist show trial, or perhaps North Korea.
Keep in mind that this treatment has been visited
upon thousands of teachers in LAUSD in the
last ten years or so—started under Cortines,
ratched up under Deasy, and continued under
Cortines once again. The vast majority of
those targeted were / are the highest
end of the salary scale, 20-30 years
in the classroom, and over the age of 50.
What a great way to say thanks for your decades
of loyal service and teaching in LAUSD!
These witch hunts were so widespread that
almost every teacher knows someone who had
been hauled off to teacher jail. I knew several,
but until reading that document above, I was
not aware of how bad these people had it.
The widespread awareness of all this led to the
teachers’ 91% “no confidence” vote in Deasy. Deasy’s
reply to that survey was, “I don’t pay attention
to nonsense like that.”
I’ve survived 23 years at LAUSD without
being put through such a nightmare. My
respect and sympathy for those who experienced
this has just shot up through the stratosphere.
“No good deed goes unpunished.” Think of
all the work Rafe did FOR FREAKIN’ FREE—
not only not taking a salary from the non-profit
that funds the field trips, but also donating
his own money to make up shortfalls.
No acknowledgment whatsoever from LAUSD.
Indeed, instead LAUSD is trying to nail him on
technicalities as to whether or not the trips
are officially sanctioned by LAUSD, or done
without obtaining proper approval from
LAUSD. They claim that the trips are totally separate
from LAUSD, yet demand the right to cancel
the trip or else. END RESULT: no trip.
And, as I surmised, the documents details
how investigators did grill his students
with the molestation questions. The kids
reported—it’s in the lawsuit—“Did Mr.
Esquith ever do anything bad to you?”…
and did so without informing or asking
parents’ permission beforehand. The parents
complained, with children suffering PTSD
from the experience.
Of course, they came up totally empty—much
to Cortines’ and their disappointment, I would
guess. Not relief, mind you… but disappointment
along the lines of “Damn, that’s too bad. Keep
looking! Keep asking! I don’t care how far
back you have to go, or where it takes you,
or what you have to do, but GET SOMETHING
on him!!!”
I’m also wondering about LAUSD’s demand to
know the names of the girls Rafe dated in college.
Was the point to find them—40 years after the fact— then
ask them questions like about the 20-year-old Rafe:
“Hey, while you were dating him, did you ever
get the feeling that Mr. Esquith liked diddling
the kids at the Jewish After-school Day Care
where he worked?”
or
“Were Mr. Esquith’s pedophiliac tendencies
the reason you dumped him?”
… or get their names, and then have confederates—
separate from the investigation—offer them
cash if they’d say Rafe is pedophile, or had
pedophile tendencies… all of this being
done prior to being questioned?
Reading this document makes me want to quit my job…
lest I’m ever put through what he went through
in the future.
Mind you, I can’t afford Mark Geragos… I don’t even
know if Rafe can. Perhaps Geragos is doing it
pro bono, or on contingency.
BOTTOM LINE: to LAUSD’s management, there’s
too much at stake here. All their chips have been
pushed forward on the table.
LAUSD must win.
AND
Rafe and the other teacher jail victims must lose.
Reminds us of the McMartin case with endless false testimony, a witch hunt decades ago which ruined lives.
How does Barbara Hayden, the whistleblower teacher who started all this, fit in? Was she paid off by the Rheeformers to make her stupid charges which she now says she regrets? And what about their Principal at Hobart who expressed his horror at this investigation, who after 24 successful years there, and always in full support of Rafe Esquith, now is rapidly transferred to a different school, which was not of his choosing?
LAUSD and Cortines are playing hard ball in railroading Rafe, the same as they did the famous and beloved Iris Stevenson of Crenshaw HS. Both of these remarkable teachers took their students on non-LAUSD field trips, (letters are shown in the Geragos files posted as a link here) with non-LAUSD funding. Iris took them to the White House where her choir sang for President Obama. Rafe had the students perform Shakespeare at many venues. Both used private funding during vacation time for these terrific opportunities for inner city students.
Cortines/Deasy and their hoard of Rheeformers could not stand that there are actually amazing teachers in our public schools who care first about their students, and put in endless volunteer hours implementing this enrichment.
You would have to be blind not to understand what is really going on behind the scenes, and how this FIX is playing out.
Please read carefully all the clues you have on this post as to all filings, all reports on the caliber and intrusiveness of the investigators chosen by Cortines to pressure young children into giving false testimony. Many of us have been trained to know the accepted practice when interviewing young children, and it easy to see the overt coercive techniques and thug like behavior of the district’s agents.
More than enough for endless law suits (like Miramonte)…yet again. The Rheeformers are intent on bankrupting LAUSD and taking it all over for private investment.
Removal of the principal is part of the plot. A supportive principal is part of what allowed Rafe to do the great work that he did. Even if—and that’s a big if—Rafe returns to Hobart, a new “Deasy-ite” principal will harass him night and day, write him up multiple times, force him to follow a plan that will totally sabotage his unique daily routines.
He’ll just make his Rafe’s like a living Hell…and harass Rafe into retiring or leaving, per his orders from LAUSD.
Yes, Jack…. an official at Beaudry, off the record, said that was exactly the scenario.
This TOP COMMENT from “Jerry” accompanying the
L.A. TIMES article hits the nails squarely on the head:
http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-lausd-esquith-20150626-story.html#panel=comments
I agree. Could someone like the person
described (BELOW) secretly be a pedophile
a the same time?
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?
And during 35 years of stellar teaching, have his
countless supposed victims keeping totally mum
about it… with him simply getting away with
it scot free for decades?
I find that highly unlikely. I presume an
expert in this subject would as well.
At some point, I’d like to hear from one
weighing in on this situation.
Again, it’s the TOP COMMENT from “JERRY” at the
article alleging Rafe as a pedophile at:
http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-lausd-esquith-20150626-story.html#panel=comments
————————————-
JERRY:
“Before this ridiculousness, there wasn’t a parent in
L.A. who wouldn’t want their child in Mr. Esquith’s
class. These articles about him haven’t given an
accurate account of his dedication and recognition.
“Esquith is not just nationally recognized, but internationally.
“His awards include:
“— the Walt Disney American Teacher Award for National Teacher of the Year;
“— Parents magazine’s national As You Grow Award; Oprah Winfrey’s $100,000 Use Your Life Award;
“— The Dalai Lama’s Compassion in Action Award;
“— the Kennedy Center’s Sondheim Inspirational Teacher Award;
“— the president’s National Medal of the Arts;
“and
“— a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth. (an MBE, actually,
like the Beatles received, JACK)
“Recently, Esqiuith has also been hired by the
Chinese government to visit and advise them
on education reform.
“One institution is CONSPICUOUSLY absent
from this list: the LAUSD.
“Before this pathetic witch-hunt, LAUSD
bureaucrats NEVER acknowledged his
accomplishments, and NEVER worked
with him in their ‘reform’ efforts.
It’s stunning that LAUSD administrators
have NEVER included Esquith in ANY
of their professional development training.
“Why?
“I’m certain it’s because of his criticisms
of the district, and his independence from them.
The real crime here is the ‘US versus THEM’
attitude of LAUSD administrators towards
classroom teachers.”
“They’ve never acknowledged Esquith, but
they sure are working hard to investigate a
and bring him down.
“That’s the bigger story here, and if the
LATimes really wants to support a
true reform maverick, they should report
this.”
Seems like LAUSD is getting (more) vindictive… What did he to them that they would roll out a sexual abuse charge…? I mean, are they that threatened? By a teacher? Is this message to the other teachers in LAUSD- “Don’t get to too sure of self lowly teachers!”
YES…exactly James. This is happening in smaller ways to many LAUSD teachers who have the nerve to speak out against CC, testing, opt out. I hear their stories every day, as do many others who write on this site. There are so many who are on the cusp of being put in teacher jail. LAUSD is using terror to silence them. N ow that there is a major voice, a lawyer who is not bought by Broad, willing to handle a class action, Beaudry is hysterical, grasping at anything to disaqualify the plaintiff teacher.
“Evil is attracted to bureaucracy, it’s an easy place to hide.”
I would like to apologize, I wrote “sexual” in front of abuse, and that is not the accusation (to this point). In my defense however, that is usually the tenor of that kind of accusation- I’m sure LAUSD would have me read it like that so that I/we can get even more hopped on sanctimonious outrage.
You were right, James. The article in the newspaper specifically said they were talking with a man who accused Esquith of physical and sexual abuse. Read the whole article again, not just the first paragraph.
2old2teach; There is no need to be rude. The nature of web logs is discussion… the exchange of ideas. I do not need to be cautioned to read the whole article, in that I have. Perhaps you could focus your admonishments toward people who not attempting (perhaps poorly) to account for their errors…?
James, I was not attempting to be rude! I was attempting to point out that you were correct in your original comment before another poster chastized you for bring sexual harrassment into the discussion. You did not introduce that charge; it was in the original LaTimes article to which this blog was linked. You apologized for a sin that you did not commit. I was posting in support of you.
Sorry… Just read the part about reading just the first paragraph, and went straight back to middle school “I read the whole chapter Mr. Johnson, and don’t tell me I didn’t.” 🙂
Thanks for following up…
After reading back through the blog, I see that it was not you who got chastized for talking about sexual abuse. I apologize for not checking more carefully before I posted. My suggestion that you read the whole article again was meant to point out to you that you had been right. I figured that after being called out for using the term sexual abuse, you had quickly reread the initial paragraph that it refered only to abuse that you assumed you had been mistaken. I will withdraw my misguided attempt at support and apologize again for mistaking your posting for someone else’s.
James Clark –
The message that LAUSD sends is that NO ONE is safe! By choosing a highly respected teacher, LAUSD threatens all – this was the intention of this move…
Exactly! Stalin said it best:
“If you want full dictatorial control of people, police and prosecutors can’t only punish the guilty. That accomplishes almost nothing, with people thinking, ‘Well, as long as I obey the law, or follow my role in society, I’ll be fine.’
“No, police and prosecutors must also punish the innocent—especially the innocent, or punish people when they are innocent. That way, the rest of those population observing this unjust punishment will be in total and constant fear. No one is safe.
“As a result, will never dare to deviate from the dictates of power, and will then be bending over themselves trying to please those who are in power. Those punishments of these innocents are not acts of injustice, but rather, necessary sacrifices for maintaining social order.”
Accusations–about the UNION PRESIDENT–an excellent teacher–occurred in the district in which I taught, as well. The man–who’d never taken a sick day in his long teaching career, & stayed after school helping kids almost EVERY day (w/o pay)– was publicly humiliated & fired. He was a beloved, caring & outstanding teacher (& I saw it first-hand almost every day for years, as I co-taught with him & also stayed after school, conferring w/him about the numerous students we shared & how we could better help them) who was set up by a disgruntled student. Luckily, for him, he was able to retire with his pension (especially w/all those unused sick days).
A sham & a shame–especially for the students.
Never close your classroom door and never be alone with any student. I use these rules to help protect myself.
Agreed! Over 20 years of teaching this has served me well.
Never be alone. It’s either you in room full of kids, or you in an empty room.
Also, no hugging. When kids move in, I immediately throw up an open palm for a “high five” then a “fist pound,” keeping them at arm’s length.
If they look sad or hurt, just say, “Don’t take it personally. I only hug my own kids,” then show them pictures, and talk about them.
Also, immediately nip any questions about sex in the bud. If a kid asks something like “Can you get pregnant from-?”
“Nope. Sorry. Ain’t goin’ there. Any questions like that, go ask your moms and dads, not me.” Sound definitive and stick to that no matter what.
No bawdy humor either. They will take it and twist it to their own ignoble ends… as was the case with Rafe.
Thank you rbmtk, This defamed story of an exemplary Teacher Rafe Esquith, and your told experience have convinced me about evil acts from corrupted authorities, or from people who are lack of appreciation for good deeds.
I have followed Buddha’s advice that we only help people who desperately ask for help. NEVER offer free service to disgruntle people, except a “‘humble”” smile.
As Jack wrote:
[start quote]
Exactly! Stalin said it best:
“If you WANT FULL DICTATORIAL CONTROL OF PEOPLE, police and prosecutors can’t only punish the guilty. That accomplishes almost nothing, with people thinking, ‘Well, as long as I obey the law, or follow my role in society, I’ll be fine.’
“No, police and prosecutors MUST ALSO PUNISH THE INNOCENT—especially the innocent, or punish people when they are innocent. That way, the rest of those population observing this unjust punishment will be in total and constant fear. No one is safe.
“As a result, will never dare to deviate from the dictates of power, and will then be bending over themselves trying to please those who are in power. Those punishments of these innocents are not acts of injustice, but rather, NECESSARY SACRIFICES for maintaining social order.”
[end quote]
However, it is too bad that evils must pay their dues for their BAD karma. We are in the democratic society, NOT fascist or communist society. Time has come to catch LAUSD and all of administrative personnel to be responsible for damages of many thousands of excellent and dedicated Teachers’ lives in the past 10+ years. Back2basic.
It doesn’t matter. Just existing as a teacher is enough for an unscrupulous lawyer to fabricate a civil claim. Happens all the time. It happened to me over something that I had nothing to do with and had never happened.
Here, below, is the dossier on the powerful Beverly Hills attorney Deasy hired to defend him last year when the reporter, Annie Gilbertson, found the two year old emails that had been kept from public view by Deasy, Holmquist, and the district, indicating potential insider bidding advice with Apple and Pearson, with potential fraud as a felony. This is the basis of the FBI and SEC investigation of Deasy going on right now. A far cry from a charge of pushing a child 40 years ago, the nonsensical charge brought against Rafe by the vindictive and hysterical LAUSD administration today.
Folks, use your critical thinking skills. With Deasy possibly going to be charged by the Feds for major crimes, with Cortines already defendant in a filed sexual harassment suit, with over 400 ‘jailed’ teachers about to join in a class action suit against LAUSD, with Broad leading the charge to privatize public schools, does it not become crystal clear why this manufactured charge against Rafe came at this moment?
We asked repeatedly last year when Deasy hired Saferstein, who paid this huge legal fee? Was it charged to LAUSD so that we the taxpayers paid for his lawyer, or was it paid for by Broad? Or is Deasy so wealthy that he could afford one on the highest paid lawyers in the US?
——————————————————————————
Harvey Saferstein
Harvey is the Managing Member for the firm’s Los Angeles office. His practice includes antitrust and intellectual property counseling and litigation, as well as complex commercial and business litigation.
With an extensive litigation background, Harvey has experience as trial and appellate counsel in antitrust cases and class actions within federal and state courts. In antitrust and consumer protection investigations, he has represented numerous businesses, advising them on how to comply with state and federal antitrust laws (such as the Robinson-Patman Act), consumer protection laws, and other business regulations. Additionally, Harvey has conducted compliance seminars for major corporations, performed Hart-Scott-Rodino filings in mergers and joint ventures, and offered compliance counseling for major advertisers regarding consumer protection laws, intellectual property rights, and media law. Harvey has handled a variety of patent cases in Los Angeles and San Diego federal court, including cases involving software and media patents.
Among Harvey’s many litigation management successes is his involvement in the organization, structuring, and hiring of personnel for a free-standing “branch” office in Chicago. This group went on to represent a Chicago-based client in a hostile takeover. Harvey has also represented persons and companies alleged to have been involved in criminal price fixing.
Outside of the antitrust and class action realm, Harvey has handled all types of business disputes, including intellectual property, employment disputes, and complex business litigation.
As member of the Board of Governors and President of the State Bar of California, as well as the Chair of the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference, Harvey has had the opportunity to become involved in the appointment process for both state and federal judges in California and Los Angeles.
Harvey serves as an adjunct law professor teaching The Law of Advertising and the First Amendment at UCLA Law School.
During law school, he was the executive editor of the Harvard Law Review. After graduating from law school, Harvey served as a law clerk to Chief Judge Bailey Aldrich, US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, in Boston, Massachusetts, and as an attorney advisor to Federal Trade Commissioner Philip Elman in Washington, DC. Harvey served as Regional Director of the Federal Trade Commission for two years.
Representative Matters
Successfully defended a major Mintz Levin client in the Katz Interactive patent cases in the Central District of California
Recently served as part of a multi-law firm team that successfully litigated and settled a multimillion-dollar federal antitrust consumer class action against a major Southern California company
Coordinated a post-trial team, which overturned a $700 million federal antitrust jury verdict
Currently representing a person in a major federal antitrust grand jury investigation
Currently representing a company in a bid-rigging investigation in Los Angeles County
Represented New Name, Inc. against Disney Enterprises, Inc., regarding a trademark and copyright infringement, obtaining a favorable settlement
Recognitions & Awards
California Super Lawyers: Antitrust Litigation (2011 – 2014)
Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent
Professional & Community Involvement
Vice chair, Janet D. Steiger Fellowship Project, American Bar Association Antitrust Section
Vice president, Disability Rights Legal Center
Past regional director, Federal Trade Commission
Past president, State Bar of California
Past president, Association of Business Trial Lawyers
Past president, Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles
Past chair, Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference
rene
=
This is a long post but an important heads up—A new way to de-professionalize teaching while seeming to do the opposite.
The National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification has released a new ”Model Code of Ethics for Educators.” It comes to us with financial and staff support from the fraud-ridden mostly on-line University of Phoenix, Education Testing Service, the National Network of State Teachers of the Year and additional funding from “sponsoring organizations” . Those sponsors raise a bunch of red flags for me.
Among the funders are: the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the College Board, Pearson, American Institutes for Research, the fraud-ridded and mostly on-line University of Phoenix, also online products from Lets Go Learn. Add Scholastic, the School Improvement Network,Inc. (products galore on Common Core, teacher assessment, professional development), also the NY State Education Department.gov, and the New Jersey Education Association, the NEA and the NEA foundation. What a very, very odd bunch to be funding a Model Code of Ethics for Educators.
This “Model Code of Ethics for Educators” sets forth five principles, meaning “responsibilities”
Principle 1: Responsibility to the Profession, three subparts, 17 descriptors.
Principle 2. Responsibility for Professional Competence, three subparts, 15 descriptors
Principle 3. Responsibility to Students, three subparts, 16 descriptors
Principle 4. Responsibility to the School Community, for subparts, 19 descriptors
Principle 5. Responsible and Ethical Use of Technology, four subparts, 16 descriptors
I am not a lawyer, but this “model code” reads like a document articulating 82 ways to play “gotcha” with an educator, especially any teacher who may be inclined to question policies from higher up.
It also reads like a camel, a document put together by a committee without careful thinking, or editing. It fails to distinguish between a code of ethics, a code of conduct, and a code of practice.
Under this garbled code—better described as a laundry list of possible infractions—you are explicitly judged “unprofessional” if you question “the procedures, policies, laws and regulations relevant to professional practice regardless of personal views.” That sounds like another version of comply or else, with “professional practice” treated as a fixed-in-time concept and an unambiguous set of “best practices.”
With this Model Code you are unprofessional if you are NOT ready “to perform duties and services of any professional assignment,” ANY…even if the assignment is ridiculously unprofessional. Think of the testing regime at this historic moment. Here is another recent example: The certified visual art teacher is asked to teach music as well. He correctly informs the principle and school committee that he is not competent to also teach music because he has not studied music and is not certified to teach music. For the sake of the students and his professional identity, he declines to accept this assignment thrust on him a means to save money. So, is his refusal to accept the assignment “professional” or “unprofessional?” This code of ethics labels him unprofessional.
Some of the “ethical” principles and points in this “model code” are really ironic, given that teachers are not, in fact, free to take professional action because decisions have been made elsewhere, at the district level.
Example: Under Principle 2. Responsibility for Professional Competence, Subpart B.: “The professional educator demonstrates responsible use of data, materials, research and assessment by:
Point 2. “Using developmentally appropriate assessments for the purposes for which they are intended and for which they have been validated to guide educational decisions.“
or consider
Point 6. Using data, data sources, or findings accurately and reliably.
Given mandated testing policies that violent these very principles, what is the point of this code? This code sets you up to be damned if you do follow absurd, invalid, unreliable district and state policies, and also damned if don’t.
Who is responsible for this “model code?” NASDTEC represents professional standards boards and commissions and state departments of education in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense Education Activity, the U.S. Territories, (add three Canadian provinces) responsible for the preparation, licensure, and discipline of educational personnel.
How is this brand new code rationalized? The rationale actually sounds a lot like the initial rationale for the Common Core State Standards.
“In the United States there are 50 separate measures of what constitutes misconduct by professional, certified educators. Each state or jurisdiction has its own laws and rules, and thus as a nation, we are often challenged by the variances in both the process of discipline when an educator has misbehaved as well as the basic tenets upon which discipline may or may not be issued. “…. “These disparities diminish the ability of the education profession to establish for itself the baseline behaviors that society can and should expect of professional educators and indeed what a practitioner can and should expect of him or herself.”
Establishing and supporting a uniform guidance of ethics for educators is a challenging task, yet the need is obvious. The challenge is not the regulatory process itself; each jurisdiction can and should have its unique system of entry and regulation. Rather, we must articulate a clear framework from which standards of conduct for educators are consistently and similarly established, adopted, and enforced, and that professional educators can internalize regardless of where they practice. “
Who wrote this ethical code? A NASDTEC task force, with twenty nominated members from “a number of sponsoring organizations,” comprised of “ten teachers,, three principals, four state department directors, two superintendents, and one paraprofessional” all of them “highly effective” with staff support from the funders and NASDTEC. No mention of faculty from teacher preparation programs.
This dubious code is not a stand-alone product. It is a means to justify reports to the NASDTEC Educator Identification Clearinghouse. This database is a “national collection point for professional educator discipline actions taken by the fifty states, the District of Columbia, U.S. Department of Defense Educational Opportunity schools, and the U.S. Territories. The Clearinghouse maintains a database of all disciplinary actions reported by NASDTEC members and disseminates this information to all participating NASDTEC jurisdictions. The goal of the Clearinghouse is to provide each NASDTEC member state/jurisdiction with a notification of an action taken against the certificate/license of an educator by other member states/jurisdictions and in doing so, to protect the interests of children served by the professional education community within the United States and beyond.”
This national database will include “names, birth dates, and other identifying information of individuals who have had their professional educator certificates/licenses annulled, denied, suspended, revoked, or otherwise invalidated.”
“While the presence of a name in the database does not necessarily preclude an individual from successfully obtaining a certificate/licensure in a jurisdiction, it does provide the governing agency a safety net enabling officials to review the nature of the license/certificate action and determine if further action is warranted before issuing the certificate or license.“
Sounds like a version of America’s most wanted, rationalized as if all state policies and laws and local contracts were not sufficient “to protect the interests of children” from their teachers. One database fits all teachers with “an action” so your name is up there, presumed guilty, even if you have not violated the law or been convicted. and look again at who is pushing and sponsoring this code of ethics.
For other codes of ethics see those of The Association of American Educators, 1994 (the non-union professional educators organization); NEA, 1974; NEA; National Association for the Education of Young Children, 2005. All states do have codes of ethics.. For an excellent discussion of the differences among codes of Ethics, codes of Conduct, and codes of Practice see http://www.doctorshangout.com/group/standard_clinical_guidelines/forum/topics/difference-between-code-of-ethics-code-of-conduct
What good is a local contract, if big brother is watching? Here is another example of how computers can be used to label and pigeonhole teachers. We seem to have gone backwards about fifty years in workers’ rights.
Given the horror stories that almost every teacher can recount of how a fellow teacher was accused of unprofessional conduct, all we need is a document that seeks to legitimize just about any action administration might take against a teacher.
This deserves its own post on Diane’s blog. This is basically codifying witchhunts by administrators against teachers.
By the way, the public can find out the same thing on teachers in most states because it is public information, and some, like Oregon, publish disciplinary actions by licensing boards against teachers.
Sounds similar to the infamous Danielson rubric. I would be curious how they connect side by side. Another long list of impossible to meet all the time gotchas. They are not playing around anymore, are they?
So depressing. I know of at least one case where the district literally invented an accuser, probably hoping that the teacher would just quit. That did not happen, and eventually, having never produced an actual person, the district freed the teacher and allowed the teacher to go back to the classroom. Talk about unethical! It’s another front in the war on teachers.
Just like I mentioned before, nobody knows all the facts to this case. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are more accusers. Investigations are confidential, that’s why nothing is leaked. The only reason this one was in the press was the accuser contacted LA Times or whomever. If the former student didn’t, you wouldn’t even have heard about it.
Instead of everyone being so angry at LAUSD, just keep an open mind and wait until the investigation is done, then make your judgement.
To KtFF:
Here is for you to read, pls open the link
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2111957-la-school-report-21-pra-response-w-docs-2.html
Please read all exhibits A-F
And here are a few of comments on LA Times
• pdeecool
• Rank 225
There you go again laTimes, censoring my responses. Too real for you. Let me reiterate what I said, let those without guilt throw the first stone. Who doesn’t have incidents in their past that are questionable. Let’s investigate Cortines’ history with LAUSD. Let’s see, harrassment, abuse of employee, unethical relations with companies doing business with the district, unfair targeting of teachers since teacher jail began under his tenure. I could go on and on. We told you that the district would go on a fishing expedition to dig up dirt on this teacher. That’s what they do. To go back 30 years in order to entrap this educator is sick and vile. If karma is to be believed, LAUSD and this BOE have it coming. big time.
• tahoboc
• Rank 2645
While LAUSD is expanding investigations, they should focus on Ramon Cortinez. He has not responded satisfactorily to accusations of sexually abusing his employee boyfriend. How many others might have testimony about him?
• Tiresias
• Rank 207
@sinclair323
LAUSD operates its programs by using high-paid consultants, spending taxpayer money which no-one has any idea where it goes, and engaging in programs which are not well thought-out and often end in dead ends. (iPad/MiSiS/BIC/restorative justice/Pearson software/etc.)
Esquith makes the administration of LAUSD look bad because he operates above board and has successful results without draining LAUSD’s budget.
No wonder they’re out to get him.
• tmares
• Rank 17468
Hmmm, 40 years ago. This is not just about Rafe Esquith. This is about the systemic abuse of teachers within the LAUSD. They pull someone from the classroom and then initiate a witch hunt. At least it is being blown wide open now. This district is responsible for so much damage and destruction of the lives of teachers and students. It is time for them to pay for what is clearly illegal activity. I’m wishing Geragos well with a class action lawsuit. Esquith is high profile but this type of thing has been happening for years and the numbers of people affecting are in the thousands.
I do not know who you are and your age is. However, nobody is suddenly becoming an evil or a saint, Mostly, it takes certain period of time to experience and grow to be conscientious from BORN with innate compassion. This fabricated story will come out at its MOST punitive price so that communist and fascist corporations must learn fast and must pay quickly before citizens will unite and rise up for their Rights. Back2basic
Drew,
Virgil A. County was indeed one of the two LAUSD investigators that questioned Rafe during the contentious May 27th interview…
But hey, he did something nice for his city of Signal Hill, CA… as evidenced by this award:
http://civicrecognition-17.org/news/74336200017668/Virgil-County-Signal%20Hill-California.html
I have a hard time believing that this guy coming to the L.A. Times and telling his story was done independent of LAUSD’s wishes.
Either one of the following happened:
1) LAUSD gave the L.A. TIMES reporter Zahira Torres the guy’s contact information the day the suit was served;
OR
2) under direction from LAUSD, the guy called Torres on exactly the day he did.
The timing—the day after a class action suit was filed against LAUSD—is simply too suspicious.
If this is not the case, then the timing was perfect… too pefect… from LAUSD’s point of view, that is. It totally took the spotlight off teacher jails and alleged falsely accused teachers, putting it on Rafe—and perhaps intimidated those same teachers who were thinking of joining the class action suit into keeping away from it—guilt by association and all that… leaving Rafe isolated from allies… Sun-Tzu’s THE ART OF WAR-style.
Ms. Torres can come on this blog and set this whole thing straight if she wishes, and give her own account of how she contacted the man, or vice-versa… and exactly when this all happened.
One more thing though:
EXACTLY WHO are these investigators who’ve been assigned full time for the last three months with the sole task of getting dirt on Rafe (paying for all that ain’t cheap)?
To which entity do they belong?
Are they local law enforcement (LAPD)?
Employees of LAUSD’s Human Resource Department?
LAUSD School Police detectives?
Outside private detectives subcontracted by LAUSD?
What are their credentials or training for running this investigation? Are there any written LAUSD guidelines for how they are supposed to conduct themselves? Things that they are allowed to do? Things that they are not allowed to do? From this lawsuit filing, apparently there are no such guidelines:
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2111957-la-school-report-21-pra-response-w-docs-2.html
In this narrative, they seem to acting totally without such restraint, asking whatever questions they want whenever they want, doing whatever they want whenever they want, while not offering any information about their own foundations for what they are asking.
Also, were they part of LAUSD prior to the Broadies and Deasy coming into LAUSD in 2010? Or did Deasy bring them in? Are they in any way connected to the Broad Foundation, or another corporate reform group?
If they are not local law enforcement, then when are LAPD going to join this whole circus? Will an LAPD investigation supplant or terminate the one done so far, or will it go parallel to it?
Every LAUSD employee is a mandated reporter, and failure to call the cops at this point would constitute a felony.
At one point in the lawsuit filings, Geragos communicates his anger to the investigators that they did not follow his request and contact him with any questions that they might have, and in contrast to that, contact Rafe?
Their response was basically. We’re going to keep contacting him directly whether you like it or not.
At this point, I guess Rafe then has to say, “Please address this to Mr. Geragos, my attorney. His number is…. “, then hang up the phone. At which point, LAUSD can claim non-cooperation, and that shows guilt on Rafe’s part.
As to the identities of the investigators and their supervisors, a perusal of the documents in the lawsuit yields some info:
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2111957-la-school-report-21-pra-response-w-docs-2.html
Collectively, the documents identify four people involved in the case… other than Superintendent Cortines and LAUSD’s General Counsel David Holmquist:
1) Virgil A. County — Senior Investigator — LAUSD Office of General Counsel (David Holmquist)
2) Dave (Davie) Devereaux — LAUSD Operations Coordinator
3) Mike Voigt — Coordinator — LAUSD Employee Relations Branch of Human Resources
4) Ray Johnson — an LAUSD (or an outside investigator contracted by LAUSD) investigator who works with County—who was present in a meeting with Geragos & Geragos’ attorney Ben Meiselas.
Google search shows that
Virgil A.(Antonio) County, 56, was formerly an official with the City of Santa Monica’s Division in charge of cemeteries. Specifically, he supervised Santa Monica’s Woodlawn cemetery. His residence is in Signal Hill, California, part of Los Angeles County’s South Bay region just north of Long Beach.
I don’t see anything that shows a background in law enforcement, criminal investigation, or investigation of any kind… but who knows?
In 2011, Virgil spearheaded a move to promote Santa Monica’s use of mortuaries over that of cemeteries, which he recounted in a letter to the editor in a Santa Monica newspaper.
A connection to Broad? Who knows? Why would Cortines’ top lawyer David Holmquist hire as his top investigator of teachers some guy who used to supervise cemeteries for the City of Santa Monica? That would explain some of the bone-head moves recounted by Geragos.
Dave (Davie) Devereaux is curently LAUSD Operations Coordinator
Devereaux worked as a vice-principal from 2005 to ? in LAUSD somewhere.
Davie was an LAUSD teacher from 1991 – ?.
Davie worked as a coordinator of LAUSD’s Beyond the Bell program.
Davie graduated from Clark Atlanta University some time in the late 1980’s / early 1990’s. That would place him in his mid-40’s.
Mike Voigt, A Coordinator in LAUSD’s Employee Relations Division of Human Resourses,
As with LAUSD’s top counsel David Holmquist, Mike is a practicing attorney, having graduated from UWLA Law School
In addition to his work at LAUSD, he has his own office, “THE LAW OFFICES OF MICHAEL J. VOIGT”:
http://www.themvlaw.com/
Voigt also served as an attorney in other nearby school districts, including the Torrance Unified School District, and the Redondo Beach Unified School District.
He’s admitted to practice in all of the following:
California Supreme Court
U.S. District Court
Federal Tax Court
U.S. Military Court of Appeals
U.S. Court of International Trade
That’s impressive.
The last guy…
Ray Johson is an investigator, and it’s hard to find any info as it’s such a common name.
Wait. There’s a Linkedin showing a self-employed “Ray Johnson” who is a Private Investigator/Security Consultant, working in nearby Corona, California
He also works in Real Estate at EXIT GOLD STAR REALTY
He graduated from Arizona State University, and has an MBA from Pepperdine.
Could this be the same “Ray Johnson” investigating Esquith?
Hey Jack,
You may have spoken too soon about Virgil County… with all that civic award stuff from the city of Signal Hill.
Because heeeeere’s Virgil—as Administrator of Pierce Brothers Memorial Cemetery in San Fernando Valley’s Westlake area— officiously and callously enforcing a policy that is upsetting grieving parents who visit their deceased children at a cemetery:
http://www.mpacorn.com/news/2004-04-01/Community/021.html
No more plastic flowers or plastic ANYTHING—toys, trinkets, Beanie Babies, wind chimes, etc.— can be placed at a gravesite… only fresh cut flowers and nothing else.
“I visit her at the garden every day,” said Alexander (grieving mother). Leaving toys, such as her daughter’s favorite stuffed bunny, helps her grieve, she said. “It is all I can do for her.”
No can do, says Virgil County.
And one more thing… this link shows Virgil County to be a 1977 graduate of Oxnard High School, in Oxnard, Californa:
http://www.classmates.com/people/Virgil-County/8708546978
Looks like Virgil’s Class of ’77 is already gearing up for their 40th reunion two years ahead of time!
“Say Virge, glad you made it to the reunion, You’re lookin’ good, dude!”
“You too.”
“What line o’ work have you been in lately?”
“Oh just some L.A. Unified stuff, investigating for their top shyster lawyer, this guy Dave Holmquist… ”
“What’s that all about?
“You know… the usual… tormenting innocent public school teachers, destroying their careers, ruining their lives… pays good, too… six figures.”
“Cool!”
Oh and this guy Virgil County stays in shape, too…
… running in a lot marathons, half-marathons, 10 K’s, 5 K’s, etc.:
http://www.athlinks.com/Result/Search#!athlete/Virgil%20County
Oh and Virgil’s a former Marine, serving in the Reserves from 1981 to 1991. That explains the whole fitness, marathon-running thing.
Maybe as a badass Marine, Virgil County looks at Mr. Esquith skeptically, wondering why this middle-aged man is spends SO much time with pre-teen kids… What’s Mr. Esquith’s real motive? Teaching little kids should be a woman’s job, not something a real man would do.
On that newspaper above, CLICK on it, open it, then go to page 9, to read the article about Woodlawn Cemetery’s and U.S. Marine’s Toys for Tots charity… a good deed by Virgil County, to be sure… and they mention Virgil’s service in the the Marines from 1981-1991.
KTFF,
Whether the allegations are true or not, LAU sat on this for ten years without doing anything. That’s a different type of criminal, one –most would have thought–it learned its lesson from a few years ago. LAU already paid over 30 million for those mistakes.
“Instead of everyone being so angry at LAUSD, just keep an open mind and wait until the investigation is done, then make your judgement.”
And, as from your other posts, you have already made up your mind. Hypocrite much?
TheMorgan,
I am with you. The people here always claim to know a lot more than the authorities at LAUSD who are investigating. Let us all wait for the conclusion of this story. We do not have the right to judge based on information from these blogs.
Knowthefactsfirst….you are not a careful reader and evidently you do not know the district though I suspect that you are a shill for the district or for PRev or Broad.
The 49 year old man who was contacted by the district was never a student of this teacher. 40 years ago, he was a kid in an after school program at the Jewish Center where this teacher worked when he himself was a teen ager and still in school. There has never been a SINGLE LAUSD student who has come forth in 30 years to accuse this master teacher of ANYTHING.
If the LAUSD administration owned up to saying to the LA Times reporter that they were “only looking to interview those students and others who disliked Rafe” then it seems obvious that their investigators hunted this man down in NYC.
They also attempted to put words into the mouths of students by asking “did he ever hurt you”? This is not how children are approached by trained social workers during professional investigations.
I wonder if the LASUD school district employee who filed such serious sexual harassment charges (you can read this filing online) against the interim Supt. Cortines got to ask all his lifetime of male contacts “did he ever hurt you?” and request publicly that all those he did hurt come forward. There are police reports on this Supt. and it is all public information….but not a single police report on this teacher has turned up.
Granted we should not jump to conclusions, but we who live and work in the midst of the LAUSD have seen all conniving and trashy things play out for years…from Contines as regular full time Supt., to Deasy who did his dirty business for almost 4 years as Supt…and now back to Cortines. Nothing surprises us any more. We keep thinking it cannot get worse, but it always does. And teachers are kept in line with threats of teacher jail and losing their pensions and their health care.
The LASR put a great spin on the last B0E meeting, but reading other reports by folks who were there and saw that Deasy’s close pals on the Board, toadies of Eli Broad, Garcia and Galaztan, did not even have the good grace to stay for meeting, we all know the kind of internecine ‘puke’ that goes on there.
Know the Facts, it is hard to take seriously a 40-year-old complaint where there is no evidence.
Diane..my guess is that both Raj and KnowFacts are on the LAUSD payroll. And to follow up on Jack’s comments about the Broadies there, it is well known in LA that Eli has way too much influence on the district, and not only brings in people like Deasy, but he also helps pay their salaries. This should never be allowed…but like Citizens United, the one who has the greatest wealth seems to call all the shots. Former Mayors Riordan and Villaraigos both folded to his edicts. His involvement with the Belmont HS disaster is also well known, and it was called by many political commentators, the greatest sham and waste of public money in the history of public education.
So much shady stuff happens in this County that is almost impossible to keep up with it all.
I have literally waited years for us to have this discussion and frankly, I am not as overjoyed as I thought I would be after listening to Brian Claypool forsake all the good teachers who have him insights about why the instruct protects the TRUE offenders. It is a very common thing all over the country . We saw the offenders, guys who admitted they had sex with 12 year old girls or acted out in ways that were consistent with thier charges . The guilty peole got treated way differently than the innocents , who were the majority . The guy openly discussed his sexual relationship with a student. There were definitely miscreants in the mix . Most of them could run around, talk loud and watch movies . We were supposed stay puuntil breaks. . They accused of doing things we hadn’t done
Ole moving furniture . My cellie was a good guy as he studied Hebrew all day while I snuck in my. iPad to to write and doodle . We took notes of what went on around us. We saw phenomenal waste and recorded these people unethical and bullying behaviors . The more you resist the more fuckery they slang at ya. They went hater my cellie’s credential . I think he kept it as did I , but we were so stressed out . I have a book anout all of it and in hindsight hit frightens me. The perv and personality disorder who physically abused autistic children we’re never harassed and stayed years then retired out . We keep track of them in the state’s credentials site Some people get forced out . Teachers die! Even when the court a finds for the teacher, LAUSD refuses to abide the orders to reinstate them . These people are insane . What my friend Sig is accused of and admits to was just a bad call she made unders stress because they mob you before you get to languish in some office s where inmates are banned from the kitchen , mad dogged in the rest room and even gaped at like zoo animals . They would try to still us in our cubicle . Everything was surreal and strange yet beige, it’s an ordeal . You don’t get that until they gotcha .
It’s been almost 40 years. This is not FBI allegation of St. Louis Cardinals being accused of spying on Houston Astros database two weeks ago. Too lame to get this as a reason why the teacher is being suspended indefinitely.
The allegations were released two weeks ago, while the alleged hacking supposedly took place in 2013 and/or 2014.
The fact remains, though in baseball, “If your not stretching/bending the rules then you’re not trying”.
No way! Is this what they’ve come up with to get rid of a great teacher?
Today’s further false allegations are the pure villainy of a thwarted bureaucracy gone berserk lashing out with even more lies. Cynical as this sounds, it might even be a gesture against Rafe’s lawyer’s call for a class action suit for due process (which has been suspended in Los Angeles for teachers.)
A member of the Hobart Shakespeareans Foundation board of directors that I know was questioned by these very investigators, and this person likened their tactics to everyone’s worst imagining of the insults, lies and bullying intimidation of KGB-esque Secret Police, the destructive fantasies of the IRS or even Abu Ghraib (minus the physical element) while withholding any context whatsoever.
I’ve known and worked with Rafe Esquith for a few decades and now go on public record to write that Rafe Esquith is one the finest humans on the planet ever. His dedication to making public education WORK for these underprivileged kids remains sincere, effective and absolutely unassailable.
These villains will do anything to justify their wasted man-hours trying to bring down a person who has accomplished only good for untold hundreds of students in his life. Shame on these quislings and apparatchiks all!!
“A member of the Hobart Shakespeareans Foundation board of directors that I know was questioned by these very investigators, and this person likened their tactics to everyone’s worst imagining of the insults, lies and bullying intimidation of KGB-esque Secret Police, the destructive fantasies of the IRS, or even Abu Ghraib (minus the physical element) while withholding any context whatsoever. ”
KGB indeed.
It’s as if, within the borders of the supposedly democratic United States—where citizens’ due process rights, privacy rights, rights to a fair trial, right to speak freely, etc. are all protected and enforced by the Constitution—a totally out-of-control, abuse-happy police state exists within school districts like LAUSD, where these investigators and other school officials can act as if any and all Constitutional rights do not exist, and then go and abuse teachers with total impunity… and somehow this is all perfectly legal, because, in part, they can always just fall back on the bromide…
JUSTIFICATION:
“… the needs and safety of students must always take precedence over the needs or safety of adults. In endeavoring to protect children, there must be no limits on what investigators and school district officials can do… anything and everything—legal or illegal, fair or unfair—that may help ensure child safety must be allowed, and those seeking to protect children must remain immune from any consequence—criminal, civil, or employment-related (i.e. getting fired, demoted, etc.)
“If innocent teachers get hurt in the process… well, that’s just too damn bad. They’re adults. They can take it. They’ll get over it.”
Former Superintendent John Deasy would always brag in interviews about how, under his leadership, the number of teachers that were fired or otherwise removed or pressured to leave LAUSD went up into the hundreds annually… a five-fold increase one year, then a ten-fold increase the next… as if that raw statistic was something that should impress everyone—a perverse form of corporate reform, data-driven policy in action.
Deasy, of course, was making the false implication that all of those teachers deserved it, and that students are now better off because those teachers are gone.
Esquith’s story is an illustration of how Deasy was able to make that purge of veteran teachers happen, and how bogus the the notion is that, as a result of that purge, students are now better off. If Esquith ends up leaving after this, hundreds of future students will most certainly not be better off as a result.
Also, like Esquith, almost all of those departing teachers were at the high end of the salary scale (over age 50, 20-to-30-plus years at LAUSD), and about to “vest” or qualify for lifetime health benefits… saving the district $500,000, on average, for every such teacher who was denied lifetime benefits because they were fired or who left before reaching the necessary threshold of time on the job. That health benefits’ savings was apart from the huge savings of being able to replace veteran teachers’ high salaries with the salaries of low-paid newbies.
As someone else here said, that’s a sick way of showing gratitude to those who, decades ago, chose teaching as a life-time, modestly-compensated career. Deasy even said that teachers should stop thinking of this as a career, and leave the profession after, at most, 5 years on the job. Those who stay longer should watch out, because, in Deasy’s words, “experience in teaching is over-rated.”
This has me thinking about the reform trope on “effective” teachers, that they be superman, or rock stars or TFA-style martyrs, or whatever. Rafe Esquith is an actual teacher who comes as close to that trope as you can get, but as a highly experienced teacher, also has a strong point of view, is outspoken and obviously not intimidated by the reform bureaucracy.
So here is this true rock star teacher and all they want to do is retaliate against him and bring him down. The “reform movement” always wants it both ways. Can we ever win with these people? I feel like it’s time for a poem. SomeDAM poet, where are you?
To all dedicated Teachers:
Whenever a threat, or a fabricated story comes down on us, please simply curse a pray to the source. It works for me all the time.
Here how I do. Please God and Angel protect me from evil. Whoever intentionally harms me, they will suffer the loss of both in health and in wealth many more folds of that I suffer. However, if this is my karma, I accept the loss to certain degree, BUT not to my good deeds. Since I truly believe in karma, evil can not stop me doing good deeds. Therefore, evil shall suffer a terminal illness, or near death experience then my curse will end.
I stop cursing evil or bad deeds done done to me by bad people as soon as I am 60 years old, because I practice forgiveness before I will be soon “under six feet”. However, if I were still young, I will continue cursing the source that harms me emotionally and physically.
You need to try to believe the power of our true GOOD DEEDS. Back2basic
It’s evident by the responses to this post that educators and community in Los Angeles are upset at LAUSD’s devolution of this teacher’s character. If anyone’s past was delved into over a 40 year period, who couldn’t come up with questionable things. Let those who are without sin throw the first stone. I have read all these wonderful comments and its clear to me as a falsely accused teacher who was terminated that this is an insidious process and LAUSD has been allowed to follow it for too long. The only solution is legal. Yes, LAUSD will put its full legal might behind this because they have our money to use but they will not win.Its time for this persecution of teachers to stop.What saddens me even more is the complete absence of the teacher’s union in this fight. How can you call yourself a union when you don’t legally protect your members or enforce your own contract. Not only should LAUSD administation and BOE be discharged with prejudice but UTLA, you are as complicit as them and need to be sued.
Here’s another story of how LAUSD (mis)handles a case where a teacher is accused of something:
http://laschoolreport.com/teacher-says-lewd-facebook-page-by-lausd-student-cost-him-job-health/
1) LAUSD and Sun Valley High teacher Jason Duchan discovers a student drawing genitals on his desk, then reports this to the principal, who then informs the student’s parents, causing the student to get in big trouble with the adults both at school and at home;
2) That same night, the student retaliates by fabricating a Facebook page that is supposedly created by the teacher, Jason Duchan, full of lewd images and writing—all in an effort to frame Duchan; the teacher remains unaware of the page’s existence for over a year;
3) A year or so later, LAUSD’s “Student Safety Investigative Team” (yeah, that’s what the call it) discovers the Facebook page, but does not deign to talk first to the teacher, Jason, Duchan, and ask him whether or not he was the lewd Facebook page’s actual creator, even though doing so would have cleared the matter up instantly;
4) Instead, Duchan is suspended and hauled off to “teacher jail” without being told the reason, where he languishes for weeks before discovering the charge—and not from LAUSD, but from another teacher, his school’s union rep; upon Duchan’s removal, LAUSD immediately sends out a letter informing all of the parents of students at the school that Duchan was under investigation for possibly being a danger to students;
5) The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) becomes involved and does what LAUSD’s quasi-police unit, “The Student Safety Investigative Team”, did not… they first go to Duchan to hear his side of things, who then tells it all — his innocence, how this was all the doings of a mischievous, vindictive student out to frame him, etc.;
The moment Duchan saw the Facebook page, he said he knew who created it. Two of the posts made reference to a student being accused of drawing genitals on a desk, and Duchan said the date the page was created corresponds exactly to the time he reported a student to the assistant principal for drawing genitals on a desk;
6) LAPD quickly investigates the matter, arrests the student for “false impersonation” on a Facebook page, and LAPD Detective Lisette Fuentes issues a statement fully exonerating Duchan;
7) Instead of putting Duchan back to work and apologizing to him, Jose Cantu, head of the district’s Student Safety Investigative Team, said that an active investigation of Duchan by the district is still underway, although he wouldn’t comment on the details;
8) Two weeks later, and after some outcry, Duchan was told by LAUSD that he could return to his classroom, but, as a condition of his return, demanded that he sign a paper that acknowledged he was still under investigation and could not talk about the case. Duchan said he refused to go back to the Sun Valley High campus because he had heard many students thought he was guilty, so he didn’t feel safe returning.
“They were putting me into a hostile environment. They had already sent letters home, and wouldn’t parents be upset to find out a teacher under investigation was back in the classroom?” he said.
Duchan, who teaches media art classes, said he went on medial leave and returned to the district on Feb. 2 as a full-time substitute teacher at a different school. He said the district will only offer him is his old job and no other full-time work. Duchan said he feels his name and reputation have been ruined at the campus.
“I’m trying not to cry when I talk about it,” he said. “I’m going through very severe PTSD, panic attacks, and I have acute insomnia.”
Here’s some TV news coverage of the Jason Duchan affair (ABOVE). This piece, which includes an interview with Duchan where he breaks down, is very sympathetic to his plight:
http://abc7.com/news/teacher-suspended-for-inappropriate-fb-posts-says-he-was-framed/521790/
Also, Duchan was a teacher at John Francis Polytechnic High School… left that out, sorry.
That’s what I’m talking about. This LAUSD is not interested in anything but sullying teacher’s reputations and forcing them out of the profession. That teacher should definitely sue the district for all the pain its caused him. Tragic yet happening everyday. Thanks UTLA, for nothing.
I remember the case that you spoke of Diane. It occurred in the town I lived in. It was awful for the poor teacher, who was never able to recover from the false accusations.
Holy moly what mess. I do hope he is taking copious notes and will write a blockbuster book on this. I will certainly purchase a copy. Have a couple of his books and decided to read There Are No Shortcuts once again. Mr. Esquith describes his transition from modeling his behavior according to Huck Finn to that of Atticus Finch in chapter 7. He describes his admiration for Finch and the correlation of his life in the classroom with that of a courtroom. I sure do hope he will be guided in this horrible situation by that character’s code of ethics. It sure would make sense to take off for new territory like Huck but I also see that there will be greater satisfaction in the conclusion if he fights the fight as best he can following his own code. Much of There Are No Shortcuts deals with his mea culpa about past mistakes and how he learned and changed for the better due to mistakes. He comes across as very willing to admit to making wrong decisions and once brought to his attention to correct and learn. He sets such a high standard for his own conduct and has such high expectations for himself! This is just horrible to see what this man is being put through but I have a feeling that the outcome will be beneficial to students and in the end Mr. Esquith will prevail. My expectation is not based on any facts…..just seems like if this was Atticus going through this trauma he would work it out for the best and a just conclusion will occur. I do so hope for justice for this teacher and all employed by his school district who have been denied their civil rights.
Yeah, Mr. Esquith does aspire to be like Atticus Finch, explicitly and effortfully modeling this aspiration to his students — both in class and in his books — while encouraging his students and his readers to do likewise.
However, in this recent fiasco, the position in which Mr. Esquith finds himself is more like that of “TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD” defendant Tom Robinson… right down to the unconvincing witness (the guy quoted in the L.A. TIMES), the corrupt law enforcement (LAUSD investigators) railroading him, the spineless bystanders who sit idly by while something that they know is unjust is occurring, and also Mr. Esquith’s belonging to a persecuted minority (teachers) … but hopefully this comparison will not include Tom Robinson’s ultimate fate.
Here’s the tail end of Atticus’ closing argument in the movie:
Oh and here’s a nice video, with an assemblage of quotes showing Atticus’ wisdom:
By the way, Drew Cooper… if you’re reading this. Thanks for looking into this guy leading the investigation and who’s asking Mr. Esquith and his students all these interesting questions, Virgil A. County… and for digging all that stuff up about Mr. County… although I really couldn’t give a rip about his marathon running or his high school reunion… but thanks nonetheless.
One other thing, Drew… you sound like you’re a private investigator or something, so if you are… or even if you aren’t… could you try and ascertain if this Mr. County has any legal or law enforcement background, or if he has any training in interviewing suspects and witnesses in criminal investigations?
Or could you ascertain if Mr. County has any clinical social work training—i.e. an LCSW with a specialty in child trauma— that is legally required when someone in his position — as a school official — is interviewing children about sensitive topics, such as any alleged child abuse that those children being interviewed may or may not have suffered or witnessed?
If Mr. County does not have any such background or training — experience in the Marines, or in supervising cemeteries doesn’t quite cut it, don’t you know — that would explain a lot of what’s happened so far… and also constitute an appalling and serious breach on LAUSD’s part in hiring and allowing someone so unfit to conduct such questioning in the first place… and also open LAUSD up to significant legal liability, should any children so damaged in the process now opt to sue LAUSD (if that happened to any of mine, I sure would) … and it also puts in a bad light LAUSD’s top counsel David Holmquist, the person who hired County and allowed this to go on.
Mr. Esquith’s lawyer, in the court filings, expresses himself eloquently on all of this:
(PAGES 8-9 of the filing)
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2111957-la-school-report-21-pra-response-w-docs-2.html
Mark Geragos, Esq. : “A despicable and shocking investigation took place. Parents of students in Room 56 (Mr. Esquith’s class) confirm that these students were pulled from class, without parental consent, and grilled by adult-male investigators who made derogatory comments about Mr. Esquith.
” … students actually felt threatened by these LAUSD investigators. Parents of those students collectively complained to LAUSD about the harassing conduct at the hands of these LAUSD investigators. Parents complained that their children were removed from the classroom without parental consent. Parents feared for the health and safety of their children based on the investigators’ tactics.
“At least one student’s mental health was seriously, and medically compromised, by the conduct of these LAUSD investigators. The LAUSD investigators asked students, who had never complained about Mr. Esquith, loaded questions such as whether Mr. Esquith had ever done anything ‘bad,’ or anything that the ‘did not like.’ ”
Regarding the treatment and questions asked of Mr. Esquith, Geragos was equally scathing:
(PAGES 11-14)
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2111957-la-school-report-21-pra-response-w-docs-2.html
Mark Geragos, Esq. : “The May 18th Geragos letter also questioned why Mr. Esquith was being directly contacted by LAUSD on substantive matters when Mr. Esquith was known to be represented by attorneys.
“Indeed, directly contacting a represented party on especially significant matters such as this is highly improper, unethical, and anathema to the law. LAUSD was intentionally avoiding proper legal processes.
“… the questions (that were) asked (of) Mr. Esquith followed no interviewing protocol, or any appropriate or logical line of questioning. Counsel for Mr. Esquith took diligent notes of the questions being asked, which included:
“Do you know of any teachers who might not like you? If so, who are they?”
“List the women you dated when you were in college.”
“Were you ever counseled for pushing someone when you were a camp counselor at the JCC Jewish Center Summer Camp you worked at when you were a teenager 40 years ago?”
“Why might teacher X or teacher Y not like your teaching style?”
“Did you ever buy a student a hamburger off school grounds without first getting permission of the student’s parent? Do you know buying students food is against school policy?”
“Why don’t you have a backup plan for someone else for someone else to put on the annual Shakespeare performance, in case, for example, you have a heart attack, so it doesn’t have to be cancelled again like it was last year?”
“The questions, all of which would have been objectionable and completely out-of-line in any legitimate legal process, made clear that there was no clear or defined scope, or any legitimate purpose behind the LAUSD investigation. Nor did investigators reveal the scope or proffer any foundation for the questioning.
“It was patently obvious that LAUSD had used the initial allegations — which had proved meritless — as a pretext to conduct an open-ended investigation, and engage in scurrilous character assassination of Mr. Esquith, and appointed two full-time investigators for this purpose. This experience is shared by hundreds and thousands of other teachers whom LAUSD wanted to (and have) force(d) out under Superintendent Cortines’ regime.
“During the May 27, 2015 hearing, investigators conceded that the ‘initial investigation’ was based on Ms. Hayden’s report. However, the investigators did not state what the current purpose was. When Mr. Esquith responded to questions about teachers who ‘might not like him’, by stating that he is ‘generally supported by tens of millions of teachers throughout the world,’ the investigators responded, ‘the purpose of what we do is to find people who do not like you, not talk to your supporters.’ “
Well, you know the old saying, “You have to follow the investigation wherever it leads you.” That means you have to be fair to both sides. which I intend to do now.
On that score, I just found a highly positive article profiling Mr. County, one that tells of, among other things: funeral homes being the family business, his time in the Marines right out of high school, and…
… to answer your question, Allie, about his having a law enforcement background… the answer is “Yes”—15 years LAPD, rising to the rank of “Sergeant”—including time as a detective, and as an Internal Affairs investigator. People serving in those two positions are known for playing hardball in their interviewing of witnesses and suspects… (Did you ever see Andy Garcia’s character in INTERNAL AFFAIRS?)
In the article (BELOW), Sergeant County also tells some great anecdotes about serving on the force during the 1992 L.A. Riots.
It’s all here:
http://smdp.com/honoring-a-family-tradition/74315
There’s also another piece about how, while in the LAPD, Mr. … or… Sergeant County used youth participation in marathon running as a way to reach out and influence wayward youth for the better, as he is coaching the participating youngsters:
http://www.lapdonline.org/june_2000/news_view/28986
The supreme irony of that last bit is that Mr. County is doing the same thing with athletics that Mr. Esquith does with drama and music— use it put kids on the right path, and help them reach their potential. Also like Mr. Esquith, Mr. County donates his time for free.
Therefore, you’d think Mr. County would be in sync with a fellow civil like servant like Mr. Esquith who’s also out to do right by at-risk youth, but based on what happened during the interview, there was no such appreciation of Mr. Esquith’s work by Mr. County.
Perhaps it was the other LAUSD investigator, Ray Johnson, who was asking the tougher questions. Are the LAUSD investigators allowed to behave differently, or ask questions differently than those serving in actual law enforcement… as Mr. Esquith’s lawyer was utterly shocked by what occurred before and during the interview?
The story just gets curiouser and curiouser… to quote Lewis Carrol.