Super star teacher Rafe Esquith has filed a class action lawsuit against the Los Angeles school system. He is represented by a super star lawyer, Michael Geragos.
“High-profile attorney Mark Geragos has notified LAUSD that he intends to file a class action lawsuit about the so-called “teacher jails” that could involve hundreds–and potentially thousands–of past and present teachers.
“The required notice for the class action lawsuit was stamped and received by the school board on June 22, and 45 days from that date the suit will be filed, according to Ben Meiselas, an associate of Geragos & Geragos who is representing noted educator Rafe Esquith, who was taken from his classroom earlier this year and placed in teacher jail, pending an investigation on a variety of issues.
“The letter, obtained by the LA School Report, deals mostly with the Esquith case, but it also gives notice of a class action complaint “on behalf of all teachers, during the applicable statue of limitations period, who have been denied procedural and substantive due process by LAUSD.”
“The notice says: “It is anticipated the composition of the relevant class will be comprised of at least several thousand current and former LAUSD teachers who have similarly been deprived of due process, and have endured arbitrary process, undefined investigations, indefinite stays in teacher jail, and capricious classroom removals.”
“The issue is an especially volatile one with LA Unified, which has been severely criticized over the years by the teachers union, UTLA, for what union officials say is a capricious and unfair discipline system. Tensions were especially acute during John Deasy‘s years as superintendent, making the elimination of teacher jail a prime rallying cry of Alex Caputo-Pearl‘s run for the union presidency last year and the union’s subsequent campaign for a new labor agreement with the district.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
However this all turns out for Esquith and any other teachers, we have to accept that LAUSD has destroyed the Hobart Shakespeareans for all time. I don’t see how that program can recover.
However, this is the best news we have ever had in terms of exposing LAUSD and making them responsible for all the damage they did to innocent and worthwhile teachers who they slammed into teacher jail. It was only with this exemplary teacher Rafe Esquith being attacked, that this teacher with a nationwide, and worldwide reputation as the
“best teacher” could attract the attention of a top lawyer like Mark Geragos.
It gives hope of some legal relief to hundreds, possibly thousands, of imprisoned and defamed teachers. Hooray for the class action lawsuit. Please frightened and demoralized teachers, come out of hiding and contact this law firm NOW.
Since Hobart Shakespeareans is a self contained non profit 501c3 and was developed by Esquith, not the school nor the district, it should not be affected.
Ellen,
I’m not sure if the debilitating effects something like this has on a passionate teacher are completely clear. If the Hobart Shakespeareans return looking anything like they previously did, it would be testimony only to his resilience. I fear Mr. Powell is right and the program is, sadly, destroyed.
i understand your point, John, but Rafe Esquith is not a man who folds easily. He would never have risen to his status as a superb teacher at LAUSD unless he could buck their often intolerable system. I believe that his fortitude, and ability to choose an attorney such as Geragos to represent him, is one more hurdle he will successfully cross.
LAUSD has ruined the lives of so many teachers. Garagos should also charge the union which failed to protect them. Still waiting for that FBI report on the iPad scam. This criminal organization must be destroyed .
This should serve notice to all unions. Great idea Nancy.
Not necessarily. This could be used as a fund -raising tool for the Shakespeareans and Rafe could be returned to the classroom.
The latest is that the accuser, Marc Bennett, is recanting his 40 year-old accusations against Esquith.
First, here’s some background.
The vast majority of investigations in LAUSD are handled by the union, in the context of the LAUSD/UTLA management contract’s quasi-judicial process. In this realm, witnesses are never sworn in—i.e. under penalty of perjury— and the accused teacher cannot face or cross examine his accuser(s), or any witness(es) supporting the allegations. No one is ever put under oath… unless and until a lawsuit is filed.
That’s what’s maddening about this. If you don’t have the available funds to file a lawsuit, anyone can say anything, telling whatever lied they want to tell whenever they want to tell it, and you have no way to counter it.
What happened in this case is that Marc Bennett—the accuser making allegations of something improper—was told by the LAUSD folks who are targeting Rafe that all you have do to is just make a written and/or verbal statement, and then your involvement is over. That’s the way it usually works when the case is handled in the realm of the union contract’s due process.
The problem here is that Rafe both hired and lawyer—a powerful and prominent one at that, Marc Geragos—and filed a lawsuit, which means that the accuser, Marc Bennett would have had to go under oath in this case. It’s likely that Bennett will also also face a six-figure or seven-figure defamation lawsuit where Bennett, once again, will have to give sworn testimony, which if disproven or recanted later, opens Mr. Bennett up to federal perjury charges, as the case gets kicked up into federal court.
That’s probably why they dropped the 40 year-old accusations like a hot potato, and the accuser Marc Bennett folded like a cheap umbrella. “Hey, wait. You guys said this would never go to court, and I’d never be questioned under oath. I didn’t sign up for that. Who’s gonna pay my legal bills if I lie for you guys, and then I’m tried for perjury? I’m outta here!”
Bye, Bye, Mr. Bennett.
The two investigators now working for L.A. Counsel David Holmquist—retired LAPD detectives Mr. Virgil County, and Mr. Ray Johnson—will also have be put on the stand. If the trial is videotaped, these two will have to go on Court TV (or whatever it’s called these days), and explain how and why they took children out of classrooms, and under whose authority (who signed off on this)… without the consent of parents, or without even informing those parents before or after, and then County and Johnson proceeded to grill individual students two-on-one or two-adults-on-one-child, and with no one protective of those children’s rights or well-being present during this interrogation.
Those children will also go on the stand—perhaps on TV—and tell of this harrowing experience (as detailed in the lawsuit filing BELOW) which they suffered while being interrogated by Mr. County and Mr. Johnson. Holmquist, Superintendent Cortines, Mike Voigt, et al will all be deposed and subpoenaed as well.
Again, here’s the lawsuit:
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2111957-la-school-report-21-pra-response-w-docs-2.html
Mr. Esquith’s lawyer, in the court filings, expresses himself eloquently on all of this:
(PAGES 8-9 of the filing)
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.’ “
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If all of this ever comes to a trial broadcast on TV, that should make for interesting TV viewing.
About time. Maybe the verdict and penalty will equal the cost of the iPad fiasco and set the stage to get rid of the Broad based RheeFormers.
Actually, Lloyd, what it could do is bankrupt the district. And the new potential superintendent will probably be a Broad charter/privatizer supporter who will sell off the district assets for pennies on the dollar (as in Shock Doctrine, and think Detroit too).
We are hearing that they already have a person like this in mind to impose on the taxpayers, parents, and mostly the students who bear the brunt of it all.
What you predict could happen, but I think that this fight must be fought and the courts are one of the few placed that the oligarchs do not control as tightly as they control the White House, Congress and many of the states.
LAUSD has an annual budget is about $6 billion. The district, like most districts, is self insured so, yes, the tax payer will pay the bill. Hard to ignore!
It would be difficult for the oligarch owned media to ignore a big win in this case that hopefully will point how how this happened and who was behind it. A good journalist should follow the trail back to Broad and his puppets.
The major print media we have is the LA Times which is run by a Wall Street billionaire charter supporter and close associate of Eli Broad. We cannot rely on Austin Beutner to allow, or encourage, thorough reporting on this. Today they buried this news on page 3 of the sub section called the California section….when it should have been page one news…but as a dedicated gay activist, Beutner fills the front page every day with old stories about gay marriage and gives thousands of column inches, pages and pages, to his personal interest. No way to break into this self serving cabal.
BTW Lloyd, the LAUSD budget is closer to $7 Billion…similar to the budget of a small nation.
A small nation corrupted by Broad’s influence.
What is the rest of your thought? It sounds as though you may think it would be better to keep working to improve the system, which is apparently stretched to its financial limits, rather than chancing a legal move which, though perhaps justified, has the potential of killing what’s left of it.
Definitely in favor of this class action lawsuit.
Wonder what national publicity this will get.
I hope this works and that the outcome is swift and decisive so that there are not extended appeals to the California Supreme Court and beyond and/or entanglements with the Vergara case. There are deep pockets on the other side, meaning those who want to eliminate all due process for teachers.
It is worth noting that one of the Justices on the California Supreme Court, Goodwin Liu, is an expert on education policy. His wife, Ann O’Leary, is the long-time policy wonk for Hillary Clinton, on education and family issues, and that is her job in Hillary’s current campaign. Liu famously failed to win approval for a federal court position, stalled by the Senate for a year before he withdrew his nomination. Some of his credentials for that process can be found at http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/GoodwinLiu-PublicQuestionnaireUpdate.pdf
This is to say that the case has lots of potential to get national attention, especially if there is an appeal.
But realize that this corruption of our public schools run deep. It’s been corporate’s goal for a while to get it’s hand on the public monies of education. All the crimes and malicious destruction of teachers lives will never be fully remedied but this is a good start. We all support this effort for damaged teachers now and going forward.
Another link in the chain of resistance.
I hope this endeavor stops the one percent or people like Bill Gates and the Broads from treating the children of America like shares in the Stock Market in Wall Street. I really hope that cases like this go all the way to the Supreme Court so that any teacher or any one doesn’t go through hell without due process of law as guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution. We are the watch dogs of this little time we have on planet earth and we have to make sure that we don’t lose the values of truth and fairness if we don’t want our future generations to live in a country where Democracy would be a beauty of the past.
Juan your analogy of 1 percenters treating children like stock shares on Wall Street IS SO SO APT!
Teachers in other cities may soon follow.
“How Does A Case Become A Class Action?
A class action is generally initiated by one or more people who feel that they, along with a group of other people, have been wronged. A lawyer then files suit on behalf of the individual(s) and the class. At the appropriate time, the lawyer files a motion asking the court to formally recognize the case as a class action. If the court grants that motion, the other people who were similarly wronged are notified of the class action and are given an opportunity to participate in the class action as a member of the “class.” ”
Therefore the first step is to ask a judge to classify this case as a class action. This is a major hurdle to overcome. Not many cases are approved for class action. Even if approved for class action the case will take a long time to come to trial and depending on the result an appeal at the state supreme court may take even longer for the final decision.
The outcome is never swift. Therefore it is too early to celebrate. Let it take its course.
David picked up a sling shot. He placed a stone in the cradle and aimed it at Goliath. Swift justice.
Justice served cold, just as sweet.
Raj…this was also the attitude of the tobacco purveryors, those Robber Barons feeding on death, when John Edwards took them on, and soon after, a whistle blower turned up with damning evidence. They too said it is too hard to prove a class action, and they dragged their feet as I assume you are hoping, perhaps even urging, LAUSD and local judges might drag theirs. But I think this case will be activated as rapidly as Vergara when it was finally filed. There is enough evidence and witnesses who are easy to contact in LA County and this ‘class’ is primed and ready to respond to Geragos. He took this case knowing it would be a slam dunk with so many verbal intelligent and damaged plaintiffs.
All the letters I have gotten from teachers for over the past two years pleading for help in finding a lawyer, and the plethora of horror stories Rene Diedrich has heard, and faced herself, with this legion of jailed teachers, all these folks will surely rush to join the class.
Just saw ‘The Insider’ again on TV. Rafe Esquith is a hero for taking on such a daunting, potentially life-changing step to help this class of unjustly-treated colleagues.
I am not hoping or urging anything at all. I am all for justice the legal way not the way it is dealt in these blogs. I am just stating what to expect. You are assuming that the judge will drag his/her feet to delay the action and it is a false assumption. Our legal system is not corrupt or misinformed as these blogs are.
Only the judge can decide if it can be a class action law suit, not the number of teachers that may be involved.
It’s about friggin’ time that someone put them in their place! So happy to hear this!
Years, perhaps decades, of an informal policy which allowed – or encouraged –
principals to ‘make it up’ if necessary.
I predict that the new spokesmodel for Rhee- form, Campbell Brown, will be all over this trying her best to taint the jury pool. I’ll bet you a tall cold one that she’ll focus on the teacher jail, ignore in every way possible both Rafe’s excellence as a teacher and the waste of time and money that the teacher jail has caused due to the lack of due process and instead focus on the fact that a superb teacher couldn’t be instantaneously fired for doing nothing wrong other than being the victim of false accusations, though that’s not how she’ll spin it.
My hope is that the suit seeks to recover financial damages not only from the district, but also from Deasy personally. Let’s see if Eli Broad bails him out or dumps him.
I don’t know the legal rules of naming individuals like Deasy, but if it’s possible, I hope they sue the whiz out of him and others who are responsible. I’ll be following this carefully.
I agree.
Every time I read a story like this, part of me is just cheering them on…and part of me is so darn bitter…those of us in right to work states have no recourse when we have our due process rights violated and our careers ruined…when people from our districts do an end run so that we can’t even get lawyers to return our phone calls and get letters refusing to take our case before we’ve even told them what the case is…
David Holmquist and John Deasy are the Henry Kissinger and Dick Cheney of LAUSD.
They have never been held accountable for the horrors they inflicted upon so many teachers and the pedagogy of the students of that system..The fact that LA’s Board of Ed was complicit in so much personal destruction by people who now see themselves as moral leaders explains the duplicity of those who see the world through their prism of self interest.
Board Presidents Steve Zimmer and Richard Vladovic have much to be ashamed of and wish to bury this past as quickly as possible.
Hopefully this lawsuit is a first step to accountability for their actions and that all the files are opened so that the public has a clearer view of what was done by a shameless, vindictive system.
Dear friend and colleague Geronimo…you always get it right.
The names you call out here are responsible for so much of the LAUSD mess…and of course there are others who are still in charge, and some who have moved on from the district who deserve to be investigated. But Vladovic and Zimmer had few, if any, shining hours in all this, and Holmquist should be investigated for not having found Deasy at fault with his failed internal audit, and giving Deasy a pass when, as the district’s attorney, he had a fiduciary relationship and responsibility to have done a real search to find the 2 year old emails which were found by KPCC reporter Annie Gilbertson, between Deasy/Aquino and Apple and Pearson which indicated insider bidding may have taken place. This is what the FBI and the SEC are investigating. I would hope that if fraud is found, and/or any other felonious behaviors, Deasy and Holmquist will be indicted for their part in the iPad/Pearson fiasco that wasted hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money. And there should be some form of punishment for BoE members who rubber stamped these bad, if not illegal, decisions.
I am very happy to hear this case to be “”THE”” Class Action Lawsuit.
If America stands for the world renowned DEMOCRACY, and no power is ABOVE the law, as well as everyone is EQUAL under JUSTICE, then it is now the time for all dedicated TEACHERS in teachers’s jail to come forward and to join with Teacher Rafe Esquith in this particular CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT.
THIS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT CASE will testify American Justice System. This case will make it or break it in terms of the NOBLE or SNOBBISH Judges whose decision can reflect to the world the TRIUMPH of the human CONSCIENCE over the power of money.
Most of all, this Class Action Lawsuit will represent that our human CONSCIENCE will absolutely conquer all evil tricks, and that democracy will overcome all fascists and communists who disguise as capitalism without conscience in order to destroy human morality.
May God be the ultimate Judge who will bless American Judges with their sharpest mind and soul in this Class Action Lawsuit. Back2basic
May God be the ultimate Judge. Amen. Back2basic
I feel like with actions like this the outcome is a heads we win-tails you lose for deformers.
True if Rafe is forced out of the classroom it deprives his students of a sound education and perpetuates injustice in LAUSD.
However, let’s say he wins, LAUSD does have a case for needing some form of teacher detention while they investigate actions that may be harmful for children. It will likely be settled long before it sees a court room and with terms that might limit the amount of time a teacher can be suspended from the classroom during an investigation without formal charges – some cases are more complex than others though and they probably do have a lack of investigators (intentionally or unintentionally).
It powers into Campbell Brown’s wheelhouse about protecting students from predatory teachers who will be forced back into the classroom.
Let’s say it goes to trial and Rafe wins, can his teaching career continue? He must know he is going to always have a target on his back from someone at LAUSD looking for a reason to get rid of him. Districts usually don’t rush to hire teachers that are willing to sue even if they’re great, they prefer teachers passive.
So let’s say LAUSD takes a black eye for unjust due process, Rafe walks away with some money, the way this gets spun ends up somewhere around some administrator acted improperly, and maybe time limits are imposed for bringing charges to people in teacher jails (not unlike NYC’s rubber rooms).
I don’t see where this case is going to revolutionize due process or public opinion of teachers. What change are they seeking that balances the need for the district to protect students in cases of genuine malfeasance, and administrators abusing the system to punish particular teachers?
Richard Vladovic was just supported by and re-elected by the UTLA.
What is wrong with them?
There members are wronged and they support the incumbent?
Perhaps when the suit is filed, Campbell Brown will file to intervene on Rafe’s behalf, as she will see him as the excellent teacher he is. Nah. Who am I kidding? Good for Rafe. I hope he beats the pants off LAUSD. Maybe they will call Deasy to testify. Maybe they can get some of those Vergara students in too.
Esquith is known for telling his students to “be nice and work hard”. Now he is teaching them SUCH AN INVALUABLE CIVICS LESSON based on what should happen in a real democracy in order to right the wrongs. I only hope that his students see that “working hard and standing your ground” are concepts that can prevail in our current government. It would restore a lot of faith that democracy still can persist in America. I shudder to think of the alternative.