The Los Angeles Unified School District removed Rafe Esquith from his 5th grade classroom at Hobart Elementary School, where he had become nationally acclaimed for creating the Hobart Shakespeareans.
He has not learned yet what offense he had supposedly committed. First, he was told that some people objected to his reference to nudity, while discussing Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” Then, the claim was made that he had abused a child 40 years ago, when he was a counselor at a Jewish day camp. Then that claim apparently was withdrawn.
Now the LAUSD wants the past 15 years of financial records from the Hobart Shakespeareans, a private nonprofit group that does not receive district funding.
In response to this request, actors Sir Ian McKellen and Hal Holbrook joined with past and present students of Rafe to explain what the group had done with its funding.
It is a terrific video, the kind that would make any teacher proud to be a teacher. Rafe has changed many lives. He has made a difference.
Please read Andrea Gabor’s take on the situation. No one can understand what LAUSD is up to or why.
It is time for LAUSD to produce charges and evidence or let Rafe teach.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I totally support Esquith and his teaching but what I wanted his situation to expose was the unjust and illegal things LAUSD has done and still does to its teachers. I have no doubt that Esquith will return to the classroom because we need teachers like him who really have the calling. What I’m not certain about is will all the teachers who have been treated in this way get absolved. An injury to one of us reverberates among all of us.
Thanks Diane for printing Andrea Gabor’s latest info on Rafe. Andrea is doing a wonderful job of keeping us informed about the Rafe Esquith situtation.
And I agree with all Mary writes (below).
In addition, I question the two tier system of prosecuting teachers in LAUSD, Supt. Cortines rages that he will get to the bottom of all charges against Rafe and will keep hunting for them, and for any sexual predator teachers…though there is still not one charge pressed against this sterling teacher, Esquith.
Cortines paints most teachers in teacher jail as miscreants and child abusers without any evidence to support his charges.
Yet Cortines himself is up on court-filed charges (naming ‘deep pockets’ LAUSD as defendant) of sexual harassment, and also retaliatory firing, by the man he is charged with sexually assaulting whom he admits was his lover and whom he hired 15 years ago for a 6 figure salary to be Director of LAUSD Real Estate. Why do the taxpayers have to pay the freight for Cortines’ sex life?
Why is this potential work place sexual predator Supt. held to a different standard than the teachers he continues to imprison?
How can the parents and taxpayers in LA accept this? How come they are not sweeping en masse into the Beaudry building and demanding his resignation, and a clean sweep of the Cortines/Deasy brigade who still run the district?
How come Supt. Cortines is allowed to set up and promote his second in command, Thelma Melendez (a Broad Academy grad who supports charters) to be viewed as the next ‘imposed’ Supt.(ala John Deasy)?
How come Cortines recently hired Gutierrez as the oversight guy to supervise LAUSD charters, when Gutierrez worked in recent years both for CCSA and for new BoE member Refugio Rodriguez, (PUD charter owner and a millionaire on the taxpayers funds, who allowed bribery to win his recent election), who owns 16 PUD charter schools which are under investigation for misuse of funding and other charges?
Cortines has put too many foxes in charge of guarding the public’s hen house.
LAUSD is so damn corrupt.
“It is time for LAUSD to produce charges and evidence or let Rafe teach.” I would add to this, that the outcome of this should be huge changes in policy and a large penalty to enforce institutional memory. Since when did one lose their rights as a citizen of the United States when signing on to teach for LAUSD? This group of overzealous retired detectives needs to be reminded the US Bill of Rights and Constitution applies to their little kingdom.
The Eli Broad, LA Unified bought-and-paid-for school board majority has a simple plan: Go after the most successful teacher in the district, destroy him and that will scare everyone else who works in the district from using their 1st Amendment Rights.
The First Amendment says “Religion and Expression. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”.
Did you notice that there is no mention that the oligarchs and corporations can’t attack and limit freedom of speech or of the press (and they already own 90% of the media)?
It’s only Congress that can’t do it. So, it isn’t unconstitutional for the Bill Gates, Walton or the Koch (ALEC) Cabals to wage war against freedom of speech and every other freedom protected by the Constitution, because the Constitution was written to protect the people from government—-not the private sector.
I think your analysis is spot on and definitely a part of the dynamic. Any individual who stands out as brilliantly as Mr. Esquith is an existential threat to authoritarian rule, especially when it’s well hidden behind a lumbering bureaucracy.
Utter nonsense. All of you are so angry about the attacks on teachers and the union that it is letting you cloud your judgment on this Esquith issue. Let the investigation continue.
Know the Facts First:
And if the investigation finds nothing that will hold up in court, then let’s double down and demand that the school board members, who voted for this to happen, all resign.
I will take a guess as to your identity, Factless. Perhaps you are Thelma Melendez, Cortines’s girl in waiting…or an assistant of hers who is tasked to disrupt this blog site. Clearly you are not an educator.
“It’s only Congress that can’t do it . . . the Constitution was written to protect the people from government—-not the private sector.”
The second portion, which I think was your point, is correct.
The first part (that the First Amendment only restrains acts of Congress, and not of any other government entity) is not true. The First Apartment applies to state legislatures, too, and pretty much every local, state, or federal government employer that I can think of. Certainly it applies to school districts.
But not to corporations or private sector oligarchs who can bribe as many people as they want to subvert the U.S. Constitution. The Waltons, the Koch brothers, Eli Broad, Bill Gates are all perfect examples of the traitors in our midst.
Perhaps the abject stupidity of LAUSD’s actions can be simply explained by “sunk cost theory”. Since they have invested so heavily in the losing proposition of continuing their attacks on Rafe, they feel that they just have to keep going based on the irrational hope that they might recoup their already sizeable losses. It also seems possible that a small group of insiders in or associated with LAUSD has decided to circle the wagons and take cover behind their assumed lack of accountability to anyone other than themselves. The actual motivations behind this farce remain obscured, the insignificance of the original false pretext notwithstanding
Jon, I agree with your assessment, and of course with Lloyd’s….but LAUSD administrators, including the BoE, lose nothing by spending the public’s money to hire outside law firms (all documented) and PR firms. It is We the People in Los Angeles County who are taking the huge economic hits of this manipulated scheming and it is our public schools, teachers, and students that are suffering. Last year, with all the Deasy ‘mistakes,’ losses came to over $650 Million, including law suit payoffs.
Unfortunately, the leading rheephormsters and their enforcers and enablers are being entirely predictable.
They project onto Rafe Esquith, and the vast majority of teachers, their own feelings, thoughts and actions. Just in LAUSD alone they have demonstrated the abusive use of power against teaching staff [e.g., Ms. Patrena Shankling] and venal incompetence [think iPads and MISIS], all in the self-serving interest of garnering more and more $tudent $ucce$$ and getting their egos stroked by the MSM—
Hence, what motivates and moves them must be true of Rafe Esquith and others.
It must frustrate them no end that what they know are [too often] their own vulnerabilities don’t seem to be true of him. Braying “it’s all for the students” is just a snappy slogan to them—that someone seems to have both talked that talk and walked that talk seems incomprehensible to them.
Quite literally, it is an exemplar of the idea [variously attributed, most often to
Anais Nin]:
“We don’t see things as they are; we see them as we are.”
So for all you fanboys and fangirls of self-proclaimed “education reform” I’m going to make this real simple: Michael Jackson; THE MAN IN THE MIRROR.
Or inflict a little SLANT and Non-Nonsense Nurturing on yourselves.
“Choice.”
Ain’t it grand?
😎
Krazy TA: You are the BOMB! Thank you for your always pity and humorous and true insights.
I meant “pithy.” Sorry.
Threatened Out West: I thought the “pity” part was for the rheephormsters…
You know, as in Mr. T talking about someone like Arne Duncan: “I pity the fool.”
😏
Or you could have meant “pithy.”
Either way, thank you for the kind words.
😎
I hope he sues them for defamation and slander. I hope he will be the one to change this unconstitutional way LA “investigates”.
The latest is that LAUSD is asking Rafe to turn over his last 15 years of tax returns (including all receipts, documention, etc.), 15 years of monthly bank statements, and all documentation to any loans he might have (house, car, etc.). When asked why, LAUSD investigators offer no foundation for the request.
In an email to the Washington Post’s Jay Mathews (a supporter of Rafe), Superintendent Cortines defended this practice to Mathews, saying the request was “voluntary”, and that if Rafe cooperates, Cortines promises this cooperation will expedite the investigation. Teachers have sat for years in LAUSD’s teacher jails, so the implied threat is that… if you don’t turn all of this over… you might sit there for years as well, or we may just go and fire you for not cooperating with the investigation, then dare you to sue us for wrongful termination.
Exactly how “voluntary” is that?
The latest wrinkle, according to L.A. SCHOOL REPORT, is that LAUSD is demanding that LAUSD investigators the non-profit HOBART SHAKESPEAREANS’ give LAUSD universal access to all the non-profit’s records relating to its finances and operations. (That’s the group that funds the arts, music, field trips, etc. for Rafe’s classes.)
Where does a school district’s investigators get the standing to make such a demand of a private entity whose existence and operations are totally separate from that school district? No one within or outside of the HOBART SHAKESPEAREANS non-profit has complained about any malfeasance, financial or otherwise, at the non-profit, so how and why are these LAUSD investigators now appointing themselves the “Police for Non-Profits”? Is this legal?
Can LAUSD investigators extort their way into the non-profit’s records by threatening to fire Rafe, or have him languish in teacher jail for years and years, if the non-profits opts no to cooperate?
And keep in mind. The LAUSD investigators, Virgil County, and Ray Johnson, are currently not actual law enforcement—merely retired LAPD Detectives, and L.A. County Sheriff detectives serving on LAUSD’s new-fangled, Student Safety Investigative Team. (SSIT—INSERT JOKE HERE relating to the first two letters of that acronym)
They are just bureaucrat investigators within LAUSD’s Human Resource Department, working under the direction of LAUSD General Counsel David Holmquist. They can merely ask questions of employees, and compile a report on their investigations.
Unlike the way they operated in their past law enforcement occupations, they have no power to arrest, detain, or seek subpoena power from a judge. They’re suits in H.R.
If this ever gets to a televised trial, it would be interesting to see LAUSD explains its actions in this regard, particularly the way that the investigators treated Rafe’s students.
and the actions of LAUSD “Student Safety Investigative Team” investigators Virgil County and Ray Johnson.
They removed Rafe’s students kids from the class, and then, in a private room, two adults-on-one-child… without getting the prior permission, or without even informing those kids’ parents before or after the fact…. and without any adult observer present who could look out for the well-being of those kids… and causing some of them to seek mental health counseling as a result of this harrowing interrogation.
Again, this is all in 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.’ (over 40 years ago!!!)
“ ‘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.’ “
————————————————–
Again, if all of this ever comes to a trial broadcast on TV, Mark Geragos’s cross examination of LAUSD investigators Virgil County and Ray Johnson should make for interesting TV viewing—as these men were not acting in any law enforcement capacity, but were merely bureaucrats from LAUSD’s Human Resource Division.
The same goes for the spectacle of Superintendent Ray Cortines, or LAUSD’s top counsel David Holmquist being put on the stand.
Thanks Allie for this stream of facts.
As to the interrogation of the children, it was counter to every rule of questioning small children. Parents must be informed and present, or represented, during questioning. These former cops have now set up one more ’cause of action’ for endless lawsuits against LAUSD (as happened with MiraMonte) and once more the public, the taxpayers, will again be liable for those who prevail.
Not one administrator ever loses a cent of their high pay for all their bad decisions. But then, they also do not want to hire back teachers, nor raise teacher pay, which is often less than half of those at Beaudry. This internal nepotism and mutual backscratching is what should be investigated. If everyone in charge were to be fired, half the budget would be freed up for real educators to do real education and a new group entirely beyond the reach of Eli Broad might be hired with a new Broad-free Supt.
It is an outrage that this district is run by such bullies and ignoramuses who work for the oligarchs, and not for the taxpayers.
Ellen, I call them “ignor-anuses.” It’s a two-fer.
Rafe Esquith worked for me when he was a counselor at Camp Rancho at the Westside Jewish Community Center. I was the camp director. I NEVER heard any accusations against him. As I followed his remarkable career, I reflect on the enthusiastic 18 year old who was admired by the staff and loved by the campers.
You obviously never heard of any accusation and yet there is one that was made 10 or so years ago. Unfortunately, LAUSD didn’t properly investigate it then and is now making up for lost time.
What do the other kids say when he was a counselor?
As usual, you are wrong, Factless. The guy LAUSD hunted up to press these 40 year old charges, has recanted.
Source please?
Ha! No one has to play your diversion games. Prove the sources don’t exist. Ask the members of the school board if the all the charges still stand and provide links to the public quotes when they answer your questions—-if they answer you.
From the Washington Post, July 19..The charge is from the middle of the Gerald Ford Administration.
Investigators eventually said they found a man who said Esquith had abused him when he was 8 or 9, during a time when Esquith was a teenage counselor at a Jewish summer day camp. The alleged incidents happened 40 years ago. The man told the Los Angeles Times that he reported this to a Los Angeles school board member and the police in 2006, but nothing came of it. Esquith has denied wrongdoing.
KnowtheFactsFirst
Could you answer these questions (and not run from the board like you have twice in the past)?
Here goes:
Can an employer force or coerce an employee—when under investigation by that employer—into giving up his constitutional rights to privacy, as a condition of his continued employment?
By “coerce”, can they say, “This is a voluntary request, but if you don’t accede to this request, we’re going to put you on indefinite suspension for years and years, or we may just fire you.”?
Can an employer — in the context of investigating one of its employees — go to a separate non-profit entity to which the employee has ties, and then request that those in charge of that entity voluntarily give the employer universal access to all records related to its finances and operations?
Again, “voluntarily” means… “if you don’t give us this universal access, we’re going to have that employee indefinitely suspended for year and years, or simply fired… now we wouldn’t want that to happen now, would we?”
Is an employer allowed to go on a totally unfocused and open-ended fishing expedition into an employee’s private information, or into the workings of a non-profit connected to that employee whenever that employer feels like it — without giving any foundation for going on this fishing expedition in the first place?
By the way, the folks from the HOBART SHAKESPEAREANS have said that Rafe does not draw a salary, nor does he have any authority over its financial assets—no ability to cut checks. Indeed, they claim that when there have been shortfalls in funding its projects, Rafe has donated from his personal funds to cover those shortfalls. (Rafe makes a lot of money from the many books he has written about his teaching, which includes lessons and advice that all teachers can apply in their own teaching.)\
No on within or outside of the HOBART SHAKESPEAREANS non-profit has uttered one peep of complaint about Rafe, so this is really odd that LAUSD is so adamant that they need to investigate.
Also, if and when LAUSD investigators find any evidence of financial crimes or malfeasance, aren’t they then supposed to turn it over to law enforcement? These Student Safety Investigative Team investigators are not actual law enforcement. They’re Human Resource bureaucrats—albeit retired police detectives from Los Angeles. They have no power to arrest, detain, or ask a judge to subpoena records or testimony… but they’re acting like they do.
They are “mandated reporters,” so if and when LAUSD investigators do find something incriminating on Rafe, oron any LAUSD employee, they must then alert and hand this over to the proper authorities—police and prosecutors—who should then take over the handling of the matter. If memory serves, LAUSD employees have, as mandated reporters, 36 hours to turn this over to authorities, or face sanctions themselves.
Proper authorities should be handling this, not some suits working at LAUSD Human Resources.
“Then, the claim was made that he had abused a child 40 years ago, when he was a counselor at a Jewish day camp. Then that claim apparently was withdrawn.”
This is a surprise to me Diane. When did they withdraw it? Perhaps they are investigating the financial issues concurrently with the abuse claim? I never read any article that the accuser retracted. Can you please post it?
Who are you? Are you a shill for the Charter School group? for Cortines, Deasy , Broad, PRev? You come into this chat and try to misdirect the conversation…to what end?
This is exactly what I call capitalism WITHOUT CONSCIENCE = communism
This is how people endure under communist policy in all communist countries without exception.
This is why I would rather to die in ocean than to live in fear under any dictatorial leadership.
People value their lives so that they are willing to live submissively, or must flee away from a CONCENTRATED CAMP living lifestyle.= Today American veteran teachers either endure to get their OWN MONEY through teaching life contributed pension plan, or must retire early to save their health ( or to avoid heart attack, or a stroke = mind attack)
In short, I would say that:
1) Capitalism naturally aims to build its personal wealth at the expense of public sufferance.
2) Communism naturally aims to destroy talents which believe in humanity.
Since LAUDS has represented capitalism WITHOUT CONSCIENCE, LAUDS policy becomes communist policy = frame innocent, and talented teachers in order to destroy teachers’ love and dedication to their teaching career.
The true FACT in history of more than 5000 years is that we were NEVER or will never be BORN to inherit HUMANITY.
It must take a bloodshed to overcome dictatorship, or the righteousness, or the ignorant power as well as it take lots of courage, patience, intelligence, and well cultivated in humanity for the population or the rightfulness sustains their decent living lifestyle and peaceful community.
I pray to God and all seen, unseen Angels to bless teacher Rafe Esquith’s CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT to be won successfully.
Most importantly, those authorities who abuse their power to harm all conscientious teachers shall live as long as possible with many folds of sufferance of bad health that they have inflicted on teachers. Back2basic
As much as I dislike how the Parent Trigger law has been applied so far, if Rafe Esquith is not cleared, apologized to, and returned to his classroom by the first day of school, the parents of Hobart Elementary might wish to consider keeping their kids home, and filing a petition to take the school away from LAUSD. This would be the nuclear option. It would free the school from the malfeasance and malevolence of the Beaudry suits, and provide a way to spread RE’s methods throughout the new Hobart Shakespearean Academy!
As for KnowTheFactsNot: You’ve been made, so give it up. Who are you shilling for?
Is there a lawyer in the house?!
Again… IS THERE A LAWYER IN THE HOUSE???!!!!
If so, can you answer these questions?
Can an employer force or coerce an employee—when under investigation by that employer—into giving up his constitutional rights to privacy, as a condition of his continued employment?
By “coerce”, can they say, “This is a voluntary request, but if you don’t accede to this request, we’re going to put you on indefinite suspension for years and years, or we may just fire you.”?
Can an employer — in the context of investigating one of its employees — go to a separate non-profit entity to which the employee has ties, and then request that those in charge of that entity voluntarily give the employer universal access to all records related to its finances and operations?
Again, “voluntarily” means… “if you don’t give us this universal access, we’re going to have that employee indefinitely suspended for year and years, or simply fired… now we wouldn’t want that to happen now, would we?”
Is an employer allowed to go on a totally unfocused and open-ended fishing expedition into an employee’s private information, or into the workings of a non-profit connected to that employee whenever that employer feels like it — without giving any foundation for going on this fishing expedition in the first place?
By the way, the folks from the HOBART SHAKESPEAREANS have said that Rafe does not draw a salary, nor does he have any authority over its financial assets—no ability to cut checks. Indeed, they claim that when there have been shortfalls in funding its projects, Rafe has donated from his personal funds to cover those shortfalls. (Rafe makes a lot of money from the many books he has written about his teaching, which includes lessons and advice that all teachers can apply in their own teaching.)\
No on within or outside of the HOBART SHAKESPEAREANS non-profit has uttered one peep of complaint about Rafe, so this is really odd that LAUSD is so adamant that they need to investigate.
Also, if and when LAUSD investigators find any evidence of financial crimes or malfeasance, aren’t they then supposed to turn it over to law enforcement? These Student Safety Investigative Team investigators are not actual law enforcement. They’re Human Resource bureaucrats—albeit retired police detectives from Los Angeles. They have no power to arrest, detain, or ask a judge to subpoena records or testimony… but they’re acting like they do.
They are “mandated reporters,” so if and when LAUSD investigators do find something incriminating on Rafe, oron any LAUSD employee, they must then alert and hand this over to the proper authorities—police and prosecutors—who should then take over the handling of the matter. If memory serves, LAUSD employees have, as mandated reporters, 36 hours to turn this over to authorities, or face sanctions themselves.
Proper authorities should be handling this, not some suits working at LAUSD Human Resources.
“… now we wouldn’t want anything like that to happen, now, would we?”
Wow, that triggers a memory of a hilarious MONTY PYTHON skit where mobsters Dino and Luigi Fercotti try to extort or blackmail a British army colonel into paying protection money.
One of the Fercotti Brothers actually says the line:
“Now we wouldn’t want anything to happen to your paratroopers, now, would we?”
Might this skit be a humorous glimpse into how those LAUSD investigators Virgil County and Ray Johnson have been operating lately in their investigation of Esquith?
Although it’s not so funny if Mr. County and Mr. Johnson were acting like this around 10-year-old fifth graders from Rafe’s class… without those kids’ parents first giving permission, or without those parents even being informed.. and without some observer who was protective of those children’s rights present in the room.
The Hobart Shakespeareans are one of the glories of the Earth. Mr. Esquith does the kind of teaching that ignites imaginations and so transforms lives.
That said, this is how the LAUSD should proceed: Lead him to the place of honor and crown him with laurels.