In a big win for teachers and their unions, the California Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from a lower court ruling. The vote was 4-3. See the report in the LA School Report (controlled by Campbell Brown and The 74) here.
The initial decision had over-ruled state laws that protected teacher tenure and seniority. That decision by Judge Rolf Treu was overturned on appeal by a unanimous three-judge court. The state supreme court let stand the last decision.
Howard Blume of the Los Angeles Times reports:
In a major victory for teachers unions, the California Supreme Court has let stand a ruling that preserves traditional teacher job protections such as tenure and seniority-based layoffs.
In refusing to hear the case, the state’s high court sided not only with unions, but also the state of California and others, who contended that these job protections are both constitutional and reasonable.
The case was being closely watched across the country as a bellwether on whether courts could be used to invalidate employment rights of teachers on the grounds that they violate the rights of students.
Attorneys for a group of nine students had argued that making it easier to fire bad teachers would improve academic performance. They also claimed that speedier teacher dismissals would narrow the achievement gap that separates white, Asian and wealthier students from their lower income, black and Latino peers.
There are states that have no teacher tenure, but no evidence was introduced to demonstrate that those states have higher academic performance by low-income, black and Latino students or smaller achievement gaps.
StudentsMatter, funded by a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and cheered on by the corporate reform movement, spent millions of dollars fighting tenure laws, and forced the unions to do the same.
Yee HA. Take that Deasy!
This is a huge win for teachers and unions, both in California and in the nation.
However Eli Broad still has John Deasy and Ben Austin working to implement this sort of Vergara inspired lawsuit throughout California, and pushing for this across the US. It is not a moment for activists to relax. The LAUSD BoE has become even more charter friendly, and union averse, with the privatizer sharks on the Board, Rodriguez and Garcia, feeling empowered and leading the charge to implement Eli Broad’s ‘Great Public Schools Now’ 501c3 to take over at least half of the LA public schools for charterizing. They are working with Parent Revolution and have already taken over four of our inner city schools this term.
So let’s relish the sanity and intelligence of the Ca. Supreme Court in recognizing the fallacious ‘civil rights’ claim of Vergara, but let’s watch for the next hydra headed pop up of this group of oligarchs.
Monica Garcia is running for yet another term on the BoE. She should have been tossed off years ago for her duplicitous behaviors in favor of Broad, and his cronies, Hastings, Welch, etc. She is now so far ahead in fund raising to recapture her seat on the BoE, that is pathetic. Her opponent, Carl Peterson, is a tenacious parent who is running his campaign on a shoe string.
That’s absolutely right, Ellen. It is not time to relax. Right now, David Welch’s sour grape juice concentrate, falsely labeled organic is being shipped to the California Legislature and Congress gets a free lifetime supply. They can drink their fill and then, shower California’s back and call it rain.
But let me take a moment to celebrate. Hooray for Justice. This is — to steal a reformster word — a landmark decision.
On this glorious day, Kool & the Gang says it all:
Hooray, let the lawsuits proceed especially against Lausd that violated thousands of teachers right with illegal teacher jails.
With Rafe Esquith as the prime plaintiff, the Mark Geragos law firm reports that there are 2000 LAUSD teachers joined as plaintiffs in this class action lawsuit for recompense for so many jailed, and illegally fired, teachers. If the class action prevails, it probably would bankrupt the district. And the filing shows Cortines as a lead LAUSD defendant.
Changing teacher tenure and seniority policy would profoundly reform education for the better!
Evidence?
Obvious troll is obvious. 0/10 Fail.
Yeah, troll. I live in a state (Michigan) where tenure is useless and seniority doesn’t matter. That became official in 2011. It hasn’t improved education a bit here. In fact, our Detroit dailies routinely bemoan the declining test scores of our students relative to other states. (The main reason is because Michigan does a poor job of keeping its own college grads in state. Anecdotally, I’d say that less than a quarter of our college grads stay in state.)
So what benefit has occurred? None. But there have been some negative effects. The biggest one has to do with collaboration. Teachers are pitted against each other in a declining enrollment environment. I’ve seen some serious ass-kissing to administrators and some throw-colleague-under-the-bus maneuvers that are shameful. And that I never saw prior to 2011.
The worst part is that no teachers feel secure about their positions year-to-year. The anxiety level is bad for the building in every way. We don’t openly see trashing but it shows up in little and very observable ways.
The other fallout is that its a primary cause for deterring college grads from teaching. No pensions for new hires. Benefits that are less so than private sector. Declining pay and wage freezes (if one is lucky).
Yes. Vast improvements must be occurring!
Why would you say this when we already know it isn’t true?
Olson and Bois are still active with these cases, and they are far better lawyers, which is worrisome, though the precedent in the Ca. Supreme Court rejecting the case is a huge win for us. Broad, Welch, Hastings, and the Waltons, and their golden law firms will continue to press these types of lawsuits, but will be more adept now in wording the filings, and in choosing the plaintiffs.
These motivated ‘deep pockets’ oligarchs do not give up, they just maneuver differently, as with the rapid implementation of Great Public Schools Now. It is only if the media educates the public, a BIG if, and there is massive public outcry, that we get leverage. As I have been writing all along, their goal re teacher tenure and due process is secondary, their prime goal is to kill off the entire union movement in the US.
The tactics of these deformers are disgusted as inventive when in reality they are just turning the same wheel that public educators invented years ago. The truth of their failures have to be revealed as we lose valuable teachers to false accusations and impossible, stupid reform iniatives. As we lose generations of students mandated to reforms created by no educators, business capitalist and greedy politicians. Yes, it’s a vile movement negatively affecting our most prized assets, our children. While I rejoice in the truth of the ruling, I mourn all those hurt by these scammers.
Reblogged this on Matthews' Blog and commented:
Great
Oh, thank God. Some good news.
Building a Darwinistic competition which promotes segregation and apartheid is a violation of students civil rights. Basically the philosophy of school reform. Too bad they couldn’t sue themselves.
For the lawsuit David Welch, Ted Boutrous, et al were pushing, those were pretty dismal choices for plaintiffs. For example, had those plaintiffs’ stories resembled the cliched scenario or sequence of events:
1) the plaintiff’s teachers were dreadful… they read the newspaper, were visibly drunk in class, played Disney feature film cartoons all day… yadda-yadda-yadda …
2) the parents complained about these bad teachers, but
— a) the administration did nothing
— b) the evil unions backed the lemon teachers
3) so the parents put pressure on the administrators
4) the administrators then went into action, but the teachers lawyered up and fought back;
5) after costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, the efforts to remove the teachers failed … and the lemons remained
However, none of the Vergara plaintiffs’s stories were anything even remotely like this. Indeed, Raylene Monteroza’s “lemon teacher”, Christine McLaughlin, was named “Teacher of the Year” twice, once by one organization, once by another!!! (Good job selecting plaintiffs, David & Ted!)
Dr. Ravitch covered this a couple years ago:
https://dianeravitch.net/2014/06/29/is-ms-mclaughlin-grossly-ineffective-or-teacher-of-the-year/
———————————-
DIANE RAVITCH:
“At the Vergara trial, a student identified one of her teachers as
undeserving of tenure. She named Christine McLaughlin of Blair Middle
School. Ms. McLaughlin had been selected as Pasadena Teacher of the
Year. So which is she?
“This reader writes:
“ ‘Here’s a video of one of the “grossly ineffective teachers” and “2013 Pasadena Teacher of the Year” named in this lawsuit (by her former student and plaintiff Raylene Monterroza):
Mind you, this above video was played during court, and Ms. Monterroza was questioned about how it felt to watch the video of students praising her “grossly ineffective teacher” (starting at 00:49).
She replied that watching it was upsetting, and that those students must have been lying as that wasn’t Ms. Monterroza’s experience.
Hmmm…
Watch the “teacher of the year” video again, starting at 00:49, where the students give their opinion of the teachers:
Do these kids sound like they’re lying? Do the kids’ description of their teacher Ms. McLaughlin align with the criteria of the stereotypical “grossly ineffective teacher” that the Vergara legal team claims that Ms. McLaughlin is?
Again, this is a video portrait, as you see, celebrating and profiling Ms. McLaughlin’s award-winning teaching, as the “Rotary’s Pasadena 2013 Teacher of the Year.”
The student plaintiff, Ms. Raylene Monterroza, claimed in her testimony that those students in the video can’t be telling the truth, as it conflicts with her own experience. She said that watching that video prior to her testimony, “upset” her… as it included countless students contradicting her and the entire Vergara team’s claims that Ms. McLaughlin is… again… “a grossly ineffective teacher.”
Again, watch the video portrait of Ms. McLaughlin (who was also won the Pasadena NAACP’s “2008 Star of Education” award, by the way) and ask yourself…
So which is Ms. McLaughlin?
… a deserving, multi-award-winning “Teacher of the Year”, praised to the hilt by countless students in the video?
OR
… “a grossly ineffective teacher” according to JUST ONE student, and a
teacher who taught the (Vergara plaintiff) Ms. Monterroza “nothing,” and
thus destroyed Ms. Monterroza’s education?
“Indeed, this whole Vergara trial was like something out of Mao’s “Cultural Revolution” in China during the 1960′s. For those not acquainted with this, here’s primer: zealous students, under party leaders’ directions, would persecute their teachers. Kids would get their jollies as they put their teachers on a stage, put dunce caps on them, then screamed at them while forcing their teachers to bow their heads, kneel down, and confess their “crimes” and on and on…
L.A. School Report (which was taken over by Campbell Brown several months ago) put out two stories.
The first condemns the Supreme Court’s refusal to take up the case, then makes desperate attempt to spin this as a victory … or a first step towards a later victory.
http://laschoolreport.com/just-in-vergara-ends-california-supreme-court-refuses-to-take-up-teacher-tenure-case/
The second is excerpts from the dissenting judges’ opinions and arguments.
http://laschoolreport.com/key-excerpts-from-judges-dissents-in-the-vergara-ruling/
Okay, now where’s the article containing the opinions and arguments of the judges in the majority? Where’s the article with quotes people organizations praising the Supreme Court’s actions as a victory, and explaining why they believe this is so?
EXHIBIT A of Campbell Brown’s idea of the “high quality journalism” she’s promised to bring to education issues.
Here’s the Los Angeles Times coverage, which contains a diversity of opinion:
http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-edu-ca-supreme-court-lets-teacher-tenure-survive-20160819-snap-story.html
Every teacher has her/his share of disgruntled students…sometimes simply for the fact that the teacher has caught the student in truancy or other Uh-Oh-I’ll-Get-In-Trouble-With-Mom activities. Listening ONLY to a few disgruntled students while ignoring the very many and very large protests against teacher dismissal which have occurred across the nation is typical to the school “reform” shell game.