From the LAUSD Board of Ed Agenda for March 13, 2012 | http://bit.ly/xKzSYy
●●smf: The following two agenda items and resolutions recount a litany of previous resolutions where nothing happened. They call for the superintendent to report back in thirty and sixty days with new plans of action. No more reports. No more plans, no more waiting. Action. The kids can’t wait.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein
Ms. Galatzan, Ms Martinez, Ms. García - PROTECTING CHILDREN IN THE CLASSROOM: A CALL TO LEGISLATORS (Noticed March 13, 2012)
Whereas, The Los Angeles Unified School District’s priority is providing high quality instruction to all students, and integral to that effort is providing a safe learning environment at school;
Whereas, When school districts decide to dismiss a teacher for unprofessional, immoral or criminal conduct, state policies make the dismissal process ineffective and costly;
Whereas, The Governing Board of the Los Angeles Unified School District approved recommended changes to California Education Code in 2009 through Teacher Quality: A Call to Legislators a resolution by Ms. Canter, Ms. Galatzan, and Ms. Flores. Since 2009, when the resolution passed, no legislation was pursued to target the recommended changes;
Whereas, Recent incidents in the District have highlighted the need to revisit California Education Code for dismissal of a public employee; the Education Code needs to be updated and clarified as it currently includes outdated and irrelevant language regarding grounds for termination such as “membership in the Communist Party”;
Whereas, When dismissing a teacher, the District must give teachers written notice of unprofessional conduct or unsatisfactory performance and the Board may not act on such charges until after 45 days, in the case of unprofessional conduct, and 90 days in the case of unsatisfactory performance, to vote to initiate dismissal proceedings and provide teachers written notice (only in non-summer months) that they will be dismissed within 30 days;
Whereas, A permanent certificated employee who receives notice of dismissal has the right under State law to demand a full administrative hearing within 60 days, and the hearing process lasts, on average, over a year during which time the employee continues to be paid in the majority of cases;
Whereas, Once a hearing has been requested by a permanent certificated employee, the decision whether to sustain the dismissal is made by a three-member panel, consisting of two teachers and an administrative law judge, known as the Commission on Professional Competence (CPC) an ad hoc panel constituted in accordance with requirements set forth in the California Education Code;
Whereas, The CPC has the ultimate authority to either dismiss or reinstate the employee regardless of the Board’s recommendations; if they choose to reinstate the employee, which happens in many cases, the District is liable for all costs including those related to the teacher’s designated panel member and the employee’s attorney fees;
Whereas, The CPC is made up of an administrative law judge, one member appointed by the school district and one member appointed by the teacher, both of whom must be teachers who have recently worked in the same subject area as the appellant;
Whereas, Given the District’s size, it is a challenge for the District to find non-District permanent certificated staff to sit on the CPC who are willing to dedicate the weeks needed to participate in a hearing to dismiss a peer, and the mandate that these individuals have at least five years’ experience within the past 10 years in the same teaching discipline or field of the employee effectively eliminates highly experienced administrators from serving on the Commission;
Whereas, The hearing proceedings often take 1 to 1.5 years, and sometimes longer, during which time, in many cases, the employee continues to be paid by the school district, plus many more years if the decision is appealed;
Whereas, During the hearing process, the District is prohibited from providing evidence to the CPC panel that occurred more than four years prior to the date of the filing by the Board of the notice of intention to dismiss, making it challenging for the District to submit the historical perspective of the teacher’s performance, which can create a perception that performance issues are not deeply rooted;
Whereas, This is not a Los Angeles Unified School District challenge, but a statewide and national one;
Whereas, in 2009 the Board approved the following recommended changes to State Education Code under Ms. Canter, Ms. Galatzan, and Ms. Flores’ resolution, Teacher Quality: A Call to Legislators:
“When a Board of Education has determined that a permanent certified employee be dismissed for the following causes contained in the California Education Code Section 44932: unprofessional or immoral conduct; criminal conduct; dishonesty; evident unfitness for service; persistent violation of or refusal to obey the school laws or regulations; or conviction of a felony or of any crime involving moral turpitude;
1. The notice of dismissal period shall be no more than 30 days and a school district shall be allowed to remove the teacher from the classroom immediately;
2. The summer moratorium on dismissal filings be removed when the subject teacher is on track during these months;
3. A new standard be implemented that employees not agreeing to complete hearings within a prescribed number of days would forego salary beyond that time;
4. A school district shall be allowed to appoint an administrator, parent or citizen as their representative on the Commission on Professional Competence or a single arbitrator appeal process shall be instituted;
5. The Commission on Professional Competence panel be allowed to consider evidence presented by a school district related to matters that occurred more than four years prior to the date of the filling of the notice of intention to dismiss when the cause was concealed or not disclosed by the employee, when it could be reasonably assumed that the employee should have disclosed the facts to the employing district, as cited in California Education Code Section 45113 in the case of permanent classified employees;
6. The Commission on Professional Competence decisions shall be advisory and not the final authority, the Board of Education shall have the final authority.”;
Whereas, No legislation followed to make the aforementioned changes to the California Education Code; now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Governing Board of the Los Angeles Unified School District directs the Superintendent to again pursue the approved recommended changes to California Education Code requested by Ms. Canter, Ms. Galatzan, and Ms. Flores’ Teacher Quality: A Call to Legislators resolution, as well as the following legislative changes to the California Education Code as top District priority for an upcoming legislative session; now, be it finally
Resolved, That the Superintendent report back in 30 days with a plan of action pursuing the following:
1. The approved recommended changes to State Education Code under Ms. Canter, Ms. Galatzan, and Ms. Flores’ 2009 Teacher Quality: A Call to Legislators resolution.
2. Amend Education Code Section 44944 to permit districts to implement dismissal of certificated employees after pre-disciplinary due process (“Skelly hearing”) and once the Board of Education takes action, with no continuance of pay. As with classified employees and virtually all other public employees, certificated employees may be awarded back pay and other benefits if they prevail at the Commission on Professional Competence hearing or in court.
3. Amend the Education Code to ensure a fair and efficient process for dismissal of certificated employees that would serve the interest of student safety and/or reducing associated costs, including but not limited to:
a. amendment of section 44936 to allow notices of dismissal to be given year round; b. amendment of section 44938 to shorten or eliminate the 45-day and 90-day notice grace period before Board can take action to initiate dismissal proceedings;
c. amendment of section 44944 to allow introduction of evidence that occurred more than four years prior to the date of the filing of the notice of intention to dismiss based on equitable doctrines such as delayed discovery, fraudulent concealment, equitable estoppel, and continuing course of conduct, etc.;
d. amendment of any other pertinent section to effectuate dismissals in a fair and efficient manner that would promote student safety, student learning and achievement.
4. Changes to state law to prohibit any public employee convicted of sexual abuse of a minor from receiving his or her pension and retirement benefits, even if the employee resigns prior to dismissal; Pension withheld for this purpose shall be redirected to reimburse the District for litigation costs. All surplus money will be directed to the Los Angeles Fund For Public Education or charities that support victims of sexual abuse.
Ms Martinez, Ms. García. Ms. Galatzan— IMPROVING TRANSPARENCY, PROCESS AND PROCEDURES FOR STUDENT SAFETY (Noticed March 13, 2012)
Whereas, The Governing Board of the Los Angeles Unified School District approved a resolution, entitled Accountability for Student Safety, authored by Board Member Galatzan, on April 8, 2008, that reaffirmed our commitment to maintaining a learning environment that is free from the sexual abuse of children and ensuring that sexual abuse of students is dealt with promptly and effectively;
Whereas, On June 24, 2008, the Board adopted "core values" to further communicate the District's priorities to students, parents, teachers and other employees of the District;
Whereas, the Core Values to Keep our Students Safe were adopted as follows:
1. The most important responsibility of all District employees is the safety of our students;
2. No person who presents a recognized threat to the physical or emotional health of students will knowingly be allowed to come into contact with children in our care; 3. In balancing the safety of our students against the rights of adults, children always come first.
Whereas, While the Board recognizes that the overwhelming majority of teachers and other District employees are competent and caring professionals committed to the safety and academic success of all students, no accommodation or protection can be extended to any employee who preys on our children;
Whereas, Recent events make it clear that heightened vigilance and more proactive measures are needed for the District to more effectively identify, prosecute and terminate any employee who endangers the physical or emotional health of our students;
Whereas, Recent allegations of inappropriate and criminal acts perpetrated against children in our care have served to inform us that no uniform guidelines and procedures exist within the District with respect to informing parents about incidents involving child abuse and other serious criminal behavior alleged to have been committed by a District employee; now therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Governing Board of the Los Angeles Unified School District directs the Superintendent to continue to develop and to finalize, in collaboration with all relevant law enforcement agencies and the Independent Commission, a uniform notification process for all complaints of inappropriate employee conduct that will include guidelines and timelines for informing parents and guardians of:
1. Temporary employee reassignments pending criminal or administrative investigations;
2. Suspensions of teaching credentials; and 3. Arrests for criminal acts against children and other offenses as deemed necessary for the safety of students, and Suspensions and terminations of employment;
Resolved further, That the Superintendent and designated staff review and evaluate the effectiveness and implementation of all internal processes and procedures pertaining to complaints or evidence of sexual or physical abuse or harassment of students including, but not limited to, the procedures set out in District Bulletin Numbers BUL-3357.1, BUL-1347.2 and BUL-3349;
Resolved further, That said review will consider and make recommendations for:
1. Any limitations that may be obstructing the recently initiated Employee File Project, in which the Superintendent has directed all principals to review all working personnel folders at school sites, to determine whether all necessary reports have been made to law enforcement and/or the Department of Children and Family Services;
2. The renegotiation of any collectively bargained provision, with any District bargaining unit, that prohibits the indefinite preservation of documents relating to allegations of sexual or physical abuse or harassment of students without regard to whether the complaint resulted in disciplinary action;
3. The creation of a centralized and computerized, confidential database of all complaints, and their resolution, of sexual or physical abuse or harassment of a student lodged again any District employee; and
4. The automatic administrative review of a permanent employee's site based and centralized personnel records whenever an employee is reassigned to a different District site;
Resolved further, That the Superintendent and designated staff review, evaluate and present to the Board any and all language and provisions in state law, and in the current Collective Bargaining Agreement with United Teachers Los Angeles, that can obstruct or delay the District’s desire to protect children as soon as an allegation of sexual or other serious misconduct comes forward;
Resolved further, That the Board instructs the Superintendent and designated staff to develop and present a process that would delegate authority from the Board to the Superintendent to take immediate action, if appropriate, when a District teacher or employee is arrested for alleged misconduct, including but not limited to placing an employee on immediate unpaid status, summary dismissal of an employee and instant notification to parents and guardians;
Resolved further, That the Superintendent and designated staff review current programs and materials in place for educating and training parents and guardians to protect their children from all forms of sexual or physical abuse or harassment and make recommendations for improving and enhancing access to effective abuse awareness education and training for parents, guardians and students; and be it finally
Resolved, That the Superintendent present all recommendations requested herein to the Governing Board of the Los Angeles Unified School District within 60 days.
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