California Educator

$1.4 million settlement for misclassified members O ver 40 teachers in Bakers field will share a total of $1.44 million thanks to a legal settlement that is likely to have statewide implications for school districts that abuse the "temporary" classification of teachers. C he ck s of as mu ch as $55,000 were sent to teachers and counselors in the Bakers field City School District who had been classified as "tempo rary" employees by the district much longer than they should have, in violation of the state's Education Code. The settlement culminates a lawsuit that had been decided by the Fifth District Court of Appeal in favor of CTA and the Bakersfield Elementary Teach ers Association (BETA), in which the court ruled that the school district had misclassi fied teachers as temporary who should have been probationary. In some instances, the abuses go back to 1985. In addition to the money and the legal precedent, the case vastly helped the local teachers in other ways. In all, 109 teachers and 10 counselors were reclassified from tempo rary to proba tionary, and the layoffs of 68 pro bationary teach ers were re scinded. Senior ity dates for 63 teachers were recalculated, recognizing dates between 1985 and 2002, with most reset between 1997 and 2000. Corrections were al so made for several teachers re garding their salary schedule placement and restoration of sick leave credits, including days to be transferred to suc cessive employer districts. "The settlement has state wide significance because it serves to prevent all school districts from abusing the temporary classification," says Tom Driscoll, the attorney who represented the teachers in the case for CTA. In the past, school districts cl aime d t he y had the discre tion to decide on a teacher's classification. The court deci sion held that cre dent i a ling and classifica tion are two dif ferent systems. The de cision limits the temporary classifica tion in accordance with the Ed ucation Code, according to Driscoll. While many districts com monly misclassify teachers, "Ba kersfield was the best manifes tation of abuse" that has come forward, according to Driscoll. In all, 109 teachers and 10 counselors were reclassified from temporary to probationary. "We're proud of BETA and our members who came for ward," says BETA President Brad Barnes. "It's a big decision, especially against Bakersfield City School District, which seemed to have been writing its own rules." Barnes adds that the deci sion has since forced the school district to be more dili gent in making sure that teach ers are moved into the proba tionary category rather than kept languishing as a tempo rary teacher. Although it took almost six years to reach a settle ment, the teachers involved were pleased to have received their checks, according to Barnes. "The whole process also says something about the organizational strength of BETA. The district knows that we have people on the lookout for abuse like this, and we will go after them." Dina Martin Sweetwater teachers: no confidence in superintendent " W e're happy to have all our RIF'd members 'back on the bus,' but we still believe Sweetwater Union High School District Superintendent Jesus Gándara wants to keep SUHSD employ ees at the back of the bus, and that he is driving us over a cliff," said Sweetwater Educa tion Association (SEA) Presi dent Sam Lucero after the SUHSD Board of Education v o t e d May 1 1 t o re s c i n d 28 California Educator | 22-40 June.09.indd 28 june remaining RIF (reduction in force) notices to SEA mem bers. All 120 SEA members who had received RIFs have now had them rescinded. The school board also pulled a proposed 2 percent salary cut off the table. SEA members say that they merely wish to keep the current contract lan guage, where neither side has anything to lose or gain. Earlier that evening, hun dreds of SEA members — joined by education employee union brothers and sisters in the Sweetwater Guidance and Counseling Association (SGCA), the California State Employees Association (CSEA), and the National As sociation of Government Em ployees (NAGE), and by stu dents, parents and community citizens — presented petitions of no confidence in Superin tendent Gándara with some 2,000 signatures to the SUHSD Board. The petitions cite Gándara's refusal to accept input from education community stake holders; his unwillingness to facilitate dialogue; his failure to foster collaboration; and his inability to build a "culture of integrity, respect, and trust" — contrary to the ideas ex pressed in the Sweetwater Dis trict's Strategic Plan. "Of course, we are glad that the board rescinded the re 2009 6/4/09 2:01:30 PM

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