STATE SENATOR MENDOZA TEACHER JAIL AUDIT REQUEST APPROVED- DON'T GET YOUR HOPES UP
(Mensaje se repite en Español)
It's hard for a proposed investigation/audit of "teachers jail" to be taken seriously, when their unchallenged bogus initial assumption still is that teachers are being sent to teachers jail for "being verbally abusive, excessively missing work, failing to follow the rules for giving standardized tests, or sexual misconduct." Nothing could be further from the truth and they all know it. The vast majority of these teachers are being sent to teacher jail because LAUSD will save approximately $60,000 a year in combined salary and benefits in just the first year, when they replace a falsely charged teacher with a cheaper and younger teacher at a fraction of the cost. And the savings goes on year after year. This fact is somehow mysteriously never mentioned when "bad teacher jail teachers" are the topic of discussion. So how could any audit that is based on false premises ever come up with anything that even remotely resembles the what's really going on?
Like the iPad investigation of ex-LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy that is now well over a year old, these kinds of investigations never go anywhere. Just ask departing three-time LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines who also came and went without any investigation/audit of charges against him of sexual harassment and conflict of interest.
Nowhere in this "Audit Request" is the fact mentioned that 87% of targeted teachers are over 40 and at the top of the salary scale. And that many have only a few years before they would have vested in lifetime health benefits valued at $300,000- LAUSD already has over $12 billion in these unfunded benefits that have already vested. This reality is forcing LAUSD into bankruptcy...but it is not mentioned anywhere as the real motive for targeting high seniority expensive teachers with bogus morals charges that are untrue in all but a very few purposefully over-publicized cases. You know, all Muslims are terrorists and all teachers are perverts...especially the ones at the top of the salary scale.
But an even more basic question is never addressed: Why is it necessary to house/teacher's jail charged teachers at all for as much as 4 or 5 years before giving them a hearing on the habitually fabricated charges against them? Justice delayed is justice denied? This doesn't seem to apply when LAUSD is involved.
And then there is always the LAUSD's expensive outside attorneys misuse of the 4 year rule- designed to stop stale charges from being brought against a teacher by LAUSD- which is instead used to stop the targeted teacher from defending themselves by bringing up their own unblemished career prior to being falsely targeted and imprisoned for more than 4 years in all too many cases. I guess it is not just Guantanamo where the innocent remain incarcerated.
It is also worth noting that LAUSD administration has never really explained why it is necessary to house teachers in intimidating and coercive LAUSD offices for years, when they have arbitrarily allowed some teachers to be housed in their homes while the unnecessarily protracted investigations are taking place- arbitrary and capricious? Investigations that never seem to come to fruition in anything resembling a timely manner. But the jailed teacher is constantly being intimidated and coerced while in teacher jail into signing a 6 page document of resignation and waiver of any and all future legal actions against LAUSD, which will supposedly bring the teacher jail nightmare to an end?
When Donald Trump uses his defamatory and completely indefensible rhetoric against Muslims and Mexicans- just to name a few- I must confess that I had already become accustomed to this type of hate speech. LAUSD's false presumption that legally presumed innocent teachers must be confined for the "safety of students" is the same kind of unsubstantiated unconstitutional and defamatory nonsense that presupposes guilty and seeks to inflame people, while savaging senior teachers, the vast majority of whom have done nothing wrong...except maybe make too much money for LAUSD administration's liking.
If you or someone you know has been targeted and are in the process of being dismissed and need legal defense, get in touch:
Lenny@perdaily.com
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It is much harder for women than for men when sacked, especially for never-married women, because women make less money than men on average. I don't know what in the world you are talking about. I know that in my case and in the case of many, many hundreds of thousands of older women who have been fired or laid off, it is NOT "easier" on them than it is for men.
My post has literally nothing to do with women being more generally discriminated against in our society than men. That fact is uncontested- they make 77% of what men make for doing the same work. But this is not the case at LAUSD where they are ranked exactly the same on the salary scale for years of service and graduate school units.
87% of ALL LAUSD targeted teachers on false charges are over 40, at the top of the salary scale and many are just short of vesting in expensive lifetime health benefits.
Neither men nor women teachers so targeted find subsequent employment as teachers in most cases, because they are dinged by LAUSD as their last employment reference and because they both are more expensive than a fresh out of college "teacher" that replaces them on an emergency credential.
Lenny, this is horrible. Especially since there are MANY people profiting off the district excess. It is especially cruel that they are targeting primarily MEN over 40. Losing a job is much harder for men (than for women) and it can be an insurmountable challenge to find work elsewhere as a teacher. Other districts tend to prefer to hire the younger (cheaper) teachers.
I think there are other issues here besides simply saving some money by replacing older teachers with younger ones. I think there are issues of age discrimination and gender discrimination (against men).
Superintendent Michelle King has been with LAUSD for over 30 years but no effort is made to get rid of her. I am waiting for you to talk about her in your blog. No matter what kind of job she does, she will be leaving LAUSD with a HUGE PENSION.
I don't think LAUSD has a problem with stuffing the wallets of the employees on favorable terms. For many LAUSD employees, the district has been a generous provider.
I don't deny that there are financial problems in LAUSD. I wish that there could be a detailed audit and that efforts can be made to find solutions to the problems without unfairly targeting men over 40 who (most likely) were not on favorable terms with an administrator (even if they were otherwise good teachers).
Many of these men have suffered financially. Money problems can lead to problems with marriage and family. The LAUSD claims to care about students but it also needs to care about its employees.
To me, it seems unfair that LAUSD targets select teachers while allowing administrators to get away with incompetence.
I hope Ms. King can reform LAUSD but that is highly unlikely because the status quo has worked for her for over 30 years.