School doing some stuff that seems a little sketchy
 

Friend of mine is married to a woman from Mexico. When she came here in the 1980's, she had a degree in teaching from the University of Mexico. Her education there did not count here, so rather than go back to school for years, she got a job as Teacher's Assistant. She worked with the Special Ed kids for years, then began working in a regular classroom for a few years. She purchased teaching materials on her own to teach the kids Spanish. Her sister brought stuff back from Mexico. She gave me a list of stuff she wanted, and where to get it in San Antonio, which was a few thousand miles from where she was, but only a few hundred for me. She came up with the idea for this on her own.

The school principal was angling for this school to be an International Baccalaureate program, apparently they needed a language program for shis. Since she was fluent in Spanish, and had already been teaching the kids Spanish, they ask my friend's wife to teach this class. She even has cards printed by the school district that say "Spanish Teacher." The "workaround" to her not actually having a teaching credential in this country was to have another teacher in the room while she was teaching. Teachers have an open period during the day, when they grade papers and what not. They had a teacher in the back of the room, doing their thing, totally unrelated to the kids being taught Spanish. This went on for a half dozen years, and eventually the school is certified as an IB program. Shortly after the school becomes IB certified, she is told that she is going to have to work at a different school for her final year before retirement. Not long after this, she gets a note in her mailbox at the school that essentially accuses her of stealing stuff out of the classroom, with a time for a meeting with the principal, and that she is encouraged to bring a union representative to the meeting. The thing that precipitated the accusation was her taking a stool that her daughter hand painted at least 15 years ago, and she was using at school.

I can see a few issues with this entire scenario, but would be interested in what the group here has to say about it before I share them. I appreciate any thoughts y'all have on the matter

I think she should bring a high powered lawyer to the meeting instead. Give them the ferkin stool back and frighten the bejusus out of the principle.

Looks like they don't want to pay her pension....

Wow, I hope your friend makes out OK. Fargin wankers!

This is sad....I just don’t know what happened to appreciation and fairness. The world seems upside down.

1) The school has a fraudulent IB application. (perhaps not fraudulent to the letter of the law, but certainly they are misrepresenting her credentials)
2) The school used your friend as a full-blown teacher while not recognizing her as such. I think there may be a compensation differential.
3) Your friend purchased un-reimbursed educational materials over a career. This needs to be compensation with interest.
4) Not certain about whom purchased the stool originally. Can't comment on that.

Seems your friend is a welcome contributor towards the school when it is in the interests of the school. Other than that, not so welcome.

I would lawyer up. I am funny that way.

LWJ
1.Just what I was thinking, seems like it would put their IB cert in jeopardy at best.
2.About $40,000 a year
3.She does not care about the supplies she purchased. She had planned on just donating most of that stuff, think that plan has changed.
4.She bought the stool and her daughter painted it for some middle school art project if I recall correctly.

As far as contributor when it is the interest of the school, this little story does not come close to illustrating the amount of personal time she devoted to projects at this school, and actually at other schools when they saw the programs she set up for the kids at her school.

Yeah, pretty sure a lawyer is going to end up getting a decent sized chunk of a fairly large piece of taxpayer dinero. I suspect the principal is just screwing with her to try and get her to quit, which is not consistent with her temperament.

BTW, principal in question has already precipitated other settlements by the district to former employees for her antics.

And every year these schools continue to ask for money. They need to pay this woman and her pension. All are thieves but if you tell anyone that's near education about business making money, they get bent out of shape. At least that's the trend around here anyway. Sorry for the going off. Got it off my chest

I remember that as being correct.

Yep, lawyer... A really good one.

"They" went that way so she has no other choice but to defend herself.

More specifically, a labor lawyer.

First. Call / email somebody with decision making ability.

Tell them:

1. Concise demands for complete correction. It doesn't have to make your friend's wife whole, just happy
2. Finite time limit- make it very short
3. Your threat. Give news conference or call lawyer or Facebook post on all school board members or something worse and more painful. (IB board???)
4. Give them the ability to correct this.
5. Have a safe guard so that there is no revenge taken against her.

I just realized you may be in California... hmm. Lots of sympathetic jurors. Exploiting a Mexican immigrant sounds like it wouldn't play well to me.

No such thing as a cheap lawyer... inexpensive lawyers almost always cost more. I’d bring a good lawyer to the meeting and heed his (her) advice. 3-4 hours of their time and this will be sorted to her satisfaction.

Lawyer up for a major settlement. Settle for correct compensation and lawyer fees. Be fully prepared to crush opposition. It all can start and end with a single letter from a law firm, but it has to be the right law firm, and it has to have credible potency.

Have her bring the stool back and use it to hit everyone of these clowns over the head until they come to their senses.

My only disagreement w this concerns any threats towards the school. It would be very easy to fall into an extortion situation, ("if you don't do this, I will hold a press conference"), and then she is done.

My old man always said, when it comes to these matters, "speak softly and carry a big stick..." You do not need, or want to telegraph what you might do next. The threat is understood without saying it.

A good lawyer should be able to make short work of this and actually cost her less, even if he or she is $600 an hour. I wish her the best.

Someone close to me had a hostile work environment situation not too long ago and thought that it was going to be a legal nightmare to get out of it whole. She wound up hiring the best of the best lawyer for the situation, (through referrals), was shocked at how quickly and easily it was resolved.

She walked away from a job that was giving her real health problems from stress, where she had to force herself to drive there everyday, with a massive pile of $$ and nothing but blue sky ahead. :)

This.

Where's that "like" button?

Department of ed does the credentials. I don't think she'll get lost wages from being abused by the district in the IB program. In fact the district should have done more to get her credential in teacher of record. They should thank her and let her quietly collect her pension. I bet the super is coming down on that principal to cut her out. Which doesn't make sense as pensions are paid by the states.... Who did she piss off?

not sure how she's a teacher (for the purposes of retirement, nea protections, etc) if she was never certified.

and it's no accident she wasn't certified. she was a useful tool but not so useful that they made the effort to get her certified so she'd be paid/pensioned like a regular teacher.

Her leverage to get certified on their dime was back when she started. IMO the ship was sunk long ago.

Assuming this is in California.

Given the information in the OP, the woman was never a certified teacher and does not fall under the the umbrella of the teacher's union or the California State Teacher's Retirement System (CALSTRS.) Most likely, she is under the California Public Employee Retirement System (CALPERS), and as a public employee, may or may not have a union representation in that school district.

From what was described, she was treated/used by the school, specifically the principal, for a particular purpose and "adjustments were made" so the ISB program could be legally achieved. All this is not unusual (no editorial comments will be included.)

The decision to have her move to another school is a decision by the principal or, more unlikely, someone in the district office, but there is no requirement for a move prior to retirement. The theft accusation is also from the principal, and could easily be resolved without any formal confrontation.

There is much information that is missing, I believe, not from Tobra, but from the whole situation in general. Principals can be petty, vindictive and tyrannical. They have been know to take actions at the local school without the knowledge or approval from the district office. This situation strikes me as one where "something" is going on between the two individuals or, at least, the principal has an agenda that requires removal of the instructor from the school. Nothing posted indicates any need for such a removal, other than the whim of the principal. Nothing in the scenario jeopardizes her pension, if she has one. Tobra's final post, which included the principal's other actions which cost the district money, makes me think this is another example.

If the woman is a member of the public employee's union, she should have access to a lawyer and a representative, for free.

A lot of details I can't really share here. Suffice it to say it is far worse than it sounds for the school and better for my friend. I think she gets her retirement and a bonus settlement in the end, and the principal gets to go to a new school

Thanks for the update. I'm so pleased it's worked out well for your friend.

AND I hope the principle's new school is where he is teaching the other inmates!

This resolution is very typical. Again, reading between the lines, I see this as example of an incompetent principal, once again, doing a foolish thing and causing the district headaches. Unfortunately, the district's action is also very typical. Instead of taking a real stand and firing or reprimanding the principal, they simply move him/her. Path of least resistance.

The principal was representing the intent of the system. This isn't a case of one bad egg...it is a reality brought on by budget constraints.

Yeah LJ, she is a bad apple, no doubt. Not enough sense to know better than taking a crap where she eats.

It is not resolved, not even to the point where she is lawyered up yet. If the school district has any sense, they will never get to that point.


IF, I say.