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OVERVIEW: Gilbert Public Schools
Tried to Fire Teacher Who Reported Bullying, Racial
Discrimination [Update:
Board Unanimously
Withdrew All Charges!]
NEW!
Former Gilbert Public
Schools Board Member Apologizes for the District's
Retaliation Against Sarah
Sarah's Story: A National Board
Certified Teacher tried to protect her students from a
principal and school district superintendents who turned
a blind eye to bullying and racial discrimination. No
one in administration ever helped the students who were
victims of bullying.
Sarah
turned to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
after Assistant Superintendent Clyde Dangerfield, Esq.
told her nothing would be done following her internal
reports of racial discrimination at Meridian Elementary
School.
Letters & Emails
from Gilbert Public Schools Superintendent Dave Allison:
Drop your EEOC
Charge or BE FIRED!
Attempted Humiliation and
Intimidation: Superintendent Dave Allison threatened to bring charges in
a public school board meeting if Sarah did not accept his "deal" to resign.
Sarah did nothing wrong, so she did not accept Superintendent Allison's
deal. The board adopted charges against Sarah on December 6, 2011,
apparently not knowing that Sarah had been on paid admin leave since
November 22, 2011. Watch the video of
Superintendent Allison's public charge.
Gilbert
Public Schools Statement of Charges Against
Sarah
Gilbert Public Schools was so
determined to publicly humiliate Sarah, Assistant
Superintendent Clyde Dangerfield, Esq. emailed copies of the
Statement of Charges and Intent to Dismiss
to a parent of a student BEFORE giving a copy to Sarah or
her attorneys.
As soon as Sarah realized that
Meridian principal Vicki Hester was not dealing with Sarah's reports
of bullying in her third grade classroom according to district
policy and state law, Sarah asked in February 2011 for
representation by the Gilbert Education Association (it's not a
"union," but Sarah has been a dues-paying member since she was hired
at Meridian in 2005). Sarah had no idea that the GEA president would
protect her own close relationship with Associate Superintendent
Nikki Blanchard rather than fulfill her fiduciary duty to GEA
members.
BETRAYED by Gilbert Education
Association President Diane Drazinski
AEA Facebook Posts: Gilbert Education Association
President Betrays a Member
Parents of Sarah's students were
outraged at the way the district removed Sarah from her classroom
just before the Thanksgiving holiday. When students returned on
Monday, they were told "Miss Green is on vacation." Highland Park
Elementary School principal Jason Martin repeated this lie to
parents for several days, apparently not knowing that parents were
emailing Sarah directly. Jason Martin also told parents that the
charges against Sarah all were based on events that occurred at
Meridian.
Letters from Families of
Sarah's Students - Past and Present
Parents wrote to the Board and to the
superintendent. Board members were told not to communicate with parents of
Sarah's students.
Parent Comments at Gilbert
Public Schools Governing
Board Meeting December 20, 2011 (with video and transcript)
At Meridian Elementary School,
principal Vicki Hester announced at a staff meeting that the charges
against Sarah al were based on events that occurred at Highland
Park. Vicki Hester also told Meridian teachers and staff not to talk
to the press about Sarah.
It is the duty of every teacher,
administrator, superintendent and board member to make decisions in
the best interests of students. It's also state law. No one in the
administration helped Sarah's students who were victims of bullying
-- but they provoked the parents of the bully to file a complaint
against Sarah. That was business as usual: Gilbert Public Schools
manipulates complaints against
employees to provide cover for adverse employment actions. They
call their procedures "Progressive
Documentation" and they teach administrators
how to fire employees in a
step-by-step progression.
Retaliation Against a Teacher Hurts
Students
Sarah had a perfect employment
record with Gilbert Public Schools before she opposed racial discrimination
and reported bullying with homophobic and racist overtones in her third
grade classroom.
Sarah's Evaluations of Teaching Performance at Gilbert Public Schools
Shortly after the March 7, 2011
meeting in Associate Superintendent Nikki Blanchard's office, which was
called by principal Vicki Hester to discuss Sarah's "unprofessional
conduct," the district consulted attorney Denise Lowell-Britt about these
matters. Later, on March 24, 2011, Assistant Superintendent Shane McCord and
Nikki Blanchard wrote that they had appointed Denise Lowell-Britt to
investigate anomalies informally raised by Sarah's parents, who asked
nothing more than to make things right and protect students at Meridian
Elementary School. Denise Lowell-Britt delayed interviews with Meridian
teachers until the last few days of the school year, and did not finish her
investigation until after the school year was over. She did nothing to help
the victims of bullying, although Sarah asked many times. Denise
Lowell-Britt also did nothing about the harassment and retaliation that
Sarah reported, as she had been instructed to do.
Gilbert Public Schools "Independent Investigation" by
attorney Denise Lowell Britt
Denise Lowell-Britt provoked Ted
and Kelly *****, parents of the bully, into filing a written complaint
about Sarah. Nikki Blanchard spoke on the phone with attorney Matthew W.
Wright for an hour before he began his investigation into the *****s'
complaint. The *****s refused to be interviewed by Denise Lowell-Britt or
by Matthew W. Wright as part of their investigations. Matthew W. Wright
arrived at the desired determination in June 2011, marked his investigation
report as Attorney Client Privileged, and stated that Sarah had violated the
Merriam-Webster definition of professionalism for which he recommended
training. Sarah knew nothing about this report or the defamatory letter
Nikki Blanchard wrote to the *****s. Denise Lowell-Britt outbriefed both
investigation reports on August 5, 2011, 179 days after Sarah's first
written report of bullying. Sarah had to use the Arizona public records law
to get copies of the investigation reports and of Nikki Blanchard's
defamatory letter to the *****s in September, 2011.
What happens to Teachers Who
Report Bullying in GPS:
Over the summer of 2011, Nikki
Blanchard ordered Sarah's personal property seized from Meridian
Elementary School and involuntarily transferred Sarah. It was not
until the end of July that Sarah learned she had been assigned to
Highland Park Elementary School. When Sarah reported on August 5,
2011, the first contract day of the new school year, her job was
threatened by principal Jason Martin and Assistant Superintendent
Clyde Dangerfield if she did not have her classroom ready for Meet
the Teacher Night on August 8, 2011.
Sarah knew nothing about the
district's "Progressive Documentation" procedures, but principal
Jason Martin had plenty of experience with firing teachers. He set
out to accumulate "concerns" about Sarah, and unloaded them on
October 3, 2011. His "concerns" became charges
11 through
20 against Sarah. Following district
custom of taking adverse actions against employees just before a
scheduled break in the calendar, principal Jason Martin and
Assistant Superintendent Clyde Dangerfield escorted Sarah out of
Highland Park Elementary School on November 22, 2011, giving her a
letter that said only that she may
have violated district policy. No specifications. No
explanation. They took her employee badge and keys and suspended her
computer account. Attempts at public humiliation soon followed.
Apparently, it's a Gilbert tradition to take adverse actions against
employees just before a holiday. Thanksgiving, in Sarah's case.
Christmas, in Glenna's case.
Update:
Board Unanimously Withdrew All Charges!
Update: Former Gilbert Public
Schools Board Member Apologizes for the District's
Retaliation Against Sarah
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