English Language Learner Whistle Blower in Florence School District is FIRED!
This story is courtesy David Safier at Blog For Arizona. Thanks David
It takes guts to be a whistleblower. The more stories you read about retaliation by their superiors and the disruptions in their lives, the more you have to admire these people’s courage at the same time you question their sanity.
In this case, the former ELL coordinator in Florence (about 50 miles north of Tucson, if you’re geographically challenged like I am) was fired because she participated in a complaint to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights “alleging that students and parents with limited English skills were not being accommodated as required by federal law in the Florence school district. That complaint resulted in an agreement for corrective action between the OCR and the district a year ago.”
Federal investigators decided her firing was retaliation for her whistleblowing and awarded her $57,519 in back pay and benefits. The District had even stopped her health insurance prematurely without her knowledge, revealing how vile they were.
It’s a long, involved tale well worth a read. Apparently the Superintendent was against the firing and went on leave as a result. The minutes of the closed-door session when the dust-up occurred are missing, for some reason, and the Board members dispute the Superintendent’s account, though the OCR accepted it as credible.
Check out this typical, “Shut up if you know what’s good for you” behavior:
On June 15, 2006, the whistleblower was given a “letter of direction” telling her to make no written statements concluding that the district was in violation of the law. She was directed to bring her concerns to the attention of administrators through the proper channels. She was prohibited from addressing the School Board directly.
It’s a classic case of whistleblower retaliation, and in this case, it sounds like the good guys were vindicated. The whistleblower, whose name is not mentioned in the article, is beginning a new job in another Arizona District. Let’s hope she keeps fighting the good fight, in a district willing to listen. Click here to read more in the Casa Grande Dispatch. We will be reporting more on this story.
March 26th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
The person who was “vindicated” was indeed someone very concerned with helping the ELL students in FUSD, and in the end she did. However, it should be noted that she wasn’t the most diplomatic in the way she addressed teachers and administrators. She would come into staff meetings, sometimes uninvited, and berate people. I don’t question her intentions, but she definitely rubbed everyone the wrong way. She did so in her position at another district as well. Please know you are only getting part of the story.