Two whistle-blowers--a teacher and a business manager--settle with Willamette ESD

Fired WESD superintendent Maureen Casey.

Two whistle-blowers settle with Willamette Education Serivce district (Oregon)

(See also Willamette ESD problems with open meetings.)

WESD finalizes $150,000 settlement with former teacher over whistleblower lawsuit
Nov. 1, 2013
Queenie Wong
Statesman Journal

A laid off Willamette Education Service District teacher and her lawyer will get $150,000 as part of a settlement to a whistleblower lawsuit filed against the district three years ago.

Former teacher Terri Moore claimed she lost her job because she repeatedly reported safety violations at the high school at Hillcrest Youth Correctional Facility and filed a formal complaint about harassment and bullying by Bill Conlon, the school's principal.

She filed a lawsuit in Marion County Circuit Court in 2010 asking for as much as $500,000, plus attorney fees and reinstatement as a full-time teacher.

Under the settlement, Moore will get $86,355.75 and the law firm representing her — Lafky and Lafky — will receive $63,644.25.

She won't be entitled to return as a full-time employee at WESD, but could still work as a substitute teacher, according to the agreement.

WESD’s liability carrier the Special Districts Association of Oregon decided to settle the lawsuit because of the costs of going to trial last month.

The district’s board chairman Ken Hector said in a statement Friday he understood the carrier’s decision to settle the case.

“Choosing to move forward to defend the case at trial would burden WESD with all attorney fees and costs, impacting our general fund,” Hector said. “The ultimate outcome of resolution for this case is best for WESD and the districts we serve.”

Moore taught health and physical education at WESD's youth correction education programs but was laid off in 2009 after 11 years with the district.

WESD has denied the allegations brought by Moore, noting that they have been thoroughly investigated and found to be without merit. The district’s settlement signed by Moore is not an admission of wrongdoing or liability.

Moore’s lawyer Kevin Lafky said it’s clear Moore was retaliated against. She wanted to get her old job back, but since that did not happen they decided settling was the best thing for her to get some sort of compensation for the retaliation.

“The money she’s getting paid certainty doesn’t make up for losing a full-time job with benefits,” Lafky said. “For years, she’s been working as a substitute teacher to make ends meet since she was terminated from WESD.”

It’s not the first time that the education service district has settled a whistleblower lawsuit filed against a former teacher.

In 2010, the district settled a lawsuit for $45,000 with Maggie Vogenbeck in which the former teacher claimed state and federal discrimination, whistleblower retaliation and wrongful discharge.

WESD provides education services such as special education, home school registration and professional development to 17 school district in Marion, Polk and Yamhill counties, according to its website.


SECOND WHISTLE-BLOWER STORY:

Oregon Whistleblower suit settled for $125,000
Legal News.com
July 25, 2012

SALEM, Ore. (AP) -- An agency that provides centralized services to schools in the middle Willamette Valley has quietly settled a lawsuit brought by a whistleblower.

Complaints from the former business manager of the Willamette Education Service District set off investigations of mismanagement and resulted in the firing of the district's superintendent, Maureen Casey.

The former business manager, Kathy Campbell, will get $125,000 in the settlement -- about a third going to her lawyer, the Salem Statesman Journal reported Monday.

The paper says the district signed the settlement June 1 but that came to light only recently, when the paper asked the district for documents.

Campbell alleged Casey retaliated against her. She filed suit in September 2010, asking for $1.58 million in damages.

The district said it settled with Campbell under pressure from its insurance carrier. If it had continued to litigate, the district would have borne the cost.

"The board has reluctantly agreed to settle this case," board member Larry Trott said in a statement.

Campbell declined to comment.

"Her only statement is that the matter has been resolved, and she's glad to put it behind her," said her lawyer, Larry Linder.

The agency serves 17 school districts in Marion, Polk and Yamhill counties. It's one of 17 such districts in the state that provide centralized services such as information technology or special education.

An internal investigation into Campbell's complaints confirmed management and financial improprieties.

Then a state audit completed in January 2010 found questionable expenditures, improper contracting, commingled funds and an effort to hide the district's true financial condition. The Statesman Journal's investigation documented further problems and showed that concerns about the problems were ignored for years.

Since then, the district has faced multiple lawsuits, shut down money-losing entrepreneurial ventures and laid off a third of its workers. With an annual budget of $95 million, the district ended the last school year $2.1 million in the red. Among the lawsuits is Casey's, alleging wrongful termination.

Oregon public meetings law allows public bodies to discuss lawsuits in sessions closed to the public, but final decisions must be made in a public vote. The board's minutes don't record a vote on the settlement.

District spokesman Brian Florip said a vote was not required because the district's contract with its carrier allows the insurance company and the district's lawyer to resolve the case without the board's approval.

A SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM?

Willamette ESD mess stinks on so many levels
State officials must step in to take control of the situation
Statesman Journal
November 23, 2005

The Willamette Education Service District is a mess - a rotten, stinking mess. State and federal investigators should be crawling all over it, rooting out evidence and filing legal and ethics charges.

Stories in Thursday's and Friday's Statesman Journal revealed a WESD management that allowed widespread violations in the migrant-education program - and then rewarded them.

The WESD's own investigation found a roster of abuses by former migrant-education director Nicolasa Mohs and her program: Hiring of family members. Severe problems in the food services. Applying for outside jobs on ESD time. Outlandish requests for reimbursements, including for alcohol. Retaliation against employees and violations of worker laws and district policies. Lack of accountability for grant money. And on and on.

About the only people who seemed to have a handle on the situation were the leaders of area school districts who refused to do business with Mohs.

If these allegations were true, they should have gotten Mohs fired and strung up before the state ethics and teacher-licensing commissions. Firing was the recommendation of Assistant Superintendent Dave Novotney, who conducted the investigation.

Instead, WESD Superintendent Maureen Casey settled with Mohs, after Mohs filed a civil-rights complaint. The Statesman Journal's review of the documents found that Mohs was rehired as an independent contractor at her old salary, plus additional payments, in return for dropping the complaint.

That's unconscionable, but it gets even worse. The documents show that Mohs was promised a positive letter of reference, that the problems would not be disclosed to potential employers and that the results of the internal investigation would not be reported to state regulatory commissions.

If that's the case, neither Mohs nor Casey deserves to work in education one more day. The WESD board should get rid of them, along with any other staff members who allowed these problems to fester.

The board also owes the public a prompt accounting of what happened and why.

School boards are charged with protecting the public's interests. Where was the WESD board during all this? Either asleep, being manipulated by the district administration or both. Board member Jolene Garland resigned last week, saying in part it was because the board lacked any real say in district operations.

Board members said that they first learned of the civil-rights complaint during a closed-door meeting, which was of dubious legality. Casey, they said, did not tell them about the investigation report, the settlement agreement or the consultant contract until after the Statesman Journal started asking questions.

These tawdry dealings should send shockwaves through the state educational establishment. They are one more indicator that the 2007 Legislature should have the guts to either eliminate education service districts or put them under tighter control.

This case also calls into question the role of school boards and the accuracy of job recommendations. How many other school boards in Oregon are so trusting and unquestioning of their administrators that they lack an accurate picture of what's going on? How many problem educators are passed along from one district to another with glowing recommendations instead of being barred from the profession?

Under a 2005 change in state law, WESD board members now will be chosen by school districts instead of voters. That can't come soon enough.

Until then, state officials should exercise whatever emergency powers are available to take control of the Willamette ESD and clean up this mess.

WILLAMETTE ESD

Retired Teacher: School Officials Knew About Sexual Abuse, Did Nothing

School districts in general dislike people who makes waves. The goal is to present a calm surface to the community. Also, most teachers don't like anyone who challenges their political hierarchy. Dan Witters probably benefited from both of these tendencies.

Very similar things happened in my district, Chula Vista Elementary (CVESD). Recently I learned of yet another cover-up. Then-Asst. Supt. Dennis Doyle mentioned to parents in 2001 that a teacher abused a student, then the whole matter was dropped.

Here's a similar story that happened in a police department. A whistleblower was fired for revealing that witnesses had received inadequate protection, resulting in a murder.

Retired Teacher: School Officials Knew About Sexual Abuse, Did Nothing
Carol Buchanan tried to come forward in the 1990s, but was punished for it
By Cheryl Hurd
NBC News
Mar 29, 2013

Carol Buchanan, a former Moraga School District teacher, tried to alert schools officials of sexual abuse in the 1990s, but was ignored, punished. Cheryl Hurd reports.

Carol Buchanan is a retired teacher who taught in the Moraga School District.

Now she may become best known as a whistleblower in the sexual abuse case involving now University of California at Berkeley swim coach, Kristen Cunnane.

“Why didn’t somebody listen? What else could I have done?" Buchanan asked. “I do feel guilty in hindsight. If this happened today, there would be no problem. I would immediately go to (Child Protective Services).”

Buchannan said in the 1990s, students told her that a popular science teacher, Dan Witters, was sexually abusing them, and she complained to administrators.

She says the district wasn’t responding to her complaints and, after a 25-year career with the district, she wasn’t fired -- but they strongly suggested that she take a leave of absence.

She did.

Buchanan says she felt vindicated when Cunnane publicly came forward last year. She was a middle school student decades ago, and is now a 30-year-old swim coach at UC Berkeley. Her story has gone quite public, and she also claims that Witters Witters and a second female teacher abused her.

“My husband came running in when he heard me just screaming that I knew it I knew it why didn’t somebody do something," Buchanan said.

After finding out about Buchannan, Cunnane released this statement, saying in part: “I can’t believe how many people at the school knew about the sexual abuse and how many warnings the district ignored. To find out that there was someone at the school actually trying to help us and that she got punished for it is incredible.”

A recent article written about Buchannan’s allegation pointed out hat it failed to find documents to corroborate her story but superintendent Bruce Burns says the district is still looking.

Bill for SDSU v. David Ohton whistle-blower case: $1.87 million

See more San Diego school cases.

Bill for SDSU whistle-blower case: $1.87 million
Attorney for ousted football strength coach says he offered to settle for no money
San Diego Union-Tribune
By Brent Schrotenboer
February 14, 2011

Gordon & Rees Law Firm
* 2004: $200,741.66
* 2005: $236,898.46
* 2006: $65,386.80
* 2007: $129,501.57
* 2008: $182,409.90
* 2009: $73,577.35
* 2010: $23,294.03
* Total: $911,809.77

Kirby Noonan Lance & Hoge Law Firm
* 2010: $293,530.50
* 2011: $55,887.24
* Total: $350,417.74

Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek Law Firm
* 2004: $231,577.51
* 2005: $233,922.32
* 2006: $176.31
* Total: $465,676.14

Horvitz & Levy Law Firm
* 2010: $123,415.86

Vendors such as court reporters
* 2004: $14,773.87
* 2005: $4,208.75
* 2006: $996.60
* Total: $19,979.22

Source: CSU billing summary

The California State University System rang up $1.87 million in legal bills to fight a whistle-blower lawsuit filed by a former San Diego State football strength coach in 2004.

The system last month decided to end the case by agreeing to pay the coach, David Ohton, a $2.7 million settlement. That means the total cost of the case for the CSU was $4.57 million — an expense that comes amid state budget cuts and dwindling resources for state colleges...

Ohton’s attorney said he initially offered to settle the case for an apology and restoration of his coaching assignment — and no money — and was told no.

Marlene Jones, in-house counsel for the university system, said $1.35 million of the $4.57 million will be paid from a self-insured “risk pool,” which comes from taxpayer money. The rest, she said, would be paid by insurance. She said the legal department is frugal and cautious about expenses after hiring outside firms.

Some still questioned how the case was handled.

“They spent $1.9 million to defend it and ended up worse off than they were in the beginning,” said Dale Larabee, an attorney who followed the case but was not involved in it. “Especially when it’s taxpayer money, you would think they would use a little bit more rational sense to resolve this rather than turning it into a matter of principle.”

Four outside firms were used for the case, one of which — Gordon & Rees — billed the university $911,810 from 2004 to 2010.

Ohton filed suit in 2004, claiming he was removed as football strength coach in 2003 after assisting with a CSU audit that found mismanagement in SDSU’s athletic department. He was given lower-profile assignments, but never fired, and he will leave SDSU employment as part of the settlement.

The audit led to the ouster of Athletic Director Rick Bay and three other athletics employees. Ohton said he was illegally retaliated against and ostracized by head football coach Tom Craft.

Ohton filed suit under the California Whistle-blower Protection Act. Jones, who started overseeing the case in 2007, said that it dragged on largely because of the relative lack of legal precedent under that law...


Lawyer linked to SDSU case
He represented a potential friendly witness to strength coach
February 24, 2011

The Watchdog on Feb. 15 printed a story adding up the tab to defend San Diego State University against whistle-blower claims by former football strength coach David Ohton.

The story quoted Dale Larabee as “an attorney who followed the case but was not involved in it,” and he criticized the university’s handling of the case.

Attorneys for the university took issue with that wording.

Although Larabee didn’t work for either side in the case, and his name wasn’t in the public case file, attorneys for SDSU consider him “involved” because Larabee was the attorney for a potential witness subpoenaed by the university. The witness never testified. University attorneys saw the potential witness as friendly to Ohton, especially since Ohton said in a deposition that the potential witness, Courtney Bale, was godmother to his son.

Bale had won her own settlement from the university in 2009, for $150,000. Ohton won $2.7 million.

Virginia panel finds a presumption that administrators would never willfully violate the law

I certainly agree with this finding by a panel of investigators in Virginia. It applies to schools all across the country:

"...[T]here is "an unreasonable presumption" by some central administrators that principals would never willfully violate law or policy, and 'they are hesitant to adequately investigate possible wrongdoing, even in the face of documentary evidence that negates the presumption."

Report: School faculty told to cheat, whistle-blower rebuked
By Amy Jeter, Harry Minium, Steven G. Vegh
The Virginian-Pilot
March 9, 2010
NORFOLK

A middle school principal coerced teachers into fabricating students' work to help win state accreditation, then lied to get a teacher fired who refused to cheat and who reported testing problems to the division and the state, according to an investigatory report.

In addition, the school division's top administrators refused to demand that Lafayette-Winona Middle School Principal Cassandra Goodwyn comply with state testing standards and dismissed the whistle-blower's evidence that he refused to bend testing rules...

The panel

The members were Assistant City Attorney Derek Mungo; Leigh Butler, director of teacher education services at Old Dominion University; and Dennis Moore, senior coordinator of pupil personnel services for Norfolk schools.

Lafayette-Winona principal is faulted

A panel of investigators found Lafayette-Winona Middle School Principal Cassandra Goodwyn improperly selected students for alternative testing, removed students’ work if it appeared it would fail, ignored staff recommendations to correct policies and severely disciplined a whistle-blowing teacher.

Reached late Tuesday, Goodwyn denied any wrongdoing and said she has evidence to prove it.

Executive director is faulted

The report found that the division’s executive director for middle schools, Cathy Lassiter, stood by while the whistle-blower was unfairly disciplined. The report states: “She failed to fulfill the prescribed duties” of her position and and to uphold the division’s core values...



Understanding the Education Debacle
Karen Horwitz
May 14, 2010

In your article you said: "'According to the report, the panel found there is "an unreasonable presumption" by some central administrators that principals would never willfully violate law or policy, and 'they are hesitant to adequately investigate possible wrongdoing, even in the face of documentary evidence that negates the presumption.'" I can tell you why this unreasonable presumption takes place all over this nation. Organized crime is rampant in our schools and part of its organization is successfully keeping it away from the press so it can go on with no scrutiny. What they are labeling unreasonable is in effect a cover up I can document all over this nation and until the public gets what is being covered up, nothing does make sense. I wrote a book all about this organized crime in education called White Chalk Crime: The REAL Reason Schools Fail. All the answers are there. Check out WhiteChalkCrime.com and EndTeacherAbuse.org and you will learn just how teacher abuse, which you described in your article, underpins this organized crime. I have organized whistle blowing teachers so they can finally be heard above the propaganda. They are the people who have been disappeared by this system of White Chalk Crime, and they are eagerly awaiting an opportunity to testify or merely speak to reporters. However, somehow these truths are evaporated by the system that holds so much power and extends to the corporate controlled press.

With so many people mesmerized by the free market theory, those who want our schools to self destruct so they can privatize them are in the lead. However, had they done their homework on free market philosophy they would know better than to trust a system that abandons regulations. If people would just read Naomi Klein's book Shock Doctrine they would get it. But people talk about education rather than self educate and this is why those really trying to solve the problem of our schools are lost and subject to the power of those determined to privatize the schools. Granted government can be and is corrupt. But it is the only balance to corruption in business and anyone who thinks that greed does not take over has been asleep these past years.

What we need is good government, not less government, yet our people are being manipulated by free marketers totally unaware what that means. Ruining our schools killed two birds with one stone: made people too uneducated to figure out where they were being led and opened up the opportunity to privatize them. We cannot solve this problem without looking at the big picture or that the destruction of the public school system is a definite part of the free market agenda. So while we agonize about issues from bullying to cheating to drop outs, the free market people are laughing all the way to the bank, literally...

Schools make a mess when they try to fire teachers

The big problem with the efforts of schools to fire teachers is that schools have no unbiased, comprehensive system for evaluating teachers. The principal alone is responsible, and usually bases evaluations on very little classroom observation. Few incompetent teachers are targeted; the targets are mostly people who made the mistake of going against the grain. (And we wonder why education reform is so difficult.)

Click HERE to see all posts on evaluating teachers.

The Crime of Teaching Too Long
By Susan Brinchman, San Diego
Letter to Voice of San Diego
July 02, 2009

What is little understood is that the accusations against these teachers are often entirely false - it is a way to get rid of union members, union reps, and older teachers who pull larger salaries. There was an all out war on those groups in the past ten years in SDUSD. The teachers languish at home, waiting for a hearing in a kangaroo court, with charges that range from criminal to those that would cause loss of a credential, completely setup by the district's attorneys and administration. The principals and admins learned how to do this - as a cost-saving measure and way to break the union. It was legal and with the help of the broken legal system, which could cost innocent teachers a hundred or two hundred thousand easily, only to lose, it was a despicable and discriminatory act repeated over and over. The teachers who were taken off the job waited, often, quite upset, when all they wanted was to be back at work and be treated with respect for the good job they were previously doing.

To read about this in depth, buy Janice Howes' The Black Hole in the Blueprint, available on Amazon.com. She is a local, highly successful, talented teacher who was set up to lose her job and credentials. Her crime? Teaching into her 60's.




A READER'S COMMENT:

Suggesting that School Principals falsely accuse, lie, or otherwise commit felonies against older teachers "as a cost-saving measure " is a bit theatrical. Mean-spirited hatchet jobs like this do nothing to gain support for teachers. Does the teacher's union support this position?

Posted by Ontheoutsidelookingin


MAURA LARKINS RESPONSE:

Have you ever heard of the Milgram experiments? Milgram proved that roughly 50% of ordinary, nice people will do just about anything that an authority figure tells them to do. Schools have authority figures (superintendents) who sometimes tell ordinary, nice principals to get rid of some teachers. The idea is to get rid of the incompetent teachers, but how does the principal decide which teachers deserve a pink slip? The principals know they will be rewarded even if they don't bother to carefully evaluate the teachers they choose.

This was made clear in testimony in the Danielle Cozaihr case in San Diego. The principal had walked through Ms. Cozaihr's classroom on a handful of occasions, not stopping to observe, and if he did make any notes about Cozaihr, he threw them away. He did not sign up Ms. Cozaihr for available training for new teachers. Why didn't superintendent Lowell Billings impress upon principals that they had to do these things as part of district policy? Billings apparently wanted principals to fire teachers rather than improve the teachers' performance. Principal Alex Cortes fired another teacher at the same time as Cozaihr. Click HERE for all Cozaihr posts.

In the infrequent situation in which a teacher demands a hearing, a new authority figure gets involved--the lawyer. Insurance company lawyers are generally paid to do what it takes to win. Sadly, that sometimes requires that principals give false testimony.

Amazingly, one principal in Virginia was actually indicted for perjury, but the court decided that he had not been required by law to take an oath, so he couldn't be prosecuted. The problem in school hearings is that it's often impossible to tell the difference between a true accusation and a false accusation. Witnesses, in fear of losing their jobs, tend to either not show up for hearings or to say what the district wants them to say. We need a system that gets rid of bad teachers without requiring lawyer involvement, and evaluations should be done by outsiders who are not under political pressure.

No possibility for change in Zimbabue. How about change in America's schools?

We are different from Zimbabue. We can change.

I agree with world leaders who say that Morgan Tsvangirai should drop out of the presidential race because Mugabe will just keep killing people until his control is accepted. It's better to leave him alone.

Is the same true of those who want to change education in America? Should we give up? While some school districts use Mugabe-style tactics, like firing or arresting opposition leaders, I think America is different from Zimbabue. We can and should exercise our right to speak out--or we may lose it.

The Sunday Times, U. K.
Douglas Marle in Harare
"Zimbabwe's opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, is facing an “avalanche of calls” to withdraw from this Friday’s presidential election after a campaign of murder, assault and intimidation by supporters of President Robert Mugabe.

"Tsvangirai is expected to decide tomorrow whether he will contest the election even though 85 members of his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) have been killed and evidence is mounting of attempts to rig the voting.

"The 56-year-old former trade union leader has previously indicated that nothing would deter him from fighting the election.

"But senior party officials warned yesterday that there was little point in a contest that Mugabe is determined to steal..."

Another school fires a teacher for reporting violations

Personally, I've always taken grades with a grain of salt. I don't think they prove much.

But I'm really disgusted with school officials who have little or no respect for the law, or even for their own policies. Students across the country are being taught that honesty counts for very little, and that if you want to keep your job, you'd better be prepared to lie.

And the real tragedy is that our schools are contributing heavily to our failures as a society, instead of helping to prepare citizens to respect the rule of law.

April 11, 2008
By BRETT SHIPP
WFAA-TV

Click HERE to watch the video (after the commercial).

DALLAS -- Allegations of retaliation by a whistle-blowing DISD teacher have been supported by an internal investigation obtained by News Eight...

Former Skyline High School teacher John Stine says any DISD teacher thinking about speaking out should forget it.

In his case, he blew the whistle on improper grade changing and weeks later got fired. An internal investigation supports Stine...

When first we visited former Skyline High School Media Tech teacher John Stine, he was being paid by DISD to clock in with Human Resources and go home.

Stine had been recommended for removal from school by Associate Principal Ward English just days after reporting to state officials that English improperly changed the grades of failing student athletes.

Stine was relieved recently to learn that a 606 page internal investigation into his allegations supports his claims that his reward for trying to blow the whistle was termination, and worse...

Among the contents supporting Stine: a report from May of last year indicating that in a previous investigation, "Mr. English had admitted to making grade changes arbitrarily." Also, a time line laying out the alleged retaliation: April 9, 2007 Stine blows the whistle reporting that English improperly changed student grades. The next day, English initiates an investigation into Stine's teaching performance. One week later, Stine is directed to leave campus immediately. One month after that, English recommends Stine for termination...

Stine says Superintendent Hinojosa should have already taken action against English. "Yet he is still at that school and I'm still being punished," said Stine...

"What other things have they covered up, what other people have they destroyed? How are they trying to intimidate, harass, ruin the careers of other teachers that are standing there struggling against all odds against an administration that will not help them," said Stine.

http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa080411_jh_ disdteacher.531a3869.html
LINK: Dallas ISD Website
LINK: (02/08/08) Grade changing allegations point at principal
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