Union, district close complaint made by McClatchy High teachers over March student walkout

The Sacramento City Teachers Association and the Sacramento City Unified School District agreed to dismiss a complaint filed against the district claiming that it falsely accused teachers of helping organize a student walkout in March 2018.

The union and five C.K. McClatchy High School teachers filed the complaint in October 2018 with the Public Employment Relations Board, claiming that the district “engaged in unfair practices” during an investigation into a matter that violated California policies protecting public employees.

The matter was settled between the teachers association and the district, and no decision on the complaint to PERB was rendered.

The issue dates back to a March walkout that was organized by students to protest how the district handles sexual harassment cases, including an alleged off-campus gang rape in 2016. In March, the former McClatchy High student who made the allegations filed a lawsuit against the school district, four school staff members and its former school resource officer.

Five McClatchy High teachers – Lori Jablonski, Tim Griffin, Tammy Abdo, Bridget Martinez, and Tim Douglas – said they were accused of assisting students in organizing the walkout and of leaving students unattended.

All five teachers said they did not leave any students unattended, according to their statements to school officials.

The day after the walkout, the five teachers were summoned to meet with district officials in a validation meeting, to give their side of the story. Incident reports made by students, campus security and Assistant Principal Iyuanna Pease were collected, according to the documents filed with the claim. Some teachers were shown security footage of them walking in school halls during the walkout, according McClatchy teacher Jablonski.

None of the five teachers were found to have violated any school policies, which could have brought disciplinary action.

The district said that such meetings are not uncommon as they help the district gather factual information.

“District administrators have a duty to investigate claims of employee misconduct,” the district said in a statement to The Sacramento Bee. “This process serves as an accountability mechanism to ensure facts are known in an investigation.”

The validation meetings ranged from lasting a few minutes to an hour and 45 minutes. Assistant superintendent Mary Hardin Young, Pease and a district lawyer were among those in attendance asking teachers about their involvement in the protests, according to the complaint document and Jablonski.

Jablonski called the validation meetings a “fishing expedition.”

“I was not in violation of anything,” she said. “I asked them, ‘What kind of evidence do you have that I did something wrong?’ They told me that the idea of this hearing would be to find out if I did anything wrong.”

Jablonski was on her preparation period and said she was not teaching a class when the walkout occurred.

At another meeting, Jablonski asked Superintendent Jorge Aguilar if he knew about the district monitoring teachers the day of the walkout.

“Not only was he aware of it, he approved it,” Jablonski said. “That was stunning to me.”

District spokesperson Alex Barrios said that validation meetings are routine and confidential. Employees are able to publicly share that they met with district officials if they want, he said.

“It is our responsibility to taxpayers, families and students to make sure activities and employee behavior is proper,” Barrios said.

Jablonski said she wants an apology from officials.

“The trust factor has really made me leery about my campus administration and the district, and that is not easily fixed, especially when there was no formal apology,” Jablonski said.

Teacher Bridget Martinez, also summoned for a validation meeting, said she felt vindicated even though the matter was settled without a PERB ruling. Martinez watched the walkout during her preparation period, and said she was not involved in organizing it.

“I feel betrayed by the administration,” Martinez said. “It’s an insult to my professionalism and my dedication to the school.”

Martinez said that while the video shown to teachers in the meetings was security footage, she saw one campus monitor recording the walkout on his cell phone.

Jablonski said she was concerned that the attention on possible teacher misconduct took away from the reasons behind the walkout.

“It completely diminishes the idea of student voice and activism. This was a ‘Me Too’ movement,” Jablonski said, referring to increase in people speaking up against sexual assaults. “And boy did they blow it. This was their response – to round up teachers. There doesn’t seem to be a broader discussion taking place, and it makes me wonder what the district and school commitment is to addressing these issues.”