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INTRODUCTION

Over ten months ago on New Years Day, Sunday, January 1, 2023, District Deeds made the 2023 “HAT Trick” New Years Resolution for holding the San Diego Unified School District to the reasonable, justifiable, and critical standard of Honesty, Accountability and Transparency:

Since that time we have provided our readers the HAT Trick Handbook for Uniform Complaints and spent Summer, 2023 breaking down the three components with documented proof of horrible SDUSD performance.

From the beginning of the 2023/2024 school year in August we have provided both document and video examples of the SDUSD senior leadership corruption and lies in subverting any semblance of the 3 District Deeds HAT TRICK components of Honesty, Accountability and Transparency.

The videos we provided on October 1, 2023 represented the SDUSD Family “Speak Your Truth” perspective on violations of the 3 HAT TRICK principles.

Last week we provided a brave SDUSD STAFF EMPLOYEE perspective on those 3 key principles.

This week we feature courageous “Targeted Teacher” with over 20 years of teaching experience who successfully fought the SDUSD in court for their rights and wanted to to tell ALL SDUSD Stakeholders their own “Speak Your Truth” story.

Dear District Deeds-

When a second-year high school principal lacked confidence in their ability to be effective, a power trip began that cost the district thousands of dollars.  This principal wrote numerous letters of warning, reprimand, and summary of conference about teachers, and submitted them to SDUSD, who didn’t put a stop to it.  I was one of those teachers.

In my career spanning twenty plus years I had never received any negative evaluations and only a couple of letters of warning from principals.  From this principal, however, more than a dozen letters and several negative evaluations were written about me in just three years.

In the course of this letter writing campaign, SDUSD’s risk management department was alerted to an illness caused by the principal’s actions, and started a workers compensation claim for the psychological injury I suffered. Meanwhile, the district offered me a settlement agreement wherein I would be paid to not to work in exchange for not suing them. I took that deal after two days of negotiations between my union lawyer and district lawyers, which cost the district my salary for three semesters, four grand or so for the sick days I didn’t use during those semesters, and whatever lawyer’s fees they incurred to boot.

But that’s not all. I filed for adjudication in San Diego’s workers compensation court. I figured I might as well since the district had started that claim for me anyway. Psychological injuries are very difficult to prove, though, because they are invisible, and one can’t be sure they were caused with malicious intent and not just as the normal course of doing one’s job. However, two of the district’s insurance company’s psychologists tested me and interviewed me for hours and came to the conclusion that I had indeed suffered a psychological injury as a result of the principal’s actions while I was at work for the district.  In their report, one of them wrote that the district knew it was guilty and that’s why it had made the settlement agreement with me to be paid to not to work. Nevertheless, this was no guarantee that I would win my psych case in a work comp. court. But before I could bring my case before a judge, the district settled with me again for ten thousands more dollars, bringing the total this one principal cost the district to well over $100,000 dollars.

I will never teach again, and to this day I have trichotillomania that resulted from the bullying I endured.  The principal’s abusive actions were hushed up because I took that sweet deal, and now this person continues to act as principal, costing the district who knows how much more in hush money dollars, and costing teachers who knows how much more in psychological damage. This suffering of innocent teachers continues to concern me.  Maybe the principal would not have remained in a position to do harm had I not taken the money and walked away.  Perhaps if I fought to have them punished, a result other than a hush up would have transpired.  I will never know, but I do know that administrator mistreatment abuse of teachers happens all across the country.  It is seldom brought to light because targets of the abuse fear reprisals if they were to tell on their bosses.  Principals have the power to make a teacher’s life miserable all the while claiming that what they are doing is being done in the best interest of students. 

I myself was:

– Told to pack up and move classrooms at the whim of the principal.

– Assigned a room that had no internet access at the back of the school away from my department colleagues. 

– Assigned ninth grade classes with some thirty students each; a few of the rosters having an imbalance of male to female students, such as only six girls and more than twenty boys. 

My classes were observed by the principal every other week, often with no advance notice.  This treatment is stressful, so it is no wonder teachers are not jumping to expose the bullies for what they are when it is so easy to punish anyone who dares to speak out against them.

There is something that can be done to help those who find themselves as targets of administration mistreatment abuse if the district were to mandate its implementation.  A person at every school should be designated as a safe colleague to whom targets of workplace bullying can report. 

This designee will keep the teacher’s identity confidential while fulfilling their responsibility to relay the report to the district. 

The district, in turn, will have the responsibility to investigate the report and have conversations with the principal. 

In this way, targets of bullying will not have to keep their problem to themselves and suffer for months or years like I did.  They can feel safe about disclosing the actions of their bosses and the suffering caused by them without fear of reprisal.

In this way, schools will become safe workplaces and administrators will receive valuable coaching to improve the way they do their jobs. 

Union reps are currently good resources for teachers to use, but they have no obligation to keep anything confidential and have not been trained to handle these kinds of cases like a safe colleague would.  One of my union reps told me as much when they said they wouldn’t go with me anymore to the meetings the principal kept calling me to because they felt the trouble I was in was above their scope of assistance. 

I feel that implementing a safe colleague program in every school would cut down on the number of psychological injuries left unreported and untreated in the district.  And, if SDUSD were the first district in the nation to pilot this type of safe workplace program, it would be a leader in the education sector for fostering positive mental health measures for its employees.  It would not cost more than the price of professional development trainings, and it would result in savings of hundreds of thousands of hush money dollars.  It would work to retain good teachers in a culture of teacher attrition.  But most importantly, it would preserve the health and happiness of the people charged with educating our children.

Thank you-

Targeted Teacher

District Deeds thanks “Targeted Teacher”  for providing all SDUSD Stakeholders their “Speak Your Truth” insight regarding the toxic work environment that permeates the SDUSD.  We applaud Targeted Teacher for sharing an honest, well meaning suggestion/solution to stem the abuse of their former colleagues.

Like all of these SDUSD first person “Speak Your Truth” testimonies, there are always even MORE questions that need to be answered to clearly identify the full scope, scale and impact of the SDUSD senior leadership incompetence, corruption and abuse.

Here are District Deeds HAT Trick questions that ALL SDUSD Stakeholders should ask of the corrupt SDUSD leadership following this brave Teacher’s testimony:

Over the past 5 years:

  • How many similar abuses to ALL levels of employees and families has the corrupt SDUSD leadership hidden from SDUSD Stakeholders?
  • How many abused SDUSD employees have not been supported by their union legally and have had their careers crushed by the multi-million dollar SDUSD Legal Department?
  • How can the SDUSD morally retain Principals and other leadership personnel  that effectively promulgate and sanction abuses against Employees, Students and Families?
  • How many student educational supports have had to be eliminated for budget reasons to cover up these SDUSD abuses with financial payoffs?
  • How many more MILLIONS of dollars has this cost the SDUSD Stakeholders?
  • How many more great teachers will be denied to students for refusing to swallow the SDUSD propaganda?

And finally,

  • How does the abuse of Employees, Students and Families and the attempts to psychologically destroy a dedicated Teacher after 20 years of service fit into the SDUSD Vision for 2030 PROMISE most recently presented and endlessly bloviated on by the Board of Education, their incompetent Superintendent and “in-house vision salespeople” in the most recent Board of Education Meeting this past Tuesday, October 10, 2023?

We can easily provide the answer to this last question for all SDUSD Stakeholders:

It cannot and does not meet ANY of the “SDUSD Vision” propaganda claims.

This ridiculously flawed SDUSD 2030 Vision “wheel” is just another propaganda filled, flat tire of a lie.  In our Union background, a violation against ONE union member is a violation against ALL Union members.  District Deeds is aware of MANY OTHER Principals, Teachers and Staff that have been abused in a similar fashion by the corrupt SDUSD “leadership”.  The claims by Targeted Teacher are the SDUSD norms, not the exceptions.

ALL Stakeholder groups have been assaulted by SDUSD leadership in this way numerous times.

Sometimes knowingly and directly through retribution and revenge by the SDUSD.

Sometimes unknowingly and indirectly by denying the best education possible to ALL Students in a safe supportive environment for ALL employees at ALL SDUSD locations.

In the SDUSD under the corrupt and politically self serving regime of Trustee Richard “Tricky Dick” Barrera, assaults to honesty and a safe supportive work environment are the norm, not the exception.

This testimony of abuse towards a dedicated Teacher with over 20 years of experience proves that EVERYONE, EVERY SINGLE STAKEHOLDER, can and will be victimized by the unethical and immoral SDUSD leadership.

It is like what the parent we featured from a SDUSD Board of Education meeting said and we posted last week regarding her Special Education child…

“It isn’t a matter of IF San Diego Unified will fail your child, it is when.”

“It is not a matter IF Mr. Jackson and this Board will fail your child, it’s when.”

To paraphrase the pure honesty of this brave and dedicated parent…

DISTRICT DEEDS TRANSLATION:

It isn’t a matter of IF San Diego Unified will fail your SDUSD Teacher, Principal, Staff Member, Family, Parent/Guardian, Child, Caregiver…it is when.

It is not a matter of IF Mr. Jackson and this Board will fail your will fail your SDUSD Teacher, Principal, Staff Member, Family, Parent/Guardian, Child, Caregiver…it’s when.

THAT is why we urge ALL SDUSD Stakeholders to “Speak Your Truth”.

Honest, critical assessments that hold the SDUSD accountable for this type of ill-advised “cover up” spending made transparent by brave SDUSD Stakeholders forced to sue the SDUSD for their rights is the cornerstone of our District Deeds HAT Trick initiative.

When that does not happen, the result is what the SDUSD represents today as was described by a newbie Trustee board member in our September 24, 2023 article titled “The SDUSD Enrollment Lies and Community Schools Gulag!”

“This is a district bleeding out…” – SDUSD Trustee Petterson

A school district “bleeding out” of both Students and highly qualified Teachers/Staff.

A school district “bleeding out” because of abusing SDUSD Stakeholders.

A school district “bleeding out” because of their unethical and dishonest behavior.

With the brave testimony of Targeted Teacher we are beginning to better understand the reasons why.

Thank you Targeted Teacher!

District Deeds “Speak Your Truth” Information

On August 27, 2023 we launched a new initiative in our post titled “2023/2024 – District Deeds 10th School Year…NEW “Speak Your Truth” Posting Opportunity for ALL SDUSD Stakeholders!!!” where we asked for the real life experiences of San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) Parents, Teachers, Students, Staff and Taxpayers.

Here is the “Speak Your Truth” initiative definition from that post:

“Speak Your Truth” CONTINUES to inspire honesty and bravery with SDUSD Teachers, Staff, Parents and Students and given us additional insight into the deep fear of SDUSD retribution by employees in the toxic SDUSD work environment.

THANK YOU to ALL the brave SDUSD Stakeholders who continue to share their stories with us and provide deep insights into the ongoing SDUSD dysfunctional work and education environment.

Now for our Quote of the Week dedicated to our “SPEAK YOUR TRUTH” Stakeholders who are willing to speak truth to the $1.4 billion SDUSD with unlimited money, legal support and time.

“Truth is the ultimate power. When the truth comes around, all the lies have to run and hide.” – Ice Cube

IF

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  • Your family has been injured by the San Diego Unified School District, go to the District Deeds Complaint Forms page to find instructions to fight for your Civil Rights!
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