Buy The BookJanice Howes -
A Teacher Abused by San Diego City Schools aka San Diego Unified School District aka The District
I have been a teacher for more than 30 years. About half of my teaching experiences were in private schools, and half in public schools. I taught students in kindergarten, second grade, fifth grade, sixth grade, and preschool. I taught elementary music for 15 years. I was an administrator for 13 years.
I enjoyed good teaching situations, and I had very positive evaluations during that whole time. There were no complaints about any areas of my instruction. I related well with students, parents, other teachers, and administrators.
However, all of that changed during the last 2 years of my teaching career.
I began working for San Diego City Schools (SDCS) in 1990 as a elementary music teacher at Barnard Elementary School, under the supervision of Pat McGann. Pat was a wonderful and capable principal. Our school had a similar school rank of "10" (the top), in 2001. There were only two schools in the state of California that were higher than Barnard in our similar school group.
Pat McCann retired and Jessica McCreary became the new principal. Ms. McCreary was at Barnard for only two years. By 2003, Barnard School had dropped to a "1" (the bottom) in similar school rank.
Ms. McCreary began her assault against me during the first week of school, while teachers were making preparation for students to arrive. During the 2001-2002 school year Ms. McCreary falsely accused me, lied to me, demanded papers from me which did not exist, failed to supply me with information, failed to give me any feedback on a formal observation, twisted, distorted, put a spin on truth, talked about me behind my back, and harassed me in numerous ways. After I left, Ms. McCreary also accused me of criminal behavior with students.
Ms. McCreary also targeted other teachers. During the first semester she got rid of a teacher who had been there for nine years. The health of at least three other teachers who had been targeted was affected as she continued to attack them. According to her own testimony in court, she was documenting the behaviors of six people. Barnard is a small school--there were only 12 classrooms. Why would there be a need to document six people in a "10" school?
Because of the terror that was experienced by several teachers, I wrote a letter to Superintendent Alan Bersin, with copies to many other people in authority in the district.
I also sent a copy to the California State Board of Education about what was happening. No investigation was made. Ms. McCreary retaliated by giving me a Letter of Reprimand. Was the principal in bed with the district?
By the end of Ms. McCreary's first year, she wrote that four teachers had been removed for ineffective performance. Two more teachers, Saundra Carpenter and I, were still being targeted and harassed in an effort to get rid of us. A gentleman who had worked mornings for 19 years as a counselor and attendance monitor was very angry because of the treatment he was receiving at Barnard. He committed suicide in September, 2002.
In October, 2002, about three weeks after the suicide my doctor put me on stress leave. I applied for Workers Comp, naming Ms. McCreary as the cause for my stress. The district retaliated by giving me a Notice of Unprofessional Conduct, thereby beginning a dismissal process.
I was on stress leave for three months. During that time, because the district had not responded to my letter, I wrote a letter to the parents. A meeting was held and parents were led to believe that an investigation would take place. However, no investigation was made.
When the doctor released me to teach again, the district did not give me a teaching assignment, and they later assigned me to do clerical work at their Maintenance Operations Department.
In the summer of 2003, the district brought charges at a hearing with the Office of Administration Hearings, (OAH). I represented myself, and had 26 witness. Ms. McCreary had no witnesses. In spite of the many lies that Ms. McCreary told, the DECISION written by Judge Knopf said that I was guilty. Because of the ruling, I was dismissed from San Diego City Schools in January, 2004. Was the OAH in bed with the district? (See link "Recent Happenings," regarding the unanswered subpoena regarding this.)
I hired an attorney to appeal the OAH decision. I had given him more than two dozen instances of false information and/or issues that I considered unlawful practices in the OAH hearing. Only one issue was selected by the attorney. I believe he was guilty of malpractice, and I also found out later that he lied to me. I paid the attorney more than $30,000.00, and lost the appeal. The decision written by Judge Wickersham did not make sense. Was the attorney in bed with the district? Was the judge also in bed with the district?
The district sent my termination papers to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CCTC) in Sacramento. I appeared for a hearing, but my credential was suspended for 21 days. Most of their "reasons" were nebulous and consequently very difficult to refute. However, one specific "reason" was a statement in their Investigative Report that I had "significantly harmed a child." CCTC refused to give me the name of the child, or any documentation to substantiate their accusation. Was the CCTC in bed with the District? (See link "Recent Happenings," regarding the unanswered subpoena regarding this.)
I wrote a book, The Black Hole in the Blueprint, Teacher Abuse in San Diego City Schools. My book was mailed to all principals, PTA presidents, and school site union reps. Some of the books were confiscated, so they never reached the people to whom they were mailed. I also mailed copies to many other administrators in SDCS. Copies were also mailed to the U.S. President, Vice-President, 50 State Governors, many legislators (both State and Federal), libraries, teacher colleges, colleges of law, and state Departments of Education.
The newly-elected SDCS Board of Education voted to buy our Superintendent Alan Bersin's contract. This is a sanitized way of saying he was fired from SDCS.
In April, 2005, Leslie Fausset, Interim Superintendent, wrote to all principals, other administrators, stating that my book contained inaccuracies. I requested that she provide page, paragraph, and quote to substantiate her statements. She did not answer my letter. (See link "Recent Happenings", regarding the unanswered subpoena regarding this.)
The Workers Comp claim has not been settled. A hearing is scheduled for August, 2005.
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