Legal Question in Employment Law in California
teacher discharge or transfer
(1) Can a teacher be trasnferred for publicly criticizing a school program. (A guidance counselor publicly opposed the way Hispanic children were placed in classes for the metnally retarded because they were testedin English rather than Spanish. Afterthe teacher suggested that parents oculd sue to stop this practice, she was transferred to a wealthy school with very few Hispanic children. She felt the transfer violated her rights.
(2) Can teachers be disciplined for publicly criticizing their immediate supervisors? (A teacher was dismissed after he testified before the school board and city council that his principal and coworkers were "mentally and sociologically unqualigied to deal with modern, complex, multiracial student bodies."
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: teacher discharge or transfer
Unless there are some union rules protecting the teacher he or she probably can be fired for publicly criticizing a program or a supervisor. however, testifying in an official proceeding is very different from "publicly criticizing" and firing someone in retaliation for testimony is almost certainly illegal.