Teacher Talked of Killer Robot in Class

Teacher talked of killer robot in class

Oceanside educator said she would program it to kill students, district says

By Ashly McGlone (/staff/ashly-mcglone/) 6:11 p.m. Sept. 23, 2014

Oceanside Unified School District officials investigated complaints that a teacher threatened to have a robot shoot and kill students, and the educator was allowed to resign and receive a $92,000 settlement instead of being fired.

Officials said the prospect of a lengthy and costly state process to terminate the teacher contributed to the settlement.

The educator, Tuyet-Mai Thi Vo, says the allegations were untrue, and she has a positive recommendation letter from then- Superintendent Larry Perondi to vouch for her ongoing fitness for the classroom.

According to a district report, “Ms. Vo told her class that if robots were teachers, Ms. Vo would program the robot to shoot the students every time the students didn’t pay attention, talked back, or even talked at all. Ms. Vo told her class she would program the robot to zap the students with a Taser if the students failed to complete homework assignments or arrived late to class. Ms. Vo told her class she would program the robot to kill all of the students.”

The alleged threat and other reports of hostile encounters are outlined in documents the district filed with the state while the dismissal process was active. U-T Watchdog obtained the filings from the state’s Office of Administrative Hearings through a public records request.

Reached by phone, Vo, 48, said, “That is not reflective of who I am. What the district claimed was alleged. Alleged means they are not true.”

According to district officials, Vo was on paid leave from Jan. 23, 2012, until June 30, 2013, before leaving district employment with the cash settlement, plus 18 more months of family health benefits (still in effect) at a cost of $1,949 a month.

According to district filings, students expressed shock at her robot comments on Jan. 11, 2012, and “Ms. Vo explained that she did not like teaching students with attitudes.”

The next day, “on January 12, 2012, Ms. Vo forcefully grabbed and ripped a student’s shirt as he walked past her to his seat in the classroom,” the district wrote. “Ms. Vo’s repeated improper and threatening interactions with students and staff and her willful failure to provide required educational instruction violates district rules and state education laws.”

Vo said she was gesturing while teaching, and her contact with the student’s shirt was inadvertent.

Oceanside also raised concern about Vo’s refusal to sign an assistance plan on Jan. 13, 2012, and her quality of instruction, noting that more than 70 percent of students in her five science classes received a D or F grade after 12 weeks.

Vo’s attorney, provided to her by the California Teachers Association, denied the rough encounter occurred and said the robot remark was mischaracterized. He also said the district violated Vo’s due process rights and said she remained fit to teach.

In Perondi’s recommendation letter, he praised Vo’s “commitment to the academic achievement of students,” said she “displayed mastery” in science, and commended her extracurricular activities, coaching the chess team and advising the Asian club.

Less than a year earlier, Perondi wrote in the district’s initial June 2012 accusation, “Ms. Vo jeopardized the safety and welfare of the district’s staff and students by engaging in immoral conduct not befitting a teacher.”

Perondi did not respond to phone and email requests for comment.

Vo said the final letter of recommendation signals she is innocent.

“No one forced the superintendent to sign, and they know that letter of recommendation is an affirmation that this whole thing was wrong and it’s clear as a bell,” said Vo, who taught various science courses in Oceanside for 18 years. “No one can last in an institution that long or in a profession continuously if they don’t have a passion and behave appropriately.

“I think that’s the first rule of teaching, is not to grab kids.”

Asked why the district dropped its efforts to fire Vo, spokesman Steve Lombard said the decision was partly a financial one. “From a district point of view, we are supposed to do what’s in the best interest of kids,“ Lombard said. “A decision had to be made and the district probably felt that this was the best decision of the two available, to make a settlement rather than go through a lengthy hearing and trial, the likelihood of which would have resulted in a far more costly expenditure.”

Ed Sibby, spokesman for the local chapter of the California Teachers Association, declined to comment on Vo’s case and didn’t respond to requests to discuss teacher protections in general.

Even after the allegations against her, Vo served as a peer-elected CTA delegate at the annual National Education Association Representative Assembly gathering in Atlanta, in July 2013.

The CTA supports strong teacher protections and recently announced it would join Gov. Jerry Brown in his appeal of a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge’s June ruling that said tenure is unconstitutional and violates students’ civil rights.

Professor Jesse Rothstein, professor of public policy and economics at the University of California Berkeley, testified in favor of teacher protections during the Vergara v. California case.

“You want to make it easier to dismiss a bad teacher, but you want to make it harder for a principal to dismiss a good teacher,” Rothstein told U-T Watchdog. “It doesn’t make sense to focus on the mistakes you are seeing in the system unless you are also seeing the mistakes the system is preventing.”

He said lessening teacher job security “would require paying teachers more and would require money we don’t have.”

Attorney Frank Fekete of the Redondo Beach firm Education Advocates Inc. has practiced education law since 1975 and testified about the lengthy and costly dismissal process during the Vergara case. He said his review of teacher dismissal administrative hearings from 2003 to 2013 found districts prevailed in 60 percent of the 147 cases that didn’t settle.

“I certainly don’t think the current system is working,” Fekete told the U-T. “We have so many protections in the law in California today against discriminatory behavior by employers, and especially public employers, we don’t need all those (teacher) protections today. They are only there as obstacles. They are a compliance list and they don’t go to the heart of the matter, which is, should the person be teaching students or not?”

Vo said she was grateful for the right to appeal the termination.

“I felt fortunate that there was another defense,” Vo said. “The degree of support that I have received, as far as CTA is concerned, I applaud them. Being there for teachers is very important.”

“If I really wanted the money it would have gone further. Personally I resolved it in the most peaceful way that I thought was possible,” Vo said. “That number you see is not a large amount compared to the years of service and what I have done. That is not even a compensation to someone’s career and livelihood. There is no value you can place on that.”

A law will take effect in January allowing for the swifter termination of teachers who abuse students or have a problem with drugs or alcohol. Included in the definition of abuse is “the negligent treatment or the maltreatment of a child ... indicating harm or threatened harm to the child’s health or welfare.”

Vo’s credential is still active and up to date on the state Commission on Teacher Credentialing website, and bears no record of employment restrictions.

Pursuant to her settlement, when a future employer calls Oceanside’s human resources office, staff will say Vo voluntarily resigned “to pursue new administrative or other upper-grade level teaching opportunities.”

Vo promised to never seek employment with Oceanside Unified again.

In 2005, Vo obtained her masters in education degree and an administrative credential from California State University San Marcos. She said she doesn’t anticipate a return to classroom teaching.

Her goal: “To eventually move out of the classroom to administration where I can best support teachers and students and to serve the community the best way I can,” Vo said. “That’s why the letter of recommendation is for an administrative position.”

U-T Watchdog asked district officials Sept. 12 how much was spent investigating the accusations against Vo. No response has been provided.

Hardest cases involve assaults, insults, propositions

By Ashly McGlone (/staff/ashly-mcglone/) 3:01 p.m. Dec. 13, 2014

One teacher offered a minor $300 to have sex, and another brought a loaded gun to school, their employers said.

A third was accused of standing by as a student was assaulted during class, laughing and calling the assailant “sweetie.”

These are the hard-case files of education in San Diego County, rare instances out of a workforce of 24,000 whose days overwhelmingly go better and do more good.

To shed light on the teacher termination process that’s part of a national debate on education reform, U-T Watchdog obtained documentation for 12 county firings disputed to the state level from January 2013 through September of this year.

The case files: 1 got fired, 11 did not (http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/dec/13/hard-case-files-teacher- firings-breakout/)

The most common outcome among the 12 cases was, the district settled in advance of a state hearing, agreeing to provide months of unearned paid leave as an incentive for the teacher to leave voluntarily. That happened in 10 out of the 12 cases.

“We have found teacher dismissal cases difficult to win, lengthy and expensive,” said Ursula Kroemer, spokeswoman for San Diego Unified School District.

In two remaining cases, which proceeded to a state decision, Oceanside Unified was the district in question. The state upheld the firing of the teacher accused of standing by during an assault in her classroom. The state rejected the firing (https://media.utsandiego.com/news/documents/2014/12/12/PalmerFiles.pdf) of a teacher that the district said tried to pull up a student’s sweatshirt after she said she was wearing nothing under it. Oceanside lost an appeal of that decision in Superior Court on Friday.

“The teacher termination process is arduous, expensive and unpredictable,” said Michele Fort-Merrill, assistant superintendent of human resources for the San Diego County Office of Education.

That’s as it should be, said Ed Sibby, spokesman for the San Diego chapter of the California Teachers Association, who said traditional and necessary protections for tenured teachers are being threatened by a recent court ruling (https://media.utsandiego.com/news/documents/2014/12/12/Vergara_Final-Judgment_08.28.14.pdf) out of Los Angeles.

“In year’s past the dismissal process, while arduous, did rightly place the burden on the school board to get the facts right when making a case against a permanent teacher,” Sibby said via email. “CTA has always sought to balance the protections of due process rights, while at the same time respecting the need for administrators to properly investigate and hold accountable those in violation of the law.”

Sibby said the system allowing trouble-free termination until a teacher achieves tenure tends to weed out problems, as educators get fired or leave when they decide the career is not a good fit.

“That system, along with the difficulty of teaching on a daily basis, shakes out a majority of problem personality types from the profession,” Sibby said.

The Watchdog found several cases of educators who had problems arise later in their careers. Among the teachers still credentialed by the state, who accepted settlements from their districts and were not fired:

• Theodore McColl, an 8th grade science teacher at San Diego Unified’s School of Creative and Performing Arts, was accused of racist insults, frequent erections while watching female students and of taking off his shirt during chemistry lessons for a “Periodic Strip.” McColl’s attorney, Jon Vanderpool, said the claims were twisted hearsay accounts from a disgruntled aide and students. After spending 13 months on paid leave, McColl, 48, agreed to resign when offered another 17 months of paid leave.

• Field Elementary School 2nd grade teacher Mark Haberstroh was accused of grabbing students who walked behind him, causing bruising and redness, and pushing one out the door, causing a fall into a chain link fence eight feet away. Haberstroh, 61, declined to comment. After spending 20 months on paid leave, Haberstroh agreed to resign when offered another 11 months. • Aneta Jones, a special education teacher at Oceanside Unified’s Clair Burgener Academy, was accused of verbally abusing and humiliating students, telling one she could not go on a class visit to MiraCosta College because “she was a cry baby and too stupid to go.” Jones, 63, denied the charges in her defense filing, saying the district was retaliating for her protests on policy matters. She received $23,000 plus nearly six month’s pay and retired Nov. 2, 2013.

Ten of the 12 teachers who fought their district discipline and settled, including these three, still have valid credentials to teach in California.

One teacher let her credential expire earlier this year, and another — the one accused of propositioning a girl who used to be a prostitute at a county Office of Education campus — had his credential revoked.

In eight of the settlements, the teachers won agreements that their employers would not disclose any negative information about their performance to other potential employers.

The U-T was able to obtain the records because state law says, and the courts have held, that settlement agreements by public agencies are a matter of public record.

The records shed light on the challenges of firing tenured teachers, a polarizing issue being hashed out in court.

A Superior Court judge presiding over the Vergara vs. California case in Los Angeles recently ruled that the state’s teacher dismissal process contributes to an unconstitutional breach of student rights. The decision is being appealed, but even if it stands, it will be years before districts have a new way to fire problem teachers.

Under the current system, records show, local public schools have tried to fire teachers they say verbally and physically abused students, discriminated against them, or otherwise shown they are no longer fit to teach, but ended up keeping most of them on the payroll for months — and even years — to secure their resignations.

Evidence in the Vergara case showed it could take two to almost 10 years, and cost $50,000 to $450,000 or more, to completely adjudicate a teacher dismissal case in California, and “grossly ineffective teachers are being left in the classroom because school officials do not wish to go through the time and expense to investigate and prosecute these cases,” Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu wrote in his Aug. 27 decision.

Attorney Dan Shinoff, who represents many districts in dismissal cases countywide, said, “The Vergara decision I think really points out why the reluctance exists for the school board to take action, because of the length of the action, the cost of the action.”

While the board has authority to deal with student discipline and most other issues, Shinoff said, “We have this rare anomaly with public employees that I think really has a chilling effect on educational institutions making these decisions, and I understand why these are tough decisions.”

The county’s largest district, San Diego Unified, has pursued at least four teacher dismissal cases with the state Office of Administrative Hearings since Jan. 1, 2013, and records show all of them settled before reaching a decision, and all but one are still on the payroll.

Thanks to two levels of appeals “inevitably filed by the losing party,” Kroemer said, “it is years before we have certainty” and “if we lose, we pay the employee’s attorneys’ fees.”

“The district will often make the decision to enter into a settlement which gives certainty of separation and leaves it to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing whether to take action on the teacher’s credential,” Kroemer said.

The 325,000-member California Teachers Association is helping the state government appeal the Vergara ruling.

The association provides dues-paying members facing dismissal at least $35,000 in legal defense work. San Diego law firm Smith, Steiner, Vanderpool & Wax, APC represented all 12 teachers in the cases reviewed.

“Our justice system is built on due process: notice and an opportunity for a hearing,” Attorney Jon Vanderpool said via email. “An ‘accusation’ is nothing more than a hearsay set of unproven allegations.”

Allegations include lifting student's shirt, getting erections in class

By Ashly McGlone (/staff/ashly-mcglone/) 3:01 p.m. Dec. 13, 2014

Disputed teach dismissal cases in San Diego County in the past two years:

FIRING UPHELD

Bonnie Bayham, El Camino High art and English teacher in Oceanside Unified.

Accusation: When a dispute over tossed kiwi fruit in her class erupted into an assault, district officials said she took insufficient action to stop it, laughing as a student was punched in the back of the head eight times. The principal said it was “the most horrific incident of inaction” he had seen in 30 years. Response: Did not reply to U-T Watchdog. She testified that she did not intervene in her class because she was at her desk trying to get help. She also said she lacked training on how to respond to a fight, and the possibility of gang affiliations and weapons in the classroom gave her pause. Outcome: After nearly a year on unpaid leave, a state decision found her firing was justified, although her suspension without pay was not. District was ordered to pay $59,932.

FIRING REJECTED

Dale Palmer, Physical education teacher at El Camino High in Oceanside Unified.

Accusation: District officials alleged improper and threatening interactions with staff and students. Claimed he called students “retards” and “chicken,” and grabbed a student’s sweatshirt ”and tried to pull it up even though she told him that she did not have any clothes on under the sweatshirt.” Response: Declined to comment. Attorney said in defense filing Palmer did not call his students names, and asked the one student to show she was wearing an undershirt to check for dress code compliance, but didn’t touch her clothing. He also claimed students had conspired to get Palmer fired. Outcome: Palmer spent more than eight months on unpaid leave, but was returned to paid leave in December 2013 when the district lost the state hearing. The state decision said, “While the commission did believe that respondent would benefit from additional training and counseling to improve his social skills and his classroom management skills,” the district failed to prove its case for dismissal. The district appealed the decision to the Superior Court and lost the appeal Friday. Attorney Dan Shinoff said the school board will decide “if they want to appeal (again), because their No. 1 obligation is the safety of their children.” The amount of back pay and attorney’s fees to be awarded to Palmer has yet to be decided.

SETTLED BEFORE STATE DECISION

Martin James Banks, a Juvenile Court and Community School teacher at the Iris School for the San Diego County Office of Education.

Accusation: Employer claimed he offered $300 to a minor for sex after seeing in her school file she had been involved in prostitution. During on-campus proposition, he allegedly told her, “C’mon. It’ll be fun. Just get into it” and offered to “get a cheap hotel room.” Response: Declined to comment, but his settlement states he disputes claims of immoral conduct and dishonesty. Outcome: Credential revoked, citing misconduct. Settlement with employer granted seven months of pay before his resignation April 30, 2013, and the district agreed that responses to employment inquiries would be limited to his length of service, salary and resignation.

Story: Teacher firings take time, money (http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/dec/13/teacher-firings-hard- case-files/)

Jolyn Bush, special education teacher at Nichols Elementary in Oceanside Unified.

Accusation: District alleged dishonesty related to her credential and failing to complete necessary courses to clear her teaching credential, causing her to lose her credential more than once. Response: “There were serious issues and concerns I raised as a teacher about serving my students that caused friction between myself and my administrators, but once again I am prohibited from discussing the details any further. Regarding my credential, I was facing severe health issues during my last 4 years of employment with OUSD, culminating in undergoing a major surgery. The timing of my illness adversely affected my ability to complete credential renewal requirements. As evidenced by my impeccable work reviews throughout my 10 years as a dedicated OUSD teacher, it was never my intention to disregard my responsibilities, but rather perform to my best abilities while privately battling an illness.” Outcome: Resigned June 30, 2014 after nearly six months on paid leave. Received health benefits through Sept. 30. The district agreed that responses to employment inquiries would be limited to dates of employment, final assignment, salary, and notice of her voluntary resignation. Bush now works at San Diego Unified’s Epiphany Preparatory Charter School.

Alan Calem, second grade teacher at Laurel Elementary in Oceanside Unified.

Accusation: District claimed he repeatedly left kindergarten students unattended and had teaching deficiencies, and inappropriately attempted to enter campus on winter break. Response: Did not reply to U-T. Calem’s apology to the principal in 2011 said, “It was a lapse in judgment and it will not happen again. I know not to leave students unsupervised.” He later stated, “The principal is expecting me to have the attention of all the students all the time and this is not possible. I feel the principal is holding me to a higher standard than the other teachers.” Outcome: After eight months on paid leave, Calem agreed to resign when offered 5 months of paid leave. Resigned June 30, 2014.

Joseph DiMapilis, teacher at Hamilton Elementary in San Diego Unified

Accusation: District claimed he improperly helped Hamilton students while they were taking their Spring 2012 STAR test and district benchmark exam, invalidating the school’s standardized test scores. Response: Did not reply to U-T. His apology to colleagues said, “I never in my career did anything but do my job in a professional manner. In preparation for the testing the students in my class practiced like the actual testing. I am sorry that the testing procedures in my classroom apparently caused the school to lose funding.” Outcome: After 11 months on paid leave, he returned to the classroom Oct. 28, 2013, at a new school, Porter Elementary, and agreed to have a proctor present for future standardized tests.

Mark Haberstroh, Field Elementary 2nd grade teacher in San Diego Unified.

Accusation: District alleged he grabbed students, causing bruising, redness and shoved a student, causing a fall. Also had poor staff interactions. Response: Declined to comment. He denied the claims in his defense filing. Outcome: After spending 20 months on paid leave, Haberstroh agreed to resign when offered another 11 months of paid leave. He will resign Dec. 31. The district agreed that its responses to employment inquiries would be limited to dates of employment, last assignment and notice of resignation.

Aneta Jones, moderate-severe special education teacher at Clair Burgener Academy in Oceanside Unified.

Accusation: Allegedly failed to follow student educational plans, yelling and belittling students. District officials claimed she told one student she was a crybaby and too stupid to go on a class trip, denied another student use of the bathroom causing them to defecate in their pants, and refused to pick up a student at a job site who had a seizure, insisting they could walk back to school. Response: Did not reply to U-T. Attorney said in defense filing that Jones uses a strong and assertive tone, but doesn’t yell, and that the district was retaliating against her for her protests about special education service administration. Outcome: Received nearly six month’s paid leave, plus $23,000 in a settlement before she retired Nov. 2, 2013. The district agreed that in response to employment inquiries, it would only disclose dates of employment, last assignment and notice that she retired.

Theodore McColl, 8th grade science teacher at the School of Creative and Performing Arts in San Diego Unified.

Accusation: Accused of targeting black students with discipline, making racially derogatory comments about blacks and Hispanics and having visible erections after staring at female students in class. The district stated, “McColl would frequently get erections in class. On one occasion, McColl got an erection when he watched a female student who had dropped her pencil and when she bent over to pick it up. On another occasion McColl got an erection as he watched a female student arch her back.” He allegedly took off his shirt during a lesson on the Periodic Table of Elements, calling it the “Periodic Strip.” He allegedly told students, “All men are pigs and liars and girls should not trust them. Did you know it only takes guys five seconds to look at a girl and determine if he wants to have sex with her,” and during a sex education staff training, told colleagues “females have no interest in sex, males are ‘horny.’” Response: Responded through his attorney, Jon Vanderpool, who said the claims are “twisted hearsay accounts” by a disgruntled aide and students that were not substantiated by any witness testimony or other evidence subject to scrutiny. He said, “The accusation’s allegations were not substantiated by any witness testimony or other evidence that was subject to any level of scrutiny, let alone the ‘bright light’ of sworn testimony at a hearing, and the settlement agreement (which the district will produce) expressly states that Mr. McColl does not admit any of the charges.” Outcome: After 13 months on paid leave, McColl agreed to resign when offered another 17 months of paid leave. His resignation will be effective June 30, 2015. District responses to employment inquiries will provide last assignment and state he voluntarily resigned, or additional information with written authorization. Zak Salmon, teacher at Lemon Crest Elementary in the Lakeside Union School District.

Accusation: The district alleges Salmon was issued multiple DUI charges, showed up to a staff math meeting at the district offices drunk and was seen driving with a suspended license on school property. Response: “The bottom line is we’d just come to a settlement. There was a DUI and people were talking around the district and it was just better all around if we just parted ways, so I turned in a resignation and that was it and now I am not with the district anymore.” Outcome: Credential was suspended 14 days in 2013. Agreed to resign when offered four months of paid leave and six months of health benefits. Resigned Dec. 31, 2013. District responses to employment inquiries will be limited to dates of employment, job titles held and salary.

Summer Smith, English alternative education teacher at Chaparral High School in the Grossmont Union High School District.

Accusation: Alleged immoral conduct and cited a guilty plea Dec. 2, 2013 to possession of hydrocodone. Response: Did not reply to U-T. Defense filing said the drugs found at her home during a parole compliance search executed on her husband weren’t hers. Said she pleaded guilty to avoid trial and added hardship. Outcome: After spending more than a year on unpaid leave, a settlement gave her four months paid leave before resigning Nov. 28, 2014. District agreed to respond to employment inquiries only with last assignment, salary and notice of voluntary resignation.

Ned Walker, 7th and 8th grade English teacher at Farb Middle School in San Diego Unified.

Accusation: District alleged dishonesty and cited a 2013 guilty plea to a felony charge for bringing a loaded gun to campus. Response: Did not reply to U-T. Outcome: After spending more than 15 months on paid leave, Walker agreed to resign when offered another month of paid leave and a positive letter of recommendation. Resigned July 1, 2014. District agreed that responses to employment inquiries would disclose only dates of employment, last assignment and notice of resignation.