Discipline for the adults

The case of the Miramontes School revealed that within the state’s school system, it is extremely complicated for a school district to sanction and fire a teacher who has been accused or suspected of criminal conduct. As a result, there is a bill in Sacramento that includes some good changes, although not enough.

This week, AB 375, a bill introduced by Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan (D-Alamo), is under consideration. This measure will facilitate the process of disciplining teachers.

The bill will allow districts to take a series of actions to remove from the school employees who have been charged with several specific crimes, as well as to immediately remove from the classroom teachers who have been accused of sexual abuse. Also, the proposal to limit the entire appeals process to seven months is very important.

However, we believe the project falls short in continuing to leave the final decision up to the Commission on Professional Competence. This commission is made up of an administrative law judge and two teachers who represent the accused and the complainant.

We think the administrative judge is the one who should make the final decision—as stipulated in legislation introduced last year by Senator Alex Padilla (D-Los Angeles), which ended up being rejected.

Today, AB 375 has the support of Padilla and the California Teachers Association (CTA), an organization that rejected the senator’s bill last year. The fact that the CTA supports Buchanan’s bill increases its possibilities for success. We hope that the bill is amended so that an administrative judge makes the final decisions instead of an individual’s defenders and accusers.