Oh, devil, devil!
If that the earth could teem with woman’s tears,
Each drop she falls would prove a crocodile.
Out of my sight!
OTHELLO act 4, scene 1
BREAKING NEWS IN VERGARA V CALIFORNIA !!!!!
YOUNG, BEAUTIFUL, NICE, NEW TEACHER CRIES !!!!!
Oh boy things heated up in the kourtroom today!! Check this out as reported in trusty p.r. rag L.A. School Report. My comments, snarky and otherwise will be in bold.
Vergara hears moving testimony from oft-dismissed teacher
Bhavini Bhakta
An award-winning educator with two master’s degrees, she recounted how despite her success, the warm embrace of her students and the appreciation of their parents, she was laid off five times in nine years at three different Los Angeles area schools only because she was junior to other teachers. How and who defines success for you Ms B.? Master's degrees are a dime a dozen, mine didn't matter when Mr. Deasy decided to fire teachers my age.
“No matter how hard I worked, none of it mattered,” she said, wiping away tears.
Boo hoo. That's how it is for senior teachers. We're told that nothing we do is right and that we're not following directives although none of our questions are answered. I wonder if crying might have helped?
“All that mattered was my hiring date. You’re not even a person, it’s not anything you do; it’s just the hire date that matters. I was just a number, not a person, and that’s not easy.”
Ah but sweet, innocent Ms B. that's how it is for senior teachers. Nothing matters but our hire date,other than gender, age, race, ethnicity, skin color, fashion choices, sexual orientation- perceived or expressed, shoe size, religion or lack thereof and disability. Now that I think about it I bet you're not innocent, I bet you're paid one way or the other to testify in this way.
Bhakta’s testimony gave an emotional lift to the Vergara plaintiffs, who are trying to show that state laws on teacher seniority, dismissal and tenure protect ineffective teachers at the expense of younger ones and deny children a constitutional right to a quality education. WHOOP THERE IT IS!!! "Protect ineffective teachers at the expense of younger ones..." False dichotomy rears its ugly head. You haven't really described "ineffective" and you set it against "younger" thereby tipping your hand. Who says that younger are "more effective,"?
As defendants, the California Teachers Association, California Federation of Teachers and the state are claiming that the laws don’t interfere with the way district administrators deal with ineffective teachers.
The 2009 teacher of the year at Broadoaks Elementary School in Monrovia, Bhakta told the court that she switched majors in college after tutoring kids, saying she fell in love with the profession.
When questioned by plaintiff’s attorney Kyle Withers as to her time in three different public school systems, she described a series of checkerboard moves, layoffs and rehires that seemed to occur almost every year. Whether hired back or not, she testified that every time she received a pink slip, she felt as if she lost her job. Huh? They happened or they didn't. They can't "seem to happen." Girlie girl, people lose jobs, did you think that this would never happen to you?
This next part will be dismembered as a whole.
She further said the seniority statue “destroys morale” at schools and turns teachers against each other.
“It destroys the sense of community at any school,” she said. “And I’ve witnessed it.”
State Deputy Attorney Charles Antonen had the unenviable job of cross examination. He attempted to show that Bhakta only lost her job once, despite multiple notices, because she was rehired when openings came up just before school started.
But in her final minutes, back under friendly questioning from Withers, she concluded, “At the end of the day, it’s the kids who suffer. That’s who gets burned, the kids.”
What is morale, what is a sense of community at a school, who defines it and why is she testifying at all? Is she an authority, an expert witness? Will she tell us how this happens? How does it turn teachers against each other? What you really mean is that you feel you deserve a job because you are young beautiful and have joined up with the privateers. What about a school where the principal has his/her favorites who get the goodies while the rest are left to wonder what happened? Do you think the kids suffer because they have to look at someone who is as old as your mother and not someone young and beautiful?
Let's see if the fix is in. This crap doesn't rise to the level of proof in court. If judge Rolf Treu decides for the plaintiffs then the result was predetermined.
