The Los Angeles school district faces a $1 billion lawsuit in which it is alleged that the second largest school district in the U.S. has been conducting and continues to conduct "witch hunts" targeting older teachers in a "shrewd" effort to save money.
Rafe Esquith, 61, who was fired earlier this year for misconduct, has filed the lawsuit on behalf of approximately 2,000 teachers of the district.
The lawsuit "is the largest class action by teachers in the history of public education," said Ben Meiselas, Esquith's attorney, reported CNN.
Declining to comment, the school district said that district officials hadn't reviewed the lawsuit, and the confidential nature of the complaints against Esquith meant that they couldn't comment on the firing.
"LAUSD provides no description of any pending complaint or charges against the teacher whatsoever. Disturbingly, from the very outset, LAUSD administrators label the teachers as immoral, unethical, thieves, abusers or criminals, while at the same time the LAUSD places the teachers under a gag order," the lawsuit said, according to News Max.
The lawsuit alleges that Esquith's firing is in sync with a similar pattern where a senior teacher, who is about to retire, is abruptly removed and placed in what teachers and their union refer to as "teacher jail" -- essentially spending time in an office or at home awaiting the outcome of investigations that often lead to firings, thus saving the school board substantial amounts in retirement benefits.
The L.A. district was accused of maintaining an "investigative hit squad that goes out and basically intimidates and tries to extract statements from students that they then use for kangaroo-court style proceedings in order to get people to resign so that they don't vest with their retirement benefits," said CNN legal analyst Mark Geragos, according to The Examiner.
Esquith, a teacher of the fifth grade at Hobart Boulevard Elementary School, is well loved and respected in the educational circles. He has been conferred with the 2003 National Medal of the Arts, Walt Disney American Teacher Award as Oustanding Teacher of the Year, Parents Magazine "As You Grow" award, and an Oprah Winfrey $100,000 "Use Your Life" award.
