A seven-page document released by the Gilroy Unified School
District makes it clear that officials believe they cannot demand
that teachers teach.
A seven-page document released by the Gilroy Unified School District makes it clear that officials believe they cannot demand that teachers teach.
After learning that GUSD lawyers advised that the district cannot bar teachers from participating in Day of Silence demonstrations in the classroom, we have this to say: It’s just an opinion.
This is demonstrated by the fact that another lawyer – Kevin T. Snider, chief counsel for conservative, nonprofit Pacific Justice Institute – disagrees.
The district believes that it must change board policies, institute state-mandated anti-harassment training and negotiate to remove an unusual “academic freedom” clause from teachers’ contracts before it can bar teacher participation in political protests in the classroom.
On the other hand, Snider believes that participation in protests during class time “… is a breach of (teachers’) fundamental duty to perform instruction. The district can insist that teachers show up to work and perform their duties.”
So who is right? We suspect it all comes down to goals.
If the district’s goal is to avoid a lawsuit, then the district’s lawyers are right.
If the district’s goal is to instruct students, then the PJI lawyer is right.
Which goal do you think ought to guide the GUSD in this (or any) matter? We think teaching is the district’s most important goal.
But if the GUSD board of trustees want to take the route that Snider describes as “spineless” and heed the “we can’t demand that teachers teach” advice, then it is obligated to take the following steps immediately:
• Change board policies to make it clear that classroom time is to be protected from any type of protest, silent or noisy.
The board can point out the many ways that protests can take place without interfering with teaching, such as before and after school, during lunchtime, wearing buttons or T-shirts.
• Implement a well-designed anti-harassment training to comply with the state’s education code.
Neighboring Morgan Hill Unified School District provides a $1.1-million example of why this is so important, and probably has a model program that Gilroy could study. Let’s make GUSD schools safe for all students, regardless of gender, race, religion or sexual orientation.
• Make it clear during current negotiations that the “academic freedom” clause must be removed from teachers’ contracts.
Here’s a place where community outrage over the Day of Silence participation should pressure board members to make this a priority.
The community should continue to remind school board members that they are watching the negotiations and that they expect them to negotiate a contract that lets the community and administration enforce the common-sense requirement that teachers must teach.
We disagree with the opinion of the district’s lawyers, but it’s apparent that the district places more value on avoiding a lawsuit than it does on educating students. That’s a sad state of affairs in a district that says excellence is the path worth taking.
