I have been trying this morning to continue
with my horror story, but after typing for
about an hour, I was nowhere near finished,
so deleted it all. I am going to try
again, and hit only the highlights. Please
remember that is just one of many stories
that could be told by teachers and staff in
this district. Eight of us have federal
suits against the district, three others
decided against suits because of their fear
and the lack of money. A civil rights
lawyer volunteered to represent me on
contingency. By May 2001 the situation had
deteriorated drastically. Another
teacher/friend/union rep fainted while
being served with another harassing letter
during class, and had to be taken to the
hospital by ambulance. The EMTs had a
difficult time reviving her, and when i
went to the office to make sure an
ambulance had been called i overheard the
principal ask one of our many vice-
principals if anyone from the media was on
campus! I was livid that his first thought
was about his "image," instead of about the
teacher. It was suggested that I go home.
I had been proctoring an AP exam that
morning, so already had a sub. And I was
very upset about the teacher and what the
principal said. I left, but partway home
remembered that i had not entered my
seniors' grades. I returned to school,
where it was again suggested--several times-
-that I should leave because of my health.
I found it very odd that administrators
were concerned with my health. I went to
my room to enter the grades. i only had
three seniors, so it would have taken just
a minute, then I would have left. Before I
got the computer on, two city policemen
came to my room to take me off campus! I
though i would pass out! I refused to go
until they gave me a good reason. One
said, "This is Superintendent Burnett's
school, and he wants you gone." I said
that the school belongs to everyone, and
that i did not have to leave if I had not
been charged with anything. They dragged
me to my car. As they were pushing me into
it, I heard someone yell out that I was now
on administrative leave. There were so
many people, cops, EMTs, etc. around, that
things were confusing, and I was scared to
death. Someone drove me home. I was put on
leave with pay, but was not allowed to go
back to see my students graduate, or say
goodbye to my foreign students. Then
administrators took $1000. from my summer
check to "discipline" me, but I still
hadn't been charged with anything. In the
meantime, I was rehired for 2001-2002! The
principal had been harassing me by having
the vice-principal drop into my class
unannounced to observe me, the entire
period once, which had never happened in 13
years! I was given the highest evaluations
by the vice-principal! These people are
nuts! Anyway, they left me alone during
the summer, although while I had been off
sick, they had sent security guards,
secretaries, and personnel people to my
home with harassing letters. I was never
charged with anything, although weeks later
I was charged with insubordination. All of
us that were being harassed were seeing
counselors. I would never have believed I
could get so paranoid. I was afraid to get
the mail, because I never knew what they
were going to charge me with. I kept all
of my doors locked after people started
coming to my home with harassing letters.
We all feared for our safety, especially
considering the strange relationship
between the cops and the school. On August
7th, the day before school started, I was
told that a second History teacher had been
put on administrative leave, with no
charges against her, and
that a third History teacher had been
harassed into quitting. So many teachers
had transferred, retired early, quit, or
were on administrative leave that some
classes began on the 13th with subs! The
evening of the 7th I called the union rep,
sobbing. I told her that I knew they would
get me next, and I was terrified of
returning to school. Eventually, I
realized that I could not let them defeat
me. I went to work on the 8th. The first
three days were for staff development, so
we had no students. Things were fine on
the 8th, and I gave a sigh of relief. On
the 9th, I was 5 minutes late to the
meeting. The principal was already
speaking to the faculty, giving us hell for
having the nerve to speak to board
members. He said they were sick of
teachers trying to contact them, and that
it would stop! I went to the back of the
room. There were no chairs, so I sat on
the floor, as teachers often do, I
especially, because sitting in a chair for
hours makes my legs hurt because of my
fibromyalgia. After the meeting, we were
allowed to go to lunch. After lunch, we
returned for more speeches by
administrators. As we headed for the
auditorium, a friend came up to tell me she
was so sorry that s former student of mine,
missing for days, has dead. She had been
murdered and thrown into a dumpster. Mary
Alice had been my English student and my
History student, and I had helped her get
into Brown University. We were very
close. My legs buckled. I sank down into
a chair in the vestibule, told the others
to go on in, and let me sit until my head
cleared. I borrowed a cell phone to let my
best friend know about Mary Alice. I sat
and cried for about ten minutes. I was
aware of people around me, but was in such
shock that I don't remember them talking to
me. After about ten minutes, a friend came
to check on me, and tell me she had an
empty seat next to her. We went into the
meeting. About 15 minutes later, another
administrator came to my seat and told me I
had to go with her. I asked why. She was
acting so weird that I did not want to go.
I said no. the friend next to me convinced
me to go, so we three left the auditorium.
The cops got me again! They twisted my arm
behind my back so hard that they hurt me,
and started dragging me up the hill to the
car. I was screaming bloody murder, and
asking them why they were doing this. They
kept saying that I knew why! Just as we
got to the top of the hill by the office,
people came running out of the office
yelling, "You have the wrong teacher!"
They were so angry at so many teachers that
they got confused! I laughed hysterically
at their incompetence, then went back to
the meeting. After school I went to the
Dr. for a prescription for pain pills. The
next day I was put on adminstrative leave
again---with no charges! I was numb with
fear and anger. My students didn't have a
teacher. After about two weeks I called
one of our many administrators to ask if
they hadn't decided yet what to charge me
with! It was about another week before
they sent me papers saying there was to be
a predetermination hearing to decide
whether or not I should be terminated! The
charges? I sat on the floor during a
faculty meeting, and I blocked the entrance
(5'x8') to the auditorium with my body
(5'2" and 110 pounds) causing a safety
hazard! i am not making this up! of
course Burnett decided that there was
enough evidence for a termination hearing,
which was Oct. 30th. The school lawyer was
in charge of the hearing, deciding what
could and could not be heard! Burnett had
ordered every administrator in the
district to attend, to arrive an hour
early, and to stay until it was over! At
ten P.M., after three hours of their
witnesses, my lawyer asked that we continue
on another night, since the teachers had
been up since 5 A.M., and had to get up at
that time again the next morning. It was
going to be nearly midnight before my
witnesses took the stand! Their lawyer said
no! So my lawyers left! I sat stunned for
a minute, then left too. The room full of
administrators stayed for nearly three more
hours, testifying about me to each other!
No surprise, i was terminated---three
months before retirement! The termination
appeal will be the 26th and 27th of this
month, with an arbitrator from another town
in charge. When I applied for unemployment
insurance, the school lied about why I was
fired---felt stupid saying it was for
sitting on the floor, I guess! They were
caught lying, and the DOL found in my
favor. In an effort to show everyone just
how stupid they are, they appealed again!
And lost again! In the meantime, two other
districts in NM were getting so much
attention for their corruption, that the
state Attorney General stepped in! She
began to get calls from all over the state,
demanding that other districts be
investigated. They were so overwhelmed
that they set up a special prosecutor's
office with its own phone line! Did any of
you hear me scream with joy when I found
that out a few days ago?!! I called the
line, then called everyone I know in the
free world, and asked them to call. I and
three other former Los Lunas High teachers
have a meeting with the special prosecutor
tomorrow. The thought that the corruption
might stop is so exciting. And I think
there is a good chance that my termination
will be overturned! For years, grades at
our school have been changed for kids of
favored parents, especially for athletes.
There are kids in special-ed that are not
special-ed, but the school receives extra
money for them. Several classes did not
have a teacher, just many different subs
last term, yet grades were given in the
name of teachers no longer on campus. What
these people have done to the students is
criminal. My hope now is that having our
AG step in could serve as a precedent to
have AGs in other states investigate
schools. I have been shocked to learn how
corrupt schools are, and to learn how much
money there is to steal. I want to add
that we have asked for help from the AG
before, as well as from the state
superintendent, local board members, state
board members, North Central Accreditation,
senators, representatives, the national
NEA, DOL, ACLU, OCR, attorneys, TV and
newspaper reporters (and some of them have
helped), EEOC, etc. I have contacted
20/20, Oprah Winfrey, Dateline, Time, and
Newsweek, among others. I also joined a
teacher support group on the net. I am
working on a web page, which a kind-hearted
education advocate put up for me, and on a
teacher advocacy service. I will call them
both "Stand Up for Educators." I am sick
of teachers whining, and acting like
doormats and sheep. If we don't stand up
for ourselves, no one else will. People
laugh at us for being such wimps. I have
always said that if you write "Wipe feet
here," and lie down in front of a door, you
will be treated like a doormat. I have
learned a great deal about the welfare,
unemployment, medical, teaching, judicial,
and legal systems during my year of hell,
and I can help others who need it. I
learned that of all the professions that I
have dealt with, none act as professionally
as educators are expected to act. We have
as much, or more, knowledge, education,
creativity, ethics, morals, patience,
common sense, warmth, and heart then any of
the other professions, and we are treated
the least professionally. STAND UP! FIGHT
BACK!

Darlene Goodman, mcdarlene@abq.com,
2/17/02

This month's letters: