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Superintendent is discussed by school board

By MARISELA SANTANA, Staff Writer 22.NOV.07

Amid calls for the ouster of Dhyan Lal, board members make no decision after three-hour, closed-door session.

LYNWOOD -- About 100 teachers, parents and community activists called for the school superintendent's termination outside a special school board meeting Monday night where board members were scheduled to discuss Superintendent Dhyan Lal's evaluation and contract in closed session.

But after a three-hour closed session, the school board surfaced to tell the few audience members that stuck around until 11 p.m., that "no action had been taken" in regards to Lal's evaluation and contract.

In fact, school board members refused to speak on the matter, saying that because it is a personnel matter, any of the information discussed during the closed session meeting, could not be paid public.

"This is a personnel matter, so it is a very sensitive issue," longtime school board member Rachel Chavez said in an interview Tuesday. "It's being looked into. I know everyone expected something drastic to happen [Monday night], but the meeting was not intended for us to fire Dr. Lal, it was for us to discuss him. That's all."

A 5-0 vote to hire the law firm of Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud and Romo on a temporary basis to look into all of the concerns regarding the superintendent also took place Monday night.

The night then turned into a forum for teachers, union members, parents and community leaders to voice their concerns about the superintendent's alleged misconduct regarding district rules, regulations and policies, and his alleged intent to stall the negotiations between the district and the teachers' union.

Former school board member Martina Rodriguez said the superintendent needs to be held accountable for his actions.

Before being replaced by the newest school board member, Alfonso Morales, Rodriguez said the board had drafted and approved Lal's contract.

But after the 2005 school board election, school board members Jose Luis Solache, Maria Lopez and Guadalupe Rodriguez were joined by new member Morales in changing the superintendent's three-year contract. The change raised Lal's salary from $170,000 a year, plus benefits, to $200,000 a year, several allowances that totaled an extra $2,000 a month, plus lifetime benefits and health insurance, and $250,000 for him and his wife upon his retirement. That contract also includes $14,000 a year into a 401K plan for him.

"The contract we originally gave him was a transparent one. It benefited our kids first," Martina Rodriguez said. "I don't know what the new board was thinking when they gave him this contract. There was no reason to give him a new contract less than a year later. That needs to be looked at because right now if they don't change it, it's like we're giving the district away."

Lal's alleged misconduct includes hiring and firing school personnel without going through the proper channels, hiring school administrators without appropriate credentials, neglecting the teachers' union contract, making extreme contributions to current and upcoming school board members' campaigns, intimidating district personnel, demoting and firing tenured teachers, and even awarding district contracts without putting them out for bid.

"This special meeting was called to specifically deal with the superintendent, as far as the money... and how he's misappropriated those funds outside of the classroom to benefit himself and his friends," said Jesus Escandon, the field representative for the California Teacher's Association. "Whether the board fires Dhyan Lal tonight, the official teachers' position, the Lynwood Teachers Association and the California Teachers Association, is that they terminate his contract effective immediately and get rid of him."

"Dhyan Lal has unilaterally imposed his will on teachers. What does that mean? It means that he has bypassed education codes, the bargaining law and state law that mandates how the school district is governed."

Escandon said this is not the era of imposing "our will on others, we're in the era of negotiating." Lal bypassed that process, he added.

Escandon added that Lal is not doing the job of a superintendent.

"Dr. Lal is spending the school district&'s money on his friends and on his consultants," he said. "He's not spending money in the classroom where it should be spent."

Lal, who has been the district' superintendent for more than three years, said he is surprised by all the allegations against him.

"I don't know what's going on," he said. "This is what must happen when you start making people accountable."

Lal said he does not believe the allegations will amount to anything.

He said everything he has done in the district, he has done for the children and for the community.

Class-size reductions, new schools, the implementation of preschools at every elementary school are just a few of the things Lal cites. In the last year, he added, he has put eight computers in every classroom in the school district. During his tenure, 10 out of 12 schools in the district have not only met, but exceeded their adequate yearly progress on state test scores. "That's an accomplishment," he said.

As far as the teachers union, Lal said, "the teachers have a contract."

In 2005, the district and teachers agreed on a two-year contract with a 6 1/2 percent raise and free medical insurance.

"We are now renegotiating for this year, so that really is a misstatement," Lal said about the teachers' union's concerns.

Lal said the recent school board election could be why questions about his contract and conduct have come up.

A Lynwood High School teacher who asked to remain anonymous said the superintendent giving money to his friends and consultants, as well as his own lucrative contract, took money away from the students.

"Teachers are evaluated annually," the teacher said. "This superintendent has bought his way to not being evaluated. We would like to know who is holding him accountable. We want accountability, transparency, honesty. Teachers are held accountable. Someone needs to hold Dr. Lal accountable."

The teacher said he didn’t want to be identified because there's something in the district that’s called "cultural bullying."

"Teachers aren't going to talk to you," resident Joaquin Mesinas said. "They're afraid to come forward because they've been intimidated. But do you see all of these teachers here? They're speaking out, but it doesn't mean that they're not worried about what's going to happen to them tomorrow. I assure you they're afraid and they have reason to be because whenever a teacher speaks out, they're either demoted or not rehired."

Teachers who speak out, the Lynwood High School teacher said, are either written up or are harassed by the district until they leave.

Linda George, president of the Lynwood Teachers' Association, said she has witnessed it.

"That's why the morale here is so low," George said. "Because there's blatant favoritism going on. Dr. Lal has brought in people from the Los Angeles Unified School District instead of promoting from within."

The superintendent was in the process of being evaluated sometime during the summer, but it was nullified by three members of the school board for possible Brown Act violations.

"It's unfortunate that here we thought we had someone with great potential to bring good leadership to the district and didn't," said another teacher who asked not to be identified. "I know that it's a tough decision to make to have to fire someone. I myself don't like to see anyone get fired, but I am disappointed at how this superintendent has disrespected his position and the people who look to him for leadership."

"Coming out here, to protest, I think we look at is as crisis management," he said. "We can only hope that something comes out of all of this, that someone take the control back."

Mesinas, who regularly questions Lal's actions during school board meetings, is another who is disappointed that no action was taken Monday night.

"How do I feel," he said. "I feel that this is just another case of evil prevailing over good. It happens at City Hall and now we're seeing it happen at the school district. He was supposed to be different. We had high hopes for him, but for what, he's just turned out to be like all of the other politicians. This superintendent was given a sweetheart contract."

Mesinas added that there is a lack of accountability, a lack of communication and a lack of leadership at the top.

Audience members at Monday's meeting were under the impression that the school board was going to place the superintendent on administrative leave pending the investigation by the law firm it hired.

No one was placed on administrative leave, said Chavez, but the meeting did serve as a fact-finding meeting.

"A lot of instruction was given to the law firm," said Chavez. "But let it be known that this [is] not a witch hunt."

The behavior of the school board majority has allowed the superintendent to invest $3.5 million in computers without putting the contract out for bid, and to invest more than $350,000 in a contract with professional soccer team Chivas USA -- both without consulting the community first, or three members of the school board.

"This is not a witch hunt," Mesinas said. "It's about holding everyone here accountable. We've been fighting this for years. Alfonso Morales, being a new school board member, should have known better than to allow a contract like this to go through. He's supposed to be an attorney, too. He should have known better."

According to sources, however, Morales questioned if the contract he was being asked to approve in 2005 was standard among superintendents before casting his vote. He was told by the school district's lawyers at the time that it was a standard contract.

Thanks to all who were at the District Office Monday 11/19/2007. We had a great turnout well over a hundred. It is unfortunate that the Board took a no action vote on Dr. Lal. This means status quo for LUSD! Your strength will not go unnoticed. What was up with Mr. Morales??? For those not present, Mr. Morales lost his cool. He scolded the teachers present for exercising their freedom of speech, just like a bad teacher chewing on a class. Shame, Shame, Shame on you, Mr. Morales.

Respectfully submitted,

Rob

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Teachers union to protest at board meeting

By MARISELA SANTANA, Staff Writer 29.NOV.07

With negotiations stalled on a new contract, teachers plan to picket outside the district office prior to Tuesday's meeting.



LYNWOOD - The Lynwood Teachers Association, with the support of the California Teachers Association, will be out in full force Tuesday, picketing on the steps of the Lynwood Unified School District's headquarters to challenge the members of the Board of Education and Superintendent Dhyan Lal to step up negotiations on a new contract.



Negotiations between the teachers and the school district have gone beyond an impasse, said Robin Lovan, a longtime teacher at Lynwood High School.



While he is well aware of the possible harassment, or cultural bullying that may come his way for stepping forward, Lovan, a 29-year teacher, said in an interview this week that the district can "bring it on."



"They can try to hit me with their best shot," Lovan said. "They will deny it, they will say that it's only a handful of us, but it's not true. I will tell you that the [teachers union members] are frustrated with the district's treatment. So when they say that we don't matter, of course, it's going to bother us."



It was confirmed late Wednesday that more than 50 teachers, at least 30 at Lynwood High School, participated in a sick-out Monday, often referred to as the blue flu, as a protest against the district for allowing negotiations to remain stalled since the union contract expired June 30.



Jesus Escandon, field representative for the California Teachers Association, said that neither association had anything to do with Monday's blue flu.



"We're not in the business of crippling education in any way, shape or form," Escandon said this week while taking a break from a 10-hour meeting he and Lynwood Teachers Association President Linda George had with the district at the Public Employee Relations Board's offices. "The union does not promote those types of activities," he said about sick-outs. "Under no circumstance will the union, the LTA or the CTA, promote walkouts."



Monday's blue flu may not have been spearheaded by the associations, but Escandon said, come Tuesday both unions plan on being out in full force. A student/teacher march from the LTA's offices on Atlantic Boulevard to the school district could not be confirmed by press time. The picket line, though, begins at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, just as the Board of Education begins its regular meeting and swears in a new member.



Tuesday's picket will be the second one in the last 15 days. More than 50 teachers participated in a demonstration outside and inside a special school board meeting Nov. 19.



The district needs to know, needs to recognize, Escandon said, that the LTA is mad.



"We are very upset that the school board has not taken a position to remedy the crisis here," Escandon said about the negotiation process. "We are in a state of crisis. The superintendent has declared war on his own teachers, and the school board is letting him do it."



While the LTA is asking for a 6 percent pay raise, Escandon said the district is proposing no increase.



Technically, Escandon added, the contract does roll over, but the superintendent is wrong when he says that we have a contract.



"Teachers are operating without a contract as we speak," Escandon said. "It does roll over, but there are issues to be addressed that have not been addressed and there's cost of living adjustments that are long overdue."



The LTA and CTA are in the process of filing four separate labor charges against the school district. The salary adjustments are another separate pending charge the unions will be filing against the school district with the Public Employee Relations Board.



The unions are charging the district with violating collective bargaining laws.



The violations range from kindergarten teachers having more than 24 students in each class, preschool teachers being asked to work longer days, counselors being asked to do field counseling during lunch hours, and asking counselors to work weekends.



Another major violation, Escandon said, is that the superintendent allows principals to continually interfere with union activities at school sites. The principals bully teachers and have even gone so far as to stop school site elections from taking place.



"It's gotten to the point here that if you do bad things, you get promoted," Escandon said. "When there's an essential disregard for people's rights, bargaining laws, and educational codes, Dr. Lal gives them a promotion," he said about principals. "They get rewarded or promoted to higher, more lucrative, more authoritative, higher-paying positions."



Lal, on the other hand, said he is "baffled" at the teacher's unions actions and allegations.



The statements being made are erroneous, he said adding that even the Nov. 19 demonstration in front of the school district took him aback.



"We are working very closely with the unions," said Lal from his office this week. "All of the cards are on the table. Our teachers are the sixth highest paid in the county, so no, I can't understand what these accusations are about."



One thing is for sure, Lal said, the negotiations are still in the works and are currently ironing out some minor issues.



As far as he knows, Lal said, the concerns aren't even about money. They have more to do with the teaching environment. Either way, he said, the district's bargaining team is working on making sure that it and the unions come to an amicable understanding.



Still, the superintendent said, the district has more than 900 teachers. Those upset over the negotiations, aren't nearly close to that number, he said.



His goal, he said, is to make Lynwood a model school district, "as it should be."



"There's new buildings and all resources go into our schools," he said. "We've hired more credentialed, new teachers, setting up programs that really work and bringing technology into the classrooms. Before I came here, there were 33 students in every classroom, now there's less than 25."



Antonio Portillo, a member of the teachers union, did not participate in the blue flu sick out.



"Teachers, I think, did that to prompt the negotiation process. They're frustrated and I understand that," he said. "The issue here is about money, but I believe that the district is looking at its budget, they're going to do everything they could to find that money, I'm sure of it."



Portillo said throughout his teaching career, a teacher's salary has never been enough.



He said he has usually worked two to three jobs to make ends meet, and doesn't see why other teachers can't do the same.



In comparison to say, the Los Angeles Unified School District, Portillo said, the Lynwood Unified School District has been pretty good about staying in the same ball park considering it is a much smaller district.



The bottom line, Portillo said, the district and the superintendent need to settle with the unions.



"The concerns have a basis," he said. "The things that [the teachers] are saying about [Lal's] contract, about the high-paying consultants he hires, it's all true. All I'm saying is that they will have to settle at some point."



Lal said that he was not aware of any violations the district is being charged with and still isn't sure where the opposition is coming from.



The opposition, Lovan said, has to do with money the superintendent either gets through his salary or that he has access to.



"If the school board can find an extra $30,000 to give to the superintendent every year, and drop $14,000 into his 401K plan every year, then they can find money to give to the teachers," Lovan said. "Over the last three years, we've received 11.5 percent. That's nothing to the amount of money this man is getting. There's a discrepancy there and I'm wondering why no one in the administration sees that."



The number of teachers demonstrating outside the school district headquarters on Tuesday, or those who protested Nov. 19, doesn't represent the number of teachers fed up with the district administration, Lovan said.



"For someone to say that the teachers who are upset are just a drop in the bucket, it's just another fabrication of Dr. Lal's," Escandon added. "That's completely false. The membership has had it with the leadership of this school district, and with school board members [Jose Luis] Solache and [Alfonso] Morales protecting Dr. Lal. The membership is frustrated and is ready to fight."



The school district may have more than PERB violations to worry about in the near future, Escandon said.



The California Teachers Association sanctioned the school district here for "ill practices and mistreatment of students and teachers" about four years ago, Escandon said.



"Well, we're there again," he added. "If the board and the superintendent don't move in the right direction, they can be assured that more sanctions will be headed their way and that's not going to be good for the district, for the teachers, for any of us, and especially not good for the kids."

The contract negotiations have still not left the launch pad. We have had a number of dates set and our faithful Negotiating team has gone to the district offices. The district refuses to settle the unresolved 2006-2007 issues and refuses to deal with the new contract!