Three months after the West Contra Costa Unified School District school board’s decision not laying off any employeesTwo union leaders for the district’s adult education teachers were suddenly — and, it turns out to be a mistake — let go.
But what district officials are chalking up as a “mistake” has turned to union-busting and harassment allegations after talks over working conditions.
Ken Ryan and Kristen Pursley, president and vice president of the Adult School Teachers United Union, have taught English as a second language and citizenship for 28 and 25 years, respectively. He has advocated for years to finalize a contract, secure pay increases and sick leave, expand ESL courses, and more.
When the two head teachers met on June 8 to begin planning for the next school year, a two-paragraph email arrived in their inbox from the director of human resources for certified staff, claiming that the pair had been let go because They were part-time and “temporary,” meaning they could be terminated at any time.
The problem was that they both worked full-time, balancing their part-time teaching schedule with union responsibilities. After a second email it acknowledged that he was not part-time, but still claimed that he had been fired.
It was not until Superintendent Chris Hurst emailed Persley and Ryan three days later that both were told the notice was a clerical error and was reversed.
Ryan, 66, and Pursley, 71, felt relieved after retaining their jobs, saying they were given no explanation as to how the mess happened or why only those teachers were affected.
“It looks like what they really wanted was to get rid of us, and they thought it was a way to do that,” Pursley said. “I don’t mean to jump to conclusions, but it doesn’t make sense to me that it was a mistake, when they so carefully made it twice.”
District communications manager Rachel Forrest said the district “takes this issue very seriously” but would not comment on what happened next, as “the matter is under investigation at the direct request of the two teachers affected.”
When the district decided to resume in-person classes last year, Ryan said that administrators did not re-open the ESL program in favor of consolidating all neighborhood school sites into online and adult education buildings, whose As a result the attendance rate has already come down. Additionally, Ryan said that some immunocompromised adult education teachers — who are usually older — were denied requests for online classes, leading to many not accepting assignments to teach.
“I don’t understand (the district’s) oppressive logic,” Ryan said. “This level of abuse – not even an exaggeration these days – was not uncommon in the context of insane actions or misinterpretation of ed code by HR.”
This is not the first time that allegations of wrongful termination of the job of a teacher have been made in the district. Denise Van Hook, a black woman who was principal at Pinole Middle School for nine years, is suing the district and its top administrators for racial discrimination and retaliation.
She alleged that school officials failed to investigate complaints of racially motivated harassment by her and her black colleagues. According to Van Hook’s lawsuit, her actions, while addressing the school’s hostile work environment, eventually led to her being demoted and reassigned by June 2020. The district did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the suit.
Adult education is added to the district’s K-12 program, but has its own budget and federation. adult education program There are diverse, boasting courses for people to earn a GED, start a career in health care, and learn computer skills. The program also offers fee-based classes such as Zumba and American Sign Language.
“These classes bring the community together and give families an opportunity to grow,” explained Ryan, adding that many of the 600 to 800 students in the ESL program are low-income and from immigrant families in Richmond, Pinole, and San Pablo. . “If adult education was not here, they would have had no chance of getting an education.”
WCCUSD recognized the Adult Education Teachers’ Association in 2017, but has since been negotiating the first union contract for a pool of about 80 teachers. Pursley said relations have become strained after talks slowed in 2022, when the district began challenging issues it had previously agreed to, including being allowed to represent the union. She wonders whether their demands led to her unsuccessful eviction.
“It looks like we are going backwards,” he said, explaining how the union filed an unfair labor practice complaint after ESL classes were rescheduled without real input from teachers. “Bargaining is about give and take, and they weren’t willing to make any changes at all.”
This is why Pursley says that incorrect termination notices are more worrisome than clerical error; If the union is not able to openly advocate for stable, strong adult education classes and equal treatment for its teachers, it is concerned that the program will suffer – jeopardizing the success of students and the entire West Contra Costa community.
“We serve people who may feel a bit at sea because they don’t know the language,” Pursley said. “From my experience as a teacher, it really builds and strengthens the entire community. It would hurt a lot if it went away.”