BOSTON (AP) ―The state's highest court ruled Tuesday that Lowell school officials couldn't fire a first grade teacher who failed two English fluency tests.
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court said a lower court judge did not have the right to overturn an arbitrator's decision in favor of the teacher, Phanna Kem Robishaw.
Robishaw began teaching in the Lowell public schools in 1992 after fleeing Cambodia, and most recently taught at the Greenhalge School. She was one of five teachers of Cambodian birth at the school, where nearly half the student population was Cambodian.
Calls to lawyers for Robishaw and the school system were not immediately returned.
In 2002, Massachusetts voters approved a ballot question designed to virtually eliminate bilingual education and require schools prove teachers are proficient in English.
In October of that year, a new principal at the school expressed concern to the Lowell school superintendent about the English proficiency of several teachers, including Robishaw. The following January, the principal gave Robishaw an "unsatisfactory" performance rating.
The next month Robishaw began experiencing symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder, first brought on after she fled the Khmer Rouge, and took a medical leave of absence. She asked to postpone two English fluency tests, but the request was denied. She failed both.
She was dismissed in September 2005 and appealed her firing to an arbitrator.
The arbitrator dismissed the importance of the fluency tests, saying they were unreliable because of Robishaw's medical condition.
The arbitrator said keeping Robishaw as a teacher was in the students' best interest because of her history as a survivor of the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia and her ability to serve as a role model for young people.
Robishaw also had four state teaching licenses qualifying her to teach an elementary school curriculum in mainstream, bilingual, and special education settings, as well as to teach Cambodian.
The arbitrator ordered she be reinstated with back pay.
The school appealed the decision to the Superior Court, which sided with the administration, arguing that the arbitrator exceeded his authority by issuing an award that flouted state law and public policy.
At that point, the Supreme Judicial Court decided to step in and review the case. The seven-member court said it wasn't passing judgment on the merits of the bilingual education ballot question, but was focused more narrowly on the question of whether and when a judge can overturn an arbitrator's decision.
The high court found that in this case, the Superior Court "was not free to reject the arbitrator's findings or his legal conclusion" that Bradshaw's post traumatic stress affected her ability to perform on the tests.
"The arbitrator ... made a factual finding that the school committee failed to meet its burden of establishing that Robishaw could not speak English fluently," Justice Margot Botsford wrote for the court in the unanimous ruling. "We are bound by this determination."
-------------------------------------------
Teacher who failed English test should not have been fired, court rules
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
By JOHN R. ELLEMENT and JAMES VAZNIS
The Boston Globe
In a unanimous ruling, Massachusetts' high court said an arbitrator did not violate state law when he ruled that the Lowell School Committee had no right to dismiss Phanna Kem Robishaw, a first-grade teacher from Cambodia who failed English-speaking tests while on medical leave.
Srinivas Ramineni, Robishaw's attorney, said in a statement that the ruling indicates that evidence overwhelmingly showed termination was unjustified.
"Phanna Robishaw has stood up to the Lowell School District, who failed to establish just cause to terminate her employment," Ramineni said. "The Lowell School District failed to establish that the language tests administered to Ms. Robishaw were valid, and thus the school district did not meet its burden of proving that Ms. Robishaw was not fluent in English."
Robishaw was among a few dozen teachers around the state targeted for removal seven years ago as school districts implemented a new law that required some teachers who are nonnative speakers of English to pass English fluency exams. The new requirement was part of a referendum, passed by voters in 2002, that overhauled the way students who lack fluency in English are taught - requiring in most cases that all subjects be taught in English rather than in a student's native language.
In its ruling, the court said it was not passing judgment on the validity or legality of the English-speaking requirement, which remains a contentious issue in education. Instead, justices believed Middlesex Superior Court Judge Dennis J. Curran overstepped his authority in 2008, when he overturned the arbitrator's decision. Curran, while conducting an independent review of the evidence, concluded that an audiotape of Robishaw speaking proved she was unfit to teach. The arbitrator had given little credence to the tape.
The court said that under state law, judges cannot wholly substitute their own conclusions for those made by an arbitrator.
"Applying the well-settled limitations on judicial review of an arbitrator's decision, we conclude that the arbitrator's award in this case should be affirmed," Justice Margot Botsford wrote for the court.
Lowell schools Superintendent Chris A. Scott, whose tenure began after Robishaw's termination, said yesterday that she had not yet seen the ruling but that the school department would comply with it. The department's attorney is reviewing the decision.
A survivor of the murderous Khmer Rouge regime, Robishaw started teaching in Lowell in 1992 and had worked at the Greenhalge School, where nearly half the students were of Cambodian ancestry. For the next 10 years, she consistently received positive reviews by school administrators, according to the ruling.
But a new principal came on board at the Greenhalge in fall 2002 and questioned Robishaw's fluency in English, along with that of a few other teachers. In January 2003, the principal gave Robishaw a negative review. A month later, Robishaw experienced post-traumatic stress disorder and took a medical leave.
Meanwhile, the Lowell School Department began to implement the teacher-test requirement under the new law. Robishaw, who held several state teaching licenses, requested a postponement of the test because she was on medical leave, but the district forced her to take the exams that spring. Robishaw failed.
The district's effort to remove Robishaw, however, stalled, as she remained on a medical leave for about two years. In 2005 she notified the district of her intent to return that fall. The district, citing the 2003 failures, then fired her.
In 2007, an arbitrator ruled that the school was wrong to conduct the tests when Robishaw was being treated for a psychiatric disorder and that her life story was an inspiration to her students. The arbitrator ordered her reinstated with back pay and benefits to August 1, 2005.
The School Committee appealed, and a Middlesex Superior Court judge ruled that the public policy requirements approved by voters in the referendum must be applied to Robishaw.
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court said a lower court judge did not have the right to overturn an arbitrator's decision in favor of the teacher, Phanna Kem Robishaw.
Robishaw began teaching in the Lowell public schools in 1992 after fleeing Cambodia, and most recently taught at the Greenhalge School. She was one of five teachers of Cambodian birth at the school, where nearly half the student population was Cambodian.
Calls to lawyers for Robishaw and the school system were not immediately returned.
In 2002, Massachusetts voters approved a ballot question designed to virtually eliminate bilingual education and require schools prove teachers are proficient in English.
In October of that year, a new principal at the school expressed concern to the Lowell school superintendent about the English proficiency of several teachers, including Robishaw. The following January, the principal gave Robishaw an "unsatisfactory" performance rating.
The next month Robishaw began experiencing symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder, first brought on after she fled the Khmer Rouge, and took a medical leave of absence. She asked to postpone two English fluency tests, but the request was denied. She failed both.
She was dismissed in September 2005 and appealed her firing to an arbitrator.
The arbitrator dismissed the importance of the fluency tests, saying they were unreliable because of Robishaw's medical condition.
The arbitrator said keeping Robishaw as a teacher was in the students' best interest because of her history as a survivor of the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia and her ability to serve as a role model for young people.
Robishaw also had four state teaching licenses qualifying her to teach an elementary school curriculum in mainstream, bilingual, and special education settings, as well as to teach Cambodian.
The arbitrator ordered she be reinstated with back pay.
The school appealed the decision to the Superior Court, which sided with the administration, arguing that the arbitrator exceeded his authority by issuing an award that flouted state law and public policy.
At that point, the Supreme Judicial Court decided to step in and review the case. The seven-member court said it wasn't passing judgment on the merits of the bilingual education ballot question, but was focused more narrowly on the question of whether and when a judge can overturn an arbitrator's decision.
The high court found that in this case, the Superior Court "was not free to reject the arbitrator's findings or his legal conclusion" that Bradshaw's post traumatic stress affected her ability to perform on the tests.
"The arbitrator ... made a factual finding that the school committee failed to meet its burden of establishing that Robishaw could not speak English fluently," Justice Margot Botsford wrote for the court in the unanimous ruling. "We are bound by this determination."
-------------------------------------------
Teacher who failed English test should not have been fired, court rules
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
By JOHN R. ELLEMENT and JAMES VAZNIS
The Boston Globe
In a unanimous ruling, Massachusetts' high court said an arbitrator did not violate state law when he ruled that the Lowell School Committee had no right to dismiss Phanna Kem Robishaw, a first-grade teacher from Cambodia who failed English-speaking tests while on medical leave.
Srinivas Ramineni, Robishaw's attorney, said in a statement that the ruling indicates that evidence overwhelmingly showed termination was unjustified.
"Phanna Robishaw has stood up to the Lowell School District, who failed to establish just cause to terminate her employment," Ramineni said. "The Lowell School District failed to establish that the language tests administered to Ms. Robishaw were valid, and thus the school district did not meet its burden of proving that Ms. Robishaw was not fluent in English."
Robishaw was among a few dozen teachers around the state targeted for removal seven years ago as school districts implemented a new law that required some teachers who are nonnative speakers of English to pass English fluency exams. The new requirement was part of a referendum, passed by voters in 2002, that overhauled the way students who lack fluency in English are taught - requiring in most cases that all subjects be taught in English rather than in a student's native language.
In its ruling, the court said it was not passing judgment on the validity or legality of the English-speaking requirement, which remains a contentious issue in education. Instead, justices believed Middlesex Superior Court Judge Dennis J. Curran overstepped his authority in 2008, when he overturned the arbitrator's decision. Curran, while conducting an independent review of the evidence, concluded that an audiotape of Robishaw speaking proved she was unfit to teach. The arbitrator had given little credence to the tape.
The court said that under state law, judges cannot wholly substitute their own conclusions for those made by an arbitrator.
"Applying the well-settled limitations on judicial review of an arbitrator's decision, we conclude that the arbitrator's award in this case should be affirmed," Justice Margot Botsford wrote for the court.
Lowell schools Superintendent Chris A. Scott, whose tenure began after Robishaw's termination, said yesterday that she had not yet seen the ruling but that the school department would comply with it. The department's attorney is reviewing the decision.
A survivor of the murderous Khmer Rouge regime, Robishaw started teaching in Lowell in 1992 and had worked at the Greenhalge School, where nearly half the students were of Cambodian ancestry. For the next 10 years, she consistently received positive reviews by school administrators, according to the ruling.
But a new principal came on board at the Greenhalge in fall 2002 and questioned Robishaw's fluency in English, along with that of a few other teachers. In January 2003, the principal gave Robishaw a negative review. A month later, Robishaw experienced post-traumatic stress disorder and took a medical leave.
Meanwhile, the Lowell School Department began to implement the teacher-test requirement under the new law. Robishaw, who held several state teaching licenses, requested a postponement of the test because she was on medical leave, but the district forced her to take the exams that spring. Robishaw failed.
The district's effort to remove Robishaw, however, stalled, as she remained on a medical leave for about two years. In 2005 she notified the district of her intent to return that fall. The district, citing the 2003 failures, then fired her.
In 2007, an arbitrator ruled that the school was wrong to conduct the tests when Robishaw was being treated for a psychiatric disorder and that her life story was an inspiration to her students. The arbitrator ordered her reinstated with back pay and benefits to August 1, 2005.
The School Committee appealed, and a Middlesex Superior Court judge ruled that the public policy requirements approved by voters in the referendum must be applied to Robishaw.
No comments:
Post a Comment