Crawford v. Comm'n On Prof'l Competence of the Jurupa Unified Sch. Dist.
Decision Date | 11 August 2020 |
Docket Number | E071770 |
Citation | 53 Cal.App.5th 327,267 Cal.Rptr.3d 520 |
Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
Parties | Patricia CRAWFORD, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. COMMISSION ON PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE OF the JURUPA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT, Defendant and Respondent; Jurupa Unified School District, Real Party in Interest and Respondent. |
Trygstad, Schwab & Trygstad, and Lawrence B. Trygstad, Richard J. Schwab and Rosty G. Gore, Los Angeles, for Plaintiff and Appellant.
No appearance from Defendant and Respondent.
Adams Silva & McNally, and Kerrie E. McNally, for Real Party in Interest and Respondent.
In February 2017, students at Rubidoux High School (RHS) participated in a protest. As part of the protest, almost a quarter of RHS's student body boycotted school for the day. Plaintiff and appellant, Patricia Crawford, a guidance counselor at RHS, criticized the students who boycotted in an e-mail to a colleague and by leaving several comments on a RHS teacher's public Facebook post that was similarly critical of the boycotting students. Some students and others considered the post and Crawford's comments on the post to be offensive. The Facebook post "went viral," and a public outcry against Crawford and other RHS teachers' comments ensued, resulting in nationwide media attention, a RHS student protest against the teachers, and a flurry of e-mails to RHS administration from the public.
Real party in interest, Jurupa Unified School District (the District), dismissed Crawford on the grounds that her conduct was "immoral" and showed that she was "evidently unfit for service" under Education Code section 44932.1 Defendant and respondent, the Commission on Public Competence of the Jurupa Unified School District (CPC), upheld Crawford's dismissal, as did the trial court, and as do we. The trial court's judgment is affirmed.
On February 16, 2017, RHS students protested in support of "A Day Without Immigrations," a nationwide boycott that sought to illustrate the economic impact of immigrants in the United States and to protest President Donald J. Trump's immigration policies. RHS's student body is approximately 90 percent Hispanic/Latino, and about a quarter of its students boycotted attending school in support of the protest.
On the morning of "A Day Without Immigrants," another teacher e-mailed staff asking about the high rate of absences in her classes. Crawford responded, "The PROFESSIONAL staff members and SERIOUS students are here today, boycott be darned."
Later that day, RHS teacher Geoffrey Greer posted the following on Facebook: Crawford commented on Greer's post, Several other teachers made similar comments about how the protesting students' absence had positive effects, such as smaller classes, fewer "troublemakers," increasing a class's "cumulative GPA," and making instruction easier.
Two students commented on Greer's post to express their disappointment and disagreement with the post and the teachers' comments in the thread. A student responded by saying, among other things, Immediately after this comment, a former RHS student said, The counselor the student was referring to was Crawford.
Within minutes, Crawford responded,
Another former RHS student responded to Crawford's comment shortly afterward. He said Crawford responded directly to the student, stating Someone immediately replied to Crawford's comment with
Crawford did not reply, but elsewhere in the post's thread, she commented a final time by saying, Crawford then logged off Facebook for the night.
Crawford subsequently received several instant messages criticizing her comments on Greer's post. Some of the messages were threatening. Greer's post "went viral" on social media and gained attention "way beyond Jurupa Valley." Several people took screenshots of Greer's post and Crawford's comments and uploaded them to Twitter, gaining dozens of "retweets," "likes," and "many, many" negative replies.
The following morning, Crawford sent an e-mail to RHS Principal Dr. Jose Araux and another RHS administrator. Crawford wrote,
Greer, Crawford, and other faculty members who commented on Greer's Facebook post were put on administrative leave on the same day, February 17, 2017.
In the ensuing days, Crawford received 10 e-mails expressing disagreement with her comments. One of the e-mails read, "As a former High School counselor, I am extremely disgusted with your comments on the protest."
The District received over 250 e-mail complaints about Greer's post and the comment thread, over 50 of which specifically referenced Crawford's comments. One said when "teachers and counselors resort to calling students and their families ‘lazy’, ‘ignorant’, ‘trouble makers’ and insinuate that they are ... dirty (‘cafeteria was much cleaner after lunch’), it speaks VOLUMES." Another wrote, One complainant opined that
The following day, RHS's campus was vandalized with graffiti on Greer's and another teacher's classrooms, which said "F**K YOU" and "F**K YOUR OPINION." About 350 students staged a "walk-out" and demonstration to protest Greer's Facebook post and the comments in the thread. Riverside County deputies were dispatched to monitor the protest, which caused the closure of Mission Boulevard, a busy street in Jurupa Valley. The students unsuccessfully tried to march onto the I-60 freeway. RHS students planned a second walk-out in the following days, but the District successfully prevented it.
On February 21, 2017, the District's Board held a regularly scheduled meeting. Several media outlet reporters attended the meeting, which had standing room only. The Board took public comment about Greer's Facebook thread, during which 11 people specifically referred to Crawford. No one spoke in support of Crawford or any of the involved teachers.
Numerous local and national media outlets contacted the District for comment about Greer's Facebook post. At least 11 news articles referenced Crawford's comments in the thread. The Anti-Defamation League and the Department of Justice contacted RHS's principal to offer support on how to handle the situation. The American...
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