Agreement to Put Suspended Art Teacher Back at Drawing Board

A popular Palos Verdes High School art teacher, suspended in March from her job because of a nagging work-related injury she sustained six years ago, has won her battle to return to the classroom.

Chizuko de Queiroz said Thursday that under an agreement reached with Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District officials, she will resume teaching at the high school Oct. 9.

De Queiroz, 57, also said she will retain her position as head of the school’s art department, a job she has held from 1980 until her suspension.

“I am really grateful for all the support” from the community, teachers and students, said De Queiroz, who was joined in her effort for reinstatement by hundreds of students who signed a petition on her behalf last spring.

Jerry Davis, the district’s assistant superintendent for personnel, declined to comment on any aspect of the matter until school board members are briefed Monday night at their regularly scheduled meeting.

It was not known whether De Queiroz agreed to enter a rehabilitation program as part of her settlement with the district. The district had insisted in May that she enter such a program before she was allowed to return to work, either as a teacher or at some other job.

De Queiroz has maintained that she does not require rehabilitation.

Neither De Queiroz nor her attorney, Henry Willis, would comment on specifics of the agreement, which they said contains a confidentiality clause.

“All I can tell you is we settled the matter,” Willis said. “ . . . She is going back. Everybody is satisfied. It is an amicable settlement.”

Board President Jeffrey Younggren said Thursday that he was unaware of the outcome of the settlement meeting, which was held Wednesday afternoon.

De Queiroz, who has taught in the district for 27 years, was told by district officials in March that she could no longer hold her $43,000-a-year teaching job because of her on-the-job injuries.

Subsequently, more than 200 students signed a petition asking that De Queiroz be given her job back, and about 70 faculty members signed a separate petition protesting “the callous way Mrs. De Queiroz was removed from the classroom.” The teachers also praised De Queiroz’s “outstanding” achievements as an educator.

During her suspension, she was paid her accumulated sick leave, district officials had said. De Queiroz initially injured her back, neck, shoulders and upper arms in 1983 while lifting 50-pound bags of sculpting material, and has aggravated that injury six times in the last five years. She has filed eight claims with the district for physical and emotional injury.

Supt. Jack Price said in May that the district removed her from the classroom on the advice of the self-insurance pool that covers the district in workers’ compensation matters. In a statement read to school board members, the district and its carrier said “it is clear from the record” that De Queiroz “is vulnerable to significant reinjury in her employment.”

Price, in an interview several days later, explained that if the district had ignored the insurers’ advice, the district, instead of the insurance pool, would become liable for workers’ compensation claims.

Accommodate Injuries

Price could not be reached Thursday for comment.

The district argued that De Queiroz should be barred from returning to work unless she retrained for another position, or, if possible, her present job was modified to accommodate her injuries. The rehabilitation would be conducted by a trained counselor through the workers’ compensation board, the district said.

De Queiroz said, however, that she did not require rehabilitation. She said she had already made modifications in her work practices, including using student assistants, so she would not have to do such tasks as lifting.

Both sides produced doctors’ reports and physicals to justify their positions.