2 Simi Teachers to Be Paid in Library Protest

Two Simi Valley teachers were unfairly docked a day’s pay for using a “personal necessity” day to protest the opening of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library near Simi Valley in November, an arbitrator ruled this week.

Teachers Susan English and Kenneth Butts Jr. had argued that other Simi Valley Unified School District faculty members were granted “personal necessity” days off with pay to accompany students or participate in other ways in the Nov. 4 dedication.

English and Butts said they were wrongly penalized when the district refused to grant them a similar day off when they protested the appearance of Reagan, President George Bush and three other former American Presidents at the dedication.

In a ruling issued Monday, independent arbitrator John D. Perone, hired by the district and the Simi Educators Assn., agreed with the teachers.

“For me it’s a victory, a just decision for all working people,” Butts, who has taught physical education at Sequoia Junior High for 15 years, said Wednesday. “We took part in the democratic process. If you looked at the history of those five Presidents, there were a lot of things to be concerned about over the policies they were involved in.”

He said the district will have to pay the wages it withheld--about $200 per teacher. Administrators had ruled that the protest by Butts and English did not qualify for one of the six paid personal necessity days a teacher is allowed to take off each year.

English, who teaches physical education at Hillside Junior High, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

But at the time she filed her grievance, she said: “It seems pretty obvious if you were politically correct, you got paid for the day. If you were not politically correct, you didn’t get paid.”

District officials said Wednesday that they would abide by the ruling. But they defended their original decision.

“It was the district administration’s interpretation of the contract with the teachers association,” Supt. Robert W. Purvis said. He declined to comment further, saying he had not read the arbitrator’s report.

School board member Doug Crosse said the administrators’ decision was backed by the board.

“I was in accord with the decision because I felt it was representative of what the community would have us do,” Crosse said. “My gut feeling was that I don’t think the community wanted those teachers paid for protesting.”

He said the district was justified in paying teachers who participated in the dedication because it was the presidential library’s only opening ceremony. Teachers who oppose Reagan’s policies could have protested at other places or on other occasions when school was not in session, Crosse said.

Board member Judy Barry added: “The board does not feel that taking a day off in order to protest is an appropriate use of tax money.”

Butts said he discussed his experience with his students, who “learned a lot from the whole episode.” The teacher said the school board members are representative of a growing number of elected officials who are trying to curb public protests.

“There’s less and less tolerance for dissent in our society as a whole,” Butts said. “They’re forgetting that dissent was the root of our nation. The country was founded by dissent. They shouldn’t be afraid of that.”