Principal Cleared of Retaliation for Teacher’s Complaints

A state commission voted Friday to exonerate a San Fernando Valley elementary school principal accused of harassing a teacher who had filed complaints about the treatment of special-education students, state officials said.

Acting on the recommendation of a judge who reviewed the case earlier this year, the Commission on Teacher Credentialing agreed there was not enough evidence to prove that Principal Jacklyn Thompson retaliated against teacher Sheila Hopper while the two worked at Nestle Avenue Elementary School in Tarzana, said Nanette Rufo, an attorney for the commission.

It was the first case involving a state regulation that went into effect in 1989 protecting educators from retaliation for filing workplace complaints, state officials said. The Commission on Teacher Credentialing, which issues the credentials required of public school teachers and administrators, also is responsible for enforcing the regulation.

Hopper had accused Thompson of punishing her for complaints that she filed with state and federal authorities in 1989 and 1990. The Los Angeles Unified School District was found to have improperly set up and managed its special-education classes as a result of Hopper’s complaints.

Hopper was then suspended by her principal for 15 days without pay for allegedly pushing down a student in class. Police did not find enough evidence to charge Hopper, and she later had the suspension overturned by an arbitrator.

The case was brought last year to the state Committee on Credentials, an independent investigative body appointed by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing. The committee recommended that Thompson’s teaching and administrative credentials be suspended for 10 days because it found she had unfairly punished Hopper for complaining to authorities.

But after reviewing evidence, Administrative Law Judge David B. Rosenman ruled that there was not enough proof to punish Thompson for unprofessional conduct or “for retaliation for so-called whistle-blowing.”

Commission members are required to have “clear and convincing evidence to support any alleged misconduct, and they have to prove it was in retaliation,” Rufo said.