Verbal Abuse Charges Cloud Teacher’s Future

Accused of verbally abusing her sixth-grade students by calling them names like “loser” and “brat,” and using vulgarity in class, a Simi Valley teacher may lose her job because of the alleged misconduct.

A three-member panel has just concluded 11 days of hearings about the fate of teacher Vera Mantor, who was placed on paid administrative leave after she was removed from her Madera Elementary School classroom last March.

The Simi Valley Unified School District filed 40 charges against Mantor alleging that, among other things, she resorted to name-calling and foul language and that she once told a student, “I’m sick of your crap.”

The district also contends that Mantor lost control of her classroom, did not follow correct disciplinary procedures and did not respond to memos from her superiors.

The charges were based on complaints from more than 20 parents and students at Madera Elementary during the 1994-95 school year.

But Mantor’s attorney, Margo Feinberg, said her client denied all of the allegations during the hearings, which concluded late Tuesday.

“Our position is that she did not yell at students,” Feinberg said. “She did discipline students by having them do detention or go to the office when they were disruptive.”

Mantor, according to Feinberg, was the victim of a “rumor mill” that started after Mantor was arrested one weekend in Los Angeles County and charged with assault with a deadly weapon.

Those charges, which were dropped before the case went to trial, preceded Mantor when she was transferred from Township Elementary to Madera in the fall of 1994, Feinberg said.

“Even before the parents met her they were asking that their children be removed from her class,” Feinberg said. Students who had heard about her arrest thereafter treated Mantor disrespectfully, taunting her and saying that they were going to call the police to arrest her.

In addition, the district and its principals did not support Mantor in her problems with the students, Feinberg said.

But Simi Valley Unified’s attorney disputed that claim, calling it “totally false.

“The principal at Madera tried very hard to be supportive of her in dealing with the parent complaints,” attorney Mary Dowell said.

Dowell and district administrators said they were not free to discuss most issues of the case in order to protect Mantor’s rights to privacy.

At issue is whether Mantor should be reinstated to her nearly $49,000 per year job, or be dismissed. Mantor, who Feinberg said is eligible for retirement, would retain all of her vested retirement benefits even if she were fired.

The three-member panel, composed of two teachers, one chosen by the district and one chosen by Mantor, and an administrative law judge, was expected to have a decision within the month.

Such administrative hearings are standard in such dismissal cases.

The panel heard 14 witnesses on behalf of the district, while Mantor was the sole person testifying in her defense.

The hearings began in September but were broken off after six days because of scheduling problems. They resumed last week and continued for five days, concluding with a three-hour closing argument by Mantor’s attorney.

“Mrs. Mantor bears no ill will toward the children,” her attorney said Wednesday.

“She is her sole support, so she wants to continue to work. She wants to return to the classroom.”