Teacher Files Suit Over Being Fired

A former teacher at a county-run school for incarcerated youth has filed a lawsuit against the Ventura County superintendent of schools office, saying that the superintendent fired him after he told authorities that the office was not spending education dollars properly.

Robert LeVine’s wrongful-termination suit, filed Friday in Ventura County Superior Court, says he was fired in February 1995 after he told the Ventura County Grand Jury and other entities that money allocated for the Unit School in Ventura was being spent on students in other county programs.

“Rob LeVine consistently pointed out that the incarcerated kids were not getting the financial support that was designated for them,” said Glenn J. Campbell, the Oxnard attorney representing LeVine. “When he said, ‘I am getting an answer and going over your head,’ he got terminated.”

Supt. Charles Weis was out of town and could not be reached for comment Monday. But John McGarry, a member of the Ventura County Board of Education, said the superintendent’s office had conducted an extensive internal investigation after the allegations.

“I think that that satisfied the grand jury and everybody else in that area,” McGarry said. The superintendent’s office “did make some improvements in different areas of the program.”

McGarry said the superintendent’s office and not the board of trustees handles such personnel matters, so he declined further comment on LeVine’s suit.

Campbell would not specify what amount LeVine is seeking from the superintendent’s office, saying only: “It is a six-figure case, minimally.”