Testimony Begins in Fired Teacher’s Suit
A Ventura County jury began hearing testimony Tuesday in a 3-year-old wrongful-termination case brought by a former teacher who charged he was fired for complaining about understaffing at a county-run school.
Robert LeVine sued the Ventura County superintendent of schools office and four administrators in August 1996 after he was fired for allegedly failing to show up for work.
The previous year, he had raised concerns about staffing levels at the McBride School at Ventura County Juvenile Hall.
The lawsuit contended that LeVine also told the Ventura County Grand Jury and other entities that money allocated for one county school was being spent on students in other county programs.
Investigations by the state and the district attorney’s office found LeVine’s allegations inaccurate, and the lawsuit was dismissed in Ventura County Superior Court in mid-1997.
But the 2nd District Court of Appeal reinstated the suit last year after ruling that the events leading up to LeVine’s firing could be viewed as “retaliatory.”
The trial is expected to last about a week.
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