Burbank Unified School District is criticized by former employee for sending wrong message to women
A former Burbank Unified School District employee, who alleged in a lawsuit that she was sexually harassed and retaliated against by a manager, publicly criticized the district’s handling of the decade-long case at last week’s school board meeting.
“Whether or not you believe me,” Danielle Baez told the board members, “the message that’s being sent to women in our community, to young women that are joining the work place for the very first time, is that if you are sexually harassed while working in a hostile work environment, the message you send while dragging somebody through a 10-year legal battle, is to shut up and go away.”
NEWSLETTER: Get the latest headlines from the 818 straight to your inbox >>
In 2007, Baez, who worked as a secretary, claimed in a legal filing that the then-facilities director, Craig Jellison, repeatedly made unwanted sexual advances, propositioned her, sent her suggestive emails and made physical advances toward her in his office.
If you are sexually harassed while working in a hostile work environment, the message you send while dragging somebody through a 10-year-old legal battle, is to shut up and go away
— Danielle Baez, former Burbank Unified School District employee to the school board
The Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit went to trial three times, and Baez prevailed in 2013, with her counsel winning $3.2 million in legal fees. A jury awarded her $199,398 in damages in a third trial. Burbank Unified appealed both verdicts but late last month the 2nd District Court of Appeal upheld the awards.
The judge in the lawsuit, Mary Ann Murphy, stated that she awarded the legal fees to Baez’s attorneys because the district’s counsel, Nancy Doumanian, and her firm, missed filing deadlines, failed to make proper citations and made other mistakes that drove up the time it took for all involved parties to work on the case.
At Thursday’s school board meeting, district critics, including Burbank resident Greg Sousa, propelled Supt. Matt Hill to clarify that the school district has only paid $10,000, with the remainder covered by insurance.
Hill, who began his post as superintendent in July, said he would meet soon with the Joint Powers Authority, which insures the district.
“Our $10,000 payment — that is our deductible on this case,” Hill said. “Now, will the premiums go up and the rates? Potentially. That’s why I want to have a meeting to make sure that Burbank Unified School District, as well as the other districts as part of this JPA, are being represented clearly and accurately.”
Baez took issue with Hill’s comments.
“As a female in this community, when you say, it’s just $10,000, there’s a bigger message being sent,” she said.
“I apologize if I offended you,” Hill said. “I was not trying to imply, we only spent that, and it was worth that. That was not my intent. I was clarifying a fact, that the district’s responsibility was $10,000.
“Any time we’re in litigation, the recommendation to move forward is on the superintendent, and that is me, and I will look into this matter, and all matters, with the same care and thoroughness that I would for anybody. I’m going to do the same thing in this case as well.”
School board member Larry Applebaum, who has supported Doumanian for her handling of past cases, said it would be unfair to judge her body of work based on this one case.
He offered Baez an apology.
“We’ve all learned a lot,” he said, “and from this board member, I think an apology for not being more responsive is in order, and so I’m making it, and that’s the best I can do.”
Board member Armond Aghakhanian thanked Baez and others for speaking up.
“I want to make sure people understand you always have the podium here, and we would like to hear what our citizens, our taxpayers, what their concerns are,” he said.
School board member Roberta Reynolds suggested that the district is in better hands with Hill than with previous leadership.
“The board went through a great deal to bring Mr. Hill and his transparency to this district,” she said, “and we are certainly placing our trust and expectation of transparency on Mr. Hill because that’s why we hired him.”
--
Kelly Corrigan, kelly.corrigan@latimes.com
Twitter: @kellymcorrigan
ALSO:
Marinello Schools of Beauty closes Burbank campus
