Crawford v. Comm'n On Prof'l Competence of the Jurupa Unified Sch. Dist.

53 Cal.App.5th 327

267 Cal.Rptr.3d 520

Patricia CRAWFORD, Plaintiff and Appellant,

v.COMMISSION ON PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE OF the JURUPA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT, Defendant and Respondent;

Jurupa Unified School District, Real Party in Interest and Respondent.

E071770

Court of Appeal, Fourth District, Division 2, California.

Filed August 11, 2020

Trygstad, Schwab & Trygstad, and Lawrence B. Trygstad, Richard J. Schwab and Rosty G. Gore, Los Angeles, for Plaintiff and Appellant.

No appearance from Defendant and Respondent.

Adams Silva & McNally, and Kerrie E. McNally, for Real Party in Interest and Respondent.

OPINION

CODRINGTON J.

I.INTRODUCTION

In February 2017, students at Rubidoux High School (RHS) participated in a protest. As part of the protest, almost a quarter of RHS's student body boycotted school for the day. Plaintiff and appellant, Patricia Crawford, a guidance counselor at RHS, criticized the students who boycotted in an e-mail to a colleague and by leaving several comments on a RHS teacher's public Facebook post that was similarly critical of the boycotting students. Some students and others considered the post and Crawford's comments on the post to be offensive. The Facebook post "went viral," and a public outcry against Crawford and other RHS teachers' comments ensued, resulting in nationwide media attention, a RHS student protest against the teachers, and a flurry of e-mails to RHS administration from the public.

Real party in interest, Jurupa Unified School District (the District), dismissed Crawford on the grounds that her conduct was "immoral" and showed that she was "evidently unfit for service" under Education Code section 44932.¹ Defendant and respondent, the Commission on Public Competence of the Jurupa Unified School District (CPC), upheld Crawford's dismissal, as did the trial court, and as do we. The trial court's judgment is affirmed.

II.FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. Facts

On February 16, 2017, RHS students protested in support of "A Day Without Immigrations," a nationwide boycott that sought to illustrate the economic impact of immigrants in the United States and to protest President Donald J. Trump's immigration policies. RHS's student body is approximately 90 percent Hispanic/Latino, and about a quarter of its students boycotted attending school in support of the protest.

On the morning of "A Day Without Immigrants," another teacher e-mailed staff asking about the high rate of absences in her classes. Crawford responded, "The PROFESSIONAL staff members and SERIOUS students are here today, boycott be darned."

Later that day, RHS teacher Geoffrey Greer posted the following on Facebook: "Well. A day without immigrants. Perhaps all the missing workers in all the various industries out there had the intended impact and sent the desired message. I don't know. As for the public school system, having my class size reduced by 50% all day long only served to SUPPORT Trump's initiatives and prove how much better things might be without all this overcrowding. [¶] That's what you get when you jump on some sort of bandwagon cause as an excuse to be lazy and/or get drunk. Best school day ever." Crawford commented on Greer's post, "Cafeteria was much cleaner after lunch, lunch, itself, went quicker, less traffic on the roads, and no discipline issues today. More, please." Several other teachers made similar comments about how the protesting students' absence had positive effects, such as smaller classes, fewer "troublemakers," increasing a class's "cumulative GPA," and making instruction easier.

Two students commented on Greer's post to express their disappointment and disagreement with the post and the teachers' comments in the thread. A student responded by saying, among other things, "[Y]ou guys are public figures and many students are taking these comments in a negative way .... I myself am a son of an immigrant and I do feel as some of these comments are directed towards my cohort." Immediately after this comment, a former RHS student said, "Let's not focus on the teachers here, a counselor, who I looked up to made a remark. Very very disappointing." The counselor the student was referring to was Crawford.

Within minutes, Crawford responded, "Disappointing is to think that some of my students still don't get it about education. Staff members who are sympathetic to the cause were at school today. The kids who care were there. The professional staff members were there. What I saw today was more proof, just like last year, that boycotts, especially of education, aren't the answer. It just keeps the ones who need it the most as useful fools."

Another former RHS student responded to Crawford's comment shortly afterward. He said "[Y]ou don't understand what it feels like to have counselors that belittle what you want to be. That when you're trying to aim high, they tell you that you can't." Crawford responded directly to the student, stating "[A]ny counselor who chops you off at the knees like that shouldn't be a counselor. That's why today upset me so much. I want my students to go out there and stand proud. Education is one way to do that." Someone immediately replied to Crawford's comment with "[Crawford], in your previous statement above you said ‘more please!’, meaning you want more of your students to not keep coming to class like today. Why contradict yourself now?"

Crawford did not reply, but elsewhere in the post's thread, she commented a final time by saying, "And I'm the great-granddaughter of immigrants. I care. But this isn't the way to go about effecting change. My post was meant to be snarky. Get over yourselves." Crawford then logged off Facebook for the night.

Crawford subsequently received several instant messages criticizing her comments on Greer's post. Some of the messages were threatening. Greer's post "went viral" on social media and gained attention "way beyond Jurupa Valley." Several people took screenshots of Greer's post and Crawford's comments and uploaded them to Twitter, gaining dozens of "retweets," "likes," and "many, many" negative replies.

The following morning, Crawford sent an e-mail to RHS Principal Dr. Jose Araux and another RHS administrator. Crawford wrote, "Last night, on Facebook, I responded to a colleague's post with an observation, as did a few other teachers. Former students became very angry, which caught me by surprise. I responded to one of the former student's hatefulness, trying to defend myself, and ended the post with ‘get over yourselves,’ as in understand that my original post was a joke. I believe that that part of the comment has been reposted and taken out of context. I then started receiving threatening [instant messages]. I deleted my Facebook account. [¶] Since after the election, I can no longer eat lunch in the staff lounge because of the anti-Caucasian conversations. The environment has become very uncomfortable at RHS. Even so, I have not let the environment affect how I deal with my students. I am a professional, and I care deeply about ALL of my students. Because of the comments taken out of context, and the threats that I received via [instant message], I don't feel safe going to work today."

Greer, Crawford, and other faculty members who commented on Greer's Facebook post were put on administrative leave on the same day, February 17, 2017.

In the ensuing days, Crawford received 10 e-mails expressing disagreement with her comments. One of the e-mails read, "As a former High School counselor, I am extremely disgusted with your comments on the protest." "[T]he key to being a successful counselor is gaining the students trust and building positive relationships. You have broken their trust, and you have embarrassed your school."

The District received over 250 e-mail complaints about Greer's post and the comment thread, over 50 of which specifically referenced Crawford's comments. One said when "teachers and counselors resort to calling students and their families ‘lazy’, ‘ignorant’, ‘trouble makers’ and insinuate that they are ... dirty (‘cafeteria was much cleaner after lunch’), it speaks VOLUMES." Another wrote, "[i]t is disgusting to know that a COUNSELOR told these kids to, ‘Get over yourselves’ for what? Stating their opinions and standing up for a case that they believe in? And this is the people who you want our kids to look up to." One complainant opined that "[t]eachers are meant to inspire, teach, and be mentors. These unfit teachers showed the complete opposite. And worse can be said about the counselor. What the counselor said was even more devastating; there is no way all the rapport they built with the students will be intact. So much for the support they are supposed to give students."

The following day, RHS's campus was vandalized with graffiti on Greer's and another teacher's classrooms, which said "F**K YOU" and "F**K YOUR OPINION." About 350 students staged a "walk-out" and demonstration to protest Greer's Facebook post and the comments in the thread. Riverside County deputies were dispatched to monitor the protest, which caused the closure of Mission Boulevard, a busy street in Jurupa Valley. The students unsuccessfully tried to march onto the I-60 freeway. RHS students planned a second walk-out in the following days, but the District successfully prevented it.

On February 21, 2017, the District's Board held a regularly scheduled meeting. Several media outlet reporters attended the meeting, which had standing room only. The Board took public comment about Greer's Facebook thread, during which 11 people specifically referred to Crawford. No one spoke in support of Crawford or any of the involved teachers.

Numerous local and national media outlets contacted the District for comment about Greer's Facebook post. At least 11 news articles referenced Crawford's comments in the thread. The Anti-Defamation League and the Department of Justice contacted RHS's principal to offer support on how to handle the situation. The American...