Famed Teacher Rafe Esquith Files $1B Class-Action Suit Against LA Schools

A world famous educator has filed a $1 billion class-action lawsuit against our nation’s second largest school district, alleging that Los Angeles schools launched “witch hunts” against older teachers in order to trick them out of retirement benefits.

The suit was filed on Thursday on behalf of Rafe Esquith, an award-winning teacher and best-selling author, as well as approximately 2,000 other complainants. They argued that they were “removed from their classrooms without clearly stated reasons and sent to an administrative office, known as ‘teacher jail,’ pending investigations into their behavior,” according to the Washington Post.

Famed teacher files $1B class-action suit against L.A. schools http://t.co/GUTJfRyBiG pic.twitter.com/hu58ev6PF8

— CNN (@CNN) October 16, 2015

The suit alleges that these teachers’ rights were violated when they were sent to these “teacher jails” and were fired or forced to resign–depriving them of an estimated half a million dollars in pensions and health benefits. The suit’s goal is to do away with the practice.

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) removed Esquith from his classroom earlier this year and then subsequently fired him after a colleague reported to the Hobart Elementary School principal he was making jokes about “nudity” when discussing Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” According to the Post,

The district, which had formed a team of investigators last year after a series of sex abuse scandals, started a probe into Esquith. The allegations grew to include financial mismanagement of his Shakespeare non-profit, that he had inappropriately touched minors, and that inappropriate photographs and e-mails were found on his school computer.

Esquith has denied all of the allegations.

As a teacher of the famed “room 56” at Hobart for more than 30 years, Esquith gained notoriety for his effective teaching style and ability to impact the lives of his students, who tended to come from low-income or immigrant families. He also became known for his annual Shakespeare program, which was later turned into the documentary “The Hobart Shakespeareans.” He later went on to write several bestselling books including “Teach Like Your Hair’s on Fire: The Methods and Madness Inside Room 56” and “There Are No Shortcuts.”

His credentials and reputation throughout the community lead his attorney Mark Geragos to label his firing as a “witch hunt” stating,

They have what I would charitably call an investigative hit squad that goes out and basically intimidates and tries to extract statements from students that they then use for kangaroo-court style proceedings in order to get people to resign so that they don’t vest with their retirement benefits.

Read the full lawsuit below

According to Esquith’s other attorney Ben Meiselas, this is the “largest class action by teachers in the history of public education.” The sheer number of complainants brings the LAUSD’s actions into question and demands for a serious look into its HR practices.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.