Teacher of the Year Threatened With Discipline After Filing Complaints

Monday, February 09, 2015
Annie Ellison, GoLocalPDX Reporter

Oregon’s Teacher of the Year in 2014 says he has been threatened with disciplinary action by his school district if he attends a national education award ceremony in the capital this week. 

Brett Bigham, the first openly gay teacher of the year to use the position as a platform for LGBT rights, spent the better part of 2014 criss-crossing the state giving speeches about how LGBT students can deal with bullying. He now claims he's become the victim of bullying, as his own district, he says, is retaliating against his attempts to fight back. 

Bigham filed a grievance with the Oregon Teacher Standards and Practices Commission against several senior staff at the Multnomah Education Services District (MESD) in September 2014 for what he alleges is harassment and bullying for his sexual orientation. He then filed another complaint with Oregon’s labor watchdog in November for retaliation.  

During a time Bigham said he faced "constant harassment," he was selected for another national award. However, senior MESD staff denied him leave to attend the National Education Association’s awards gala to accept the 2015 Award for Teaching Excellence from Oregon. 

“I’m going, I don’t know what that means I’ll return to, but it can’t be any worse than what I’m going through now,” said Bigham.  

MESD Superintendent Barbara Jorgensen denied Bigham’s unpaid leave from Feb. 11-Feb. 13 to attend the event, according to a leave request form obtained by GoLocalPDX. In a Feb. 2 email, Jorgensen informed Bigham he will be considered insubordinate, and will be disciplined, if he is absent. 

“Be advised that you are not approved to be absent for the purpose of attending either of these events and that you will be considered insubordinate and disciplined accordingly if you are absent for the purpose of attending,” Jorgensen wrote to Bigham Feb. 2. 

Deteriorating work environment

Bigham said the threat of discipline is the latest in a series of communication breakdowns between him and the district following an emotional speech he gave January 27, 2014 in Hood River as Teacher of the Year. 

As a transition program teacher, Bigham works with medically at-risk students aged 17-21 as part of the MESD transition program, a program that provides job training for students with special needs.  

“I felt like there were two groups of people who had never been represented were getting recognition,” Bigham said. 

After the Jan. 27, 2014 speech at the Columbia Gorge Education Service District, Bigham alleges then MESD Director of Functional Life Skills Jeanne Zuniga told him to stop referencing his sexuality in his speeches. 

Zuniga, Jorgensen, and three others are named in TCSP correspondence, dated Jan. 8, 2015, regarding the September complaint. Bigham later filed another complaint, with the Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) Nov. 24, alleging retaliation for filing his first complaint with TSPC, among other things. 

In that complaint, Bigham alleges Zuniga said “someone is going to shoot you in the head” if he continued to reference his sexuality. 

In the BOLI complaint, Bigham claims his classroom was rearranged, his support staff sent to other departments, that he was denied appearences at LGBT youth events, that he is subject to a hostile work environment and unlawful employment practices. The complaint also states Bigham tried to resign the week of April 8, 2014, but his resignation was denied by then Assistant MESD Superintendent Jim Rose. 

“I spent this year talking about LGBT kids and how teachers need to stand up for them against bullies,” said Bigham. “I’ve faced this kind of bullying from my district, and I feel like a hypocrite if I don’t stand up to it."  

National Award

Bigham was given the National Education Association award in the summer of 2014, while serving as teacher of the year, along with a $650 check for the district. It was then that he confirmed his attendance at the awards ceremony, held Feb. 13 in Washington, D.C. 

“I have a right to attend, the district accepted the prize money,” Bigham said. 

In a Jan. 27, 2015 letter, Jorgensen told Bigham he was entitled to no more leave days, and would be unable to attend events not directly related to professional development. However, in an Aug. 21 email to Bigham, MESD supervisor Raf told Bigham he was granted 18 days of leave for activity related to teacher of the year activity.

Bigham attended more than 200 events as teacher of the year, to provide a voice for LGBTQ students, and students with disabilities, he said. 

Public Speeches 

Bigham was given direction via email by MESD Chief Program Officer of Education Katharine Skimas on April 8, 2014 to receive prior authorization from MESD communication staff on all written or spoken public communication. The move followed an Editorial Bigham wrote for the Oregonian on the Common Core curriculum. 

However, Bigham said the editorial was similar to an essay, approved by Superintendent Jorgenson, Skimas and Zuniga in June 2013 as part of Bigham’s successful teacher of the year application. Bigham said he was forbidden to speak in public unless then communications director Mark Skulnick approved his material. 

Members of the district, including Skulnick, recommended Bigham for the national education award.  

When reached, MESD declined to comment. 

“This is a personnel issue, and MESD is declining comment,” said MESD spokeswoman Laura Conroy. 

Bigham insists he will attend the event, regardless of the consequences. 

“I’m ironing my tuxedo shirt,” he said.