Legal Fund for Brett Bigham
Donation protected
My name is Brett Bigham, and I'm a special education teacher in Portland, Oregon. In January 2014, I gave one of my first speeches as Oregon's Teacher of the Year. It was to adults only at a teacher in-service day. In a Q & A afterwards, I referred to my partner in response to a teacher's question. Right after the speech, my supervisor, who was also there, ordered me to stop saying I was gay in public. In the following months she and some of the supervisory staff she managed began to systematically harass and bully me.
At first I ignored it but when their behavior began putting my students at risk and I finally complained. Within the week I was told I was being moved to another class and that they were going to change my staff. Furthermore, I was even told that I was no longer allowed to write or speak, even as a private citizen. publicly, day or night, 7 days a week unless my district approved it in advance.
Upon returning to school in the fall, with four months left to go as Teacher of the Year, the district still refused to fix things and my union filed a grievance. The district retaliated heavily. They transferred staff, changed every member of my support team, and even packed my desk and office - with all of my forms and manuals. I didn't get permission to unpack it for two months. They then moved my desk out of my classroom and told me I was not allowed in my own classroom during my breaks, planning and prep times totaling 2.5 hours a day. I have medically fragile kids and this was not safe so I continued to fight them. Being forced out the room was unfair to me, but it was dangerous for my students.
Things finally got so bad that I was forced to file a Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) complaint. They co-filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In order to stop my complaints, my district even tried to blackmail me. (Google the above article)
When I continued to fight they put me on leave and then fired me. I was never written up, never in trouble and never did anything wrong. My district, cited absences as one reason for firing me, but they have misrepresented the number of absences I had as Teacher of the Year and trumped up false charges to fire me. I had pre-approval to miss 58 days of school for T.O.Y. But missed 22.5 instead. These were all OK'd and many were referred by my superintendent and she attended some of the events herself.
Unfortunately, the truth is that this will have to go to court for resolution. I have an excellent case but the expenses of the past year have left us without the savings we need to begin a costly legal battle. My district is a public entity with three lawyers working to discredit me.
The only way we can come up with the money ourselves is get rid of our car and refinance our house. Without a car I won't be able to sub. We've been warned the district will probably fight my unemployment as well. But most of all, we just can't afford to take on the district by ourselves.
We have no choice but to ask the public to help us create a legal fund. We have to pay for court filing fees and for the depositions and legal fees.
Money left over will be given to charity and we promise to pay forward the kindness and generosity when we are back on our feet.
Thank you for considering helping us. I was very excited to be one of the first openly gay Teachers of the Year because of the positive message for LGBTQ youth. I still want to send that positive message, but now the message is: sometimes you have to fight.
Thank you again,
Brett Bigham
Addition: My district reinstated me, put me on leave again and have informed me that they will be recommending the board refired me in May, this time without breaking all the labor laws the first termination broke. They have also come up with new reasons to fire me since they fired me the last time...
Just more of the same harassment, bullying and retaliation. Help me take them to court!
At first I ignored it but when their behavior began putting my students at risk and I finally complained. Within the week I was told I was being moved to another class and that they were going to change my staff. Furthermore, I was even told that I was no longer allowed to write or speak, even as a private citizen. publicly, day or night, 7 days a week unless my district approved it in advance.
Upon returning to school in the fall, with four months left to go as Teacher of the Year, the district still refused to fix things and my union filed a grievance. The district retaliated heavily. They transferred staff, changed every member of my support team, and even packed my desk and office - with all of my forms and manuals. I didn't get permission to unpack it for two months. They then moved my desk out of my classroom and told me I was not allowed in my own classroom during my breaks, planning and prep times totaling 2.5 hours a day. I have medically fragile kids and this was not safe so I continued to fight them. Being forced out the room was unfair to me, but it was dangerous for my students.
Things finally got so bad that I was forced to file a Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) complaint. They co-filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In order to stop my complaints, my district even tried to blackmail me. (Google the above article)
When I continued to fight they put me on leave and then fired me. I was never written up, never in trouble and never did anything wrong. My district, cited absences as one reason for firing me, but they have misrepresented the number of absences I had as Teacher of the Year and trumped up false charges to fire me. I had pre-approval to miss 58 days of school for T.O.Y. But missed 22.5 instead. These were all OK'd and many were referred by my superintendent and she attended some of the events herself.
Unfortunately, the truth is that this will have to go to court for resolution. I have an excellent case but the expenses of the past year have left us without the savings we need to begin a costly legal battle. My district is a public entity with three lawyers working to discredit me.
The only way we can come up with the money ourselves is get rid of our car and refinance our house. Without a car I won't be able to sub. We've been warned the district will probably fight my unemployment as well. But most of all, we just can't afford to take on the district by ourselves.
We have no choice but to ask the public to help us create a legal fund. We have to pay for court filing fees and for the depositions and legal fees.
Money left over will be given to charity and we promise to pay forward the kindness and generosity when we are back on our feet.
Thank you for considering helping us. I was very excited to be one of the first openly gay Teachers of the Year because of the positive message for LGBTQ youth. I still want to send that positive message, but now the message is: sometimes you have to fight.
Thank you again,
Brett Bigham
Addition: My district reinstated me, put me on leave again and have informed me that they will be recommending the board refired me in May, this time without breaking all the labor laws the first termination broke. They have also come up with new reasons to fire me since they fired me the last time...
Just more of the same harassment, bullying and retaliation. Help me take them to court!
Organizer
Brett Bigham
Organizer
Portland, OR