STATE OFFICIALS SEEK AUDIT OF LAUSD; WHISTLE-BLOWERS REPORT RETALIATION : SOME OF THE CASES.

Byline: Terri Hardy Daily News Staff Writer

Two state assemblymen are pressing for a state audit of the Los Angeles Unified School District, claiming the district has conducted vendettas against employee whistle-blowers and misused millions of dollars in special education and other funds.

Assemblymen Steve Baldwin, R-La Mesa, and Jan Goldsmith, R-Poway, will ask the Joint Legislative Audit Committee on Wednesday to order a formal audit.

``I've heard incredible horror stories, too many to be ignored - there certainly is a pattern of retribution here,'' said Baldwin, former chairman of the Assembly Education Committee.

``These people have tried and tried to get someone to listen to them, this is their last resort,'' he said.

Baldwin said he intends to keep his request for an audit narrow - focusing on accusations that the district retaliated against whistle-blowers.

He also will ask for a probe of allegations that employees falsified reports to provide ineligible teachers with special ``mentor teacher stipends'' and used petty cash and other special education funds for private use.

``The longer this matter is not examined the less chance that good information can be gathered,'' Baldwin said in an internal memo. ``In fact, we have already heard grumblings of shredding documents at LAUSD.''

Superintendent Sid Thompson and Deputy Superintendent Ruben Zacarias - who will be taking over the No. 1 position in July - refused requests for interviews.

Brad Sales, spokesman for the district, said the LAUSD ``welcomed'' a state audit.

``To be frank, we're relieved,'' Sales said. ``We would like to see an independent third party come in. These people continue to dog us, they think they have a cause celebre, and pursue every avenue available.''

Sales said the district has no campaign against whistle-blowers, calling it a ``specious'' allegation.

The spokesman said an attorney for the district would be testifying at the legislative hearing.

The whistle-blowers say they have tried to work within the LAUSD, but district officials do little or nothing to correct problems - while they suffer the consequences.

``I thought I was doing the right thing when I tried to expose a principal's misuse of funds,'' said Dennis Dockstader, a veteran special education instructor. ``My life has been ruined by these people, but I want to make sure that other whistle-blowers are protected.''

Dockstader was later accused, then cleared, of sodomy after he charged officials with misusing funds.

For more than a year, the two assemblymen have tried to bring the audit request before the committee.

Last year, a request was pulled off the agenda because the committee ran out of funding for more audits, Goldsmith said.

Baldwin and Goldsmith have tried other avenues as well, but the investigation has proved to be a political hot potato.

The pair asked Attorney General Dan Lundgren for an investigation. Lundgren's office forwarded the request to Los Angeles County District Attorney Gil Garcetti because it was a local matter.

Ronald H. ``Mike'' Carroll, head deputy district attorney, said his office is powerless to act since state laws require a state audit as the first step toward prosecution.

``We're not shirking our duty - it's the law,'' Carroll said.

Retaliation toward a whistle-blower is a misdemeanor offense, punishable by a fine and up to a year in prison, Carroll said. The offender can be sued for civil penalties.

State Controller Kathleen Connell refused Goldsmith's request for an audit, and transferred the matter to State Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin, Goldsmith said.

``There's a real reluctance to look into this, there seems to be a lot of bureaucratic shuffling,'' Goldsmith said. ``There's several serious allegations against the largest district in the state . . . we have to get to the bottom of this.''

Working with the assemblymen is the Association for Accountability and Equitable Education. The Pacoima-based nonprofit organization was formed to scrutinize the distribution of education funds and has gathered information from local whistle-blowers.

``We saw case after case of retaliation,'' said Gary Forsch, a member of the association's board of directors.

The district launched an internal audit in February 1994 into Dockstader's charges of mishandled money at his school.

He claimed that teachers who did not qualify as ``mentors'' were regularly getting the $4,000 stipend while other employees were not working for all the hours they were being paid and other funds were being misused.

Two months later, Dockstader was reassigned to the special education downtown office. On his first day, his union representative told him he had been reassigned because a student had accused him of sodomy.

``I was devastated, I was standing there in the middle of the street hearing these terrible things,'' Dockstader recalled.

Two days later, a police investigation cleared him of wrongdoing, Dockstader said. He has filed a lawsuit against the LAUSD, claiming wrongful discharge, retaliation under the California labor code and defamation by slander. The case has not yet been heard in Los Angeles Superior Court.

The district's internal audit found employees had been overpaid, ``weaknesses'' in handling ticket sales and accounting procedures, questionable use of petty cash, district records show. The audit found no problem with mentor teacher payments.

The district's most serious reaction toward employees at the school was to issue a letter of reprimand to the principal, records show.

``We think these problems are just the tip of the iceberg, but most people don't want to come out and do anything about it considering what happened to Dennis,'' Forsch said. ``There's no oversight in the system. If anyone says anything, there's severe retribution.''

Sheila Hopper, another special education teacher, got in trouble after complaining in 1989 that students were not getting the education they deserved. She claimed documents had been falsified about a fifth-grader who was denied special education services although she could not read or write.

The next year, Hopper said, she made formal complaints to the U.S. Department of Education that children were having to wait too long before they were properly evaluated.

In March 1990, Hopper was accused of hitting and pushing a child. She was exonerated after a police investigation, Baldwin's documents show.

``I thought that was the end of it, but the district went on a witch hunt,'' Hopper said.

``Children were brought into the (principal's) office, bribed with jelly beans,'' Hopper said. ``Statements were written out for them to copy.''

Harper fought a suspension action, and was supported by an arbitrator. She also sued in federal court and won damages, but the case was overturned on appeal.

In 1995, the LAUSD settled a historic civil rights case that charged discrimination against special education students, admitting it was inadequately educating special education students.

In another case, administrative adviser Don Martin reported that he believed an independent study program called the Institute for Successful Living was overbilling the district for thousands of dollars.

Eventually, the program's founder and a consultant were indicted for fabricating student work and bilking the district.

Founder Arnese Clemon was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and ordered to repay $781,000. Consultant Dewey Hughes was sentenced to nine months in federal prison and ordered to pay $781,000.

Martin was reassigned to his former position as a pupil services and attendance counselor, then went to work with teen-agers returning from juvenile detention camp.

He filed retaliation suits against the district in Superior and U.S. District courts. After Martin's death last year, his family settled out of court.

A district audit supported Selina Tucker's allegations that the Jordan-Locke Community Adult School illegally collected more than $8 million but she was removed from her position and her hours were reduced.

Based on information from interviews and documents, here are some of the cases of alleged retaliation against whistle-blowers that will be presented to the Joint Legislative Audit Committee:

Dennis Dockstader: A special education teacher who alleged misuse of funds was investigated for sodomy and exonerated. He has sued the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Sheila Hopper: A teacher who complained that the district was not following federal special-education guidelines was accused of child abuse but exonerated. A jury in federal court awarded her general and punitive damages, but a court of appeals overturned the award. She teaches at Darby Elementary School in Northridge.

Odell Harris: A teacher who was charged with 10 counts of child abuse after filing a grievance against an abusive principal. Harris was exonerated but has not returned to the LAUSD and the school board rejected his application for permanent disability.

Irena Szewiola: As an assistant principal, she claims her principal asked her to write up false molestation charges against a teacher the principal disliked. She says she was given an unsatisfactory evaluation and later demoted to classroom teacher after reporting misuse of federal funds. She has retired.

Don Martin:An administrator who exposed over-billings in an independent study program was reassigned and demoted. His suit was settled by his family after his death.

Selina Tucker: A teacher adviser in an adult school was punished after reporting that indigent county hospital patients were shown a short video, signed an attendance sheet and listed as students enrolled in class. A district audit confirmed her charges but Tucker was removed from her position and her weekly hours were reduced.

Warren Merriman: A federal fund coordinator for the district was punished after complaining that a principal was improperly using federal money for poor children to pay clerical and administrative salaries. He got an unsatisfactory evaluation and was transferred. The district agreed to rescind the evaluation if he would agree to a transfer. He is now teaching at Pio Pico School.

CAPTION(S):

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BOX: SOME OF THE CASES (see text)