Last week’s somewhat unexpected ruling by lawyers for the School District – that the 20 adjuncts at El Marino Language School are beyond the reach/control of the District – is the most fascinating decision in awhile in this town.
This suggests that the District’s position is that the union that wants to recruit them, ACE, the Assn. of Classified Employees, should not be able to touch them or the 26-year-old program that has gone unnoticed by the union all of these years.
But the District’s conclusion is a mile away from what is likely to happen soon – ACE pleading for relief from PERB, the Public Employees Relations Board, a group held as objective arbiters by many accounts.
And so we turned to Supt. Patti Jaffe for illumination on the lawyers’ interpretation.
“The adjuncts are volunteers, no matter what,” Ms. Jaffe told the newspaper. “They come to us as volunteers. If someone is not working out as a volunteer, any volunteer, whether in a paid position or not, if it is a problem, we say, ‘Please don’t come back.’
“But as far as the adjuncts go, they do come to us as volunteers. We don’t have any decision over their compensation,” Ms. Jaffe said. “Or their hours. If they come in for an hour and a half or two hours, we don’t have anything to do with that.
“As far as being on our campus, if there is a problem, yes we do (have authority).
“It is my understanding,” Ms. Jaffe said, “if someone is not up to snuff, they let them go.”
As long as El Marino is happy with the work of the adjuncts, the District does not/cannot take a role.
“Why would we,” Ms. Jaffe asks, “if they are doing what they are supposed to do? They would first have to do something wrong. We do that with any volunteer.
“If we have any issue with a volunteer, we call them in, find out the problem and, if we need to, we release them.
“I am going to be perfectly honest,” said the Super who has logged 42 years in Culver City. “In all of these years, to my knowledge, there has not been a problem.”
In view of this legal ruling, what is left for the School Board to do at its so-called study session in two weeks, on Tuesday, April 10?
“We will be looking at the Board policy and about Board by-laws,” Ms. Jaffe said.
“I am going to find out what else we can do. We need to look at this volunteer issue as far as other people being paid by parent-funded groups. That will be part of the discussion.”
