Two-time teacher of the year in legal battle with Twin Rivers over retaliation claims
By Scott Thomas Anderson
When Mohamed Bashamak immigrated from Ethiopia in 1981, it started him on a long path to teaching in public schools, a rewarding and engaging career that he’s come to cherish.
But lately, Bashamak says his American Dream has come with an ugly asterisk: He has a case pending against the Twin Rivers Unified School District at California’s Public Employment Relations Board in which Bashamak claims that district officials retaliated against him for looking out for his students and trying to shield colleagues from a hostile work environment
Teacher of the year, but not ‘one of our best?’
Bashamak started teaching math at Martin Luther King Jr. Technology Academy in 1999. Five years later, he was named its Teacher of the Year. A decade after that, Bashamak was assaulted by a student on campus, which led to severe anxiety issues. For a long time, Bashamak treated the anxiety as his own private struggle, though he says Twin Rivers has now forced him to speak publicly about it.
After the assault, Bashamak transferred to Keema High School, a TRUSD independent study campus where teachers work one-on-one with students. He was named Keema’s Teacher of the Year in 2016. But Bashamak saw possible improvements, and one involved Robert Pope, then a lab teacher and now Keema’s principal. Bashamak says he didn’t agree with the math standards Pope was using and also didn’t like the way Pope sometimes talked about other employees. Later, when Bashamak learned that Pope was under consideration for principal, he contacted Twin Rivers trustee Rebecca Sandoval to express reservations.
Bashamak now believes that interaction made its way back to Pope, who was made his boss.
Twin Rivers Unified School District did not provide SN&R with an opportunity to interview Pope, nor did it respond to numerous questions emailed to its public information officer. But there is one parent who says she’s sure the principal had a negative attitude toward Bashamak.
In 2017, Stacy Van Hoose’s daughter was studying math with Bashamak at Keema. She was progressing so well that the family hoped Bashamak could continuing teaching her the following year, though it was told that wasn’t possible because of Bashamak’s schedule.
Van Hoose met with Pope on July 31, 2017 to make her case in person. She later wrote a letter to district officials, obtained by SN&R, detailing how unsettling she says the encounter was. Van Hoose wrote that Pope not only wouldn’t help, but he bad-mouthed Bashamak and revealed private medical information about him.
“[Pope] brought out a binder and shared with me a form filled out with Mr. Bashamak’s name and in his handwriting,” Van Hoose wrote. “It was signed and dated … and further stated ‘anxiety’ at the bottom portion of the form. Mr. Pope went on to say that Mr. Bashamak was not one of his best teachers … Mr. Pope suggested that [my daughter] change teachers, even though I repeatedly expressed the success and progress that [she] had presented while having Mr. Bashamak as her teacher.”
Van Hoose said she still vividly remembers Pope’s behavior. “That just further sent red flags up for me,” Van Hoose said. “That’s a breach of confidentiality. A parent should absolutely never be shown something like that.”
Witness and repercussions
Van Hoose soon told Bashamak what Pope had said about him. The teacher’s problems at Keema only got worse, though he didn’t stop speaking his mind. On Feb. 13, 2018, he sent an email to Gina Carreon, associate superintendent of human resources and labor relations, voicing concerns about student safety issues on the campus, as well as his fear that students were being unnecessarily “dumped in remedial math” courses. In the email, viewed by SN&R, Bashamak also stressed that Keema had an environment of “favoritism and double-standards.”
Then, Bashamak said he witnessed an incident with Pope that compelled him to speak up more. On May 10, 2018, Pope called the police on a 15-year-old female student in Bashamak’s classroom. Bashamak says that Pope had decided the student shouldn’t be attending Keema any more due to behavioral issues. The principal had a Twin Rivers police officer walk the girl off campus for “trespassing.” Bashamak said he watched it all happen. Van Hoose, who is friends with that girl’s family, confirmed the incident.
Bashamak said he believes that Pope’s actions violated the state Education Code because the student was not an immediate threat herself or others. Bashamak sent an email to district officials decrying what he described as his student’s humiliating experience. A month later, Bashamak agreed to act as a material witness on behalf of the student and her family as the district conducted an internal inquiry.
Later that fall, Bashamak emailed the Twin Rivers human resources department again to warn of a hostile work environment at Keema.
On December 6, 2018, district officials suddenly offered to put him on paid administrative leave until the end of year in exchange for him retiring at the start of the next. The offer, obtained by SN&R, was made through Bashamak’s union, Twin Rivers United Educators.
“I wasn’t going to do that,” Bashamak recalled. “I said, ‘I didn’t do anything wrong, why would I retire?’”
Three months later, despite the years of accolades and testimonials from parents, Pope gave Bashamak a negative job performance review. Bashamak had asked that his review be conducted by someone else since he viewed the principal as biased, but the district ignored that request. Then Pope issued a letter of reprimand that claimed Bashamak failed to notify him or the office manager before leaving the campus during the work day seven weeks earlier.
Bashamak denies the claim, calling it more punishment for speaking up. Last July, Bashamak filed an unfair practice allegation against Twin Rivers with the Public Employment Relations Board, claiming that he has repeatedly been the victim of retaliation from Pope and district officials.
On Jan. 21, Administrative Law Judge Katherine Nyman overruled the district’s objections and allowed Bashamak to amend his complaint, adding more harassment allegations. The judge later heard the case, and Bashamak is awaiting a ruling.
In the meantime, the teacher says his experience with the district has been extremely disappointing, especially when he thinks back to growing up in Ethiopia, when he always heard that fairness and justice were America’s highest ideals.
“It’s been very stressful,” Bashamak said. “And, actually, it’s made me question if I’m really an American. I felt like I’m back in the old places I came from, because there’s no rules, there’s no due process, and people can just mess with you with impunity.”
Connections are too deep and tangled to this Small Town called Sacramento and not just government entities or their employees as I know. TRUSD and Del Paso is inside Sacramento city and surrounding areas. This injustice is right under the nose of the Capitol and a pebbles throw away. The Legislative representatives, half dozen government entities that I have lobbied and or requested help for are deaf. I have walked into and tried to talk to, emailed, and called for years. Its time for federal review and state take over. A school board is a stepping stone to other elected positions. I will not vote for Romana-Ever. IF there was a Whites only school in the middle of Del Paso or an Elephant in the room she would ignore it. You don’t ignore atrocious civil Rights and Liberties violations of the most vulnerable children in the district. As Dr. Naguch said under oath, it was the lowest API scores and performing school in the District.
Its time to stop playing golf with each other and start playing fair.
the Codes used to pay the teaches (up to 56 teachers when Carreon was working as Director) at the one school were for tittle 1 which is extra duty or additional support and tittle 1 is designated to help the disadvantaged. Yet it didn’t go to the students, but the teachers because they did not designate them in the books or to CDE or on the SARC reports. The SARC reports are intended by the legislature to be for parents and the county to use for auditing. There was no money or hardly no money of the hundreds of thousands each year claimed to go to the school to the point that they did not get a bus pass to come back to school for lab or other classes. The students and teachers did not get lunches or other support where those tittle funds go. The most atrocious civil rights violations in this state in California history, and nobody wants to look at the Elephant in the room. They don’t need to, let the nation know. It doesn’t have to harm those running in elections now, not just local ones. Its time to redeem and step up. I should have been more public and helped Fowlers seat get changed with Sascha Vogt in it but there is only moving forward and we all can do that. There could be employees now denied their medical because of Carreon, the superintendent and the board or majority.
Lets change that possibility as these Times in a new world call for it.
I hope Kamala Harris will have the backbone to call for the investigation into someone who did work at the Attorney Generals office where she used to work. I saw her in person in 2008 when I went to the democratic state convention and got in with a media pass. She will fight for the vulnerable. I got the goose bumps, moved to tears and was filled with precious sparkling hope from her moving speech. 2008 was a powerful year. At that time I had no medical and was working at KHS where Mohamad always gave me tips as a newbie teacher there.
When there was no union rep, no union, for all the teachers except a few who were contracted people became vulnerable. in 2019 Mohamad spoke out for one of them whom was reclassified whom had spoke to him and two others. They were not interviewed for his complaint or the complaint against him. The current principal was the union rep only for the few who were contracted before becoming principal. I believe it was in 2018 Bashamak not only complained about several treatment of several minorities but also about the illegal set up in the past at the school.
The issue of misappropriation of funds taken away from the most vulnerable to using them in a sinister way is possible a crime. Public corruption and a reason one high up can be in trouble according to the employment contract they sign. It went to the EXTREAME in TRUSD, but possible on smaller scales it could be present in other districts around the state. More accurate and proper review by the county must be done and more details for the review already performed on a utterly incompetent way must be revised in the legislature. It is only a perfunctory or just doing the motions but not really reviewing or taking action by the CDE, office of controller, CTC, retirement system, and all must revise and step up to the written Intent of the Legislature.
I still like Kamala even though the AG would just ignore my complaints or send me funny letters and emails about how I should go to the board when I was complaining about local corruption and a board member whom worked at the AG office in the past. No mention of federal path to take or whom I could review it with. She nor Becerra probably did not ever know about the complaints I tried to do when I walked in early 2016 and other ways I tried to complain. Then in 2017 Becerra responded in a generic letter to me I should go to the board. that’s funny and it was a little oasis with chance to laugh.
Laughter always brings Hope.
My feelings are never wrong, when strong. They guided me when there was no logic to fight or move. Its time to speak. The wind has come. The time is brewing for change- I feel it. The time is now.
This Article does not even cover most of the details. In addition, a few days after the article was published Mohamad received a Final determination for a review for complaints Bashamak informed me they were claimed OVER a year ago. Tuesdays (5-5-2020) board meeting closed session the board went to review for action but did not make a decision. They read all the letters sent to the board at 5:30 where many people spoke lovingly about Mr. Bashamak. I believe it was continued retaliation.