By Rose Laudicina
Staff Writer
With their request to remain at Chapel Hill High School during the appeal process denied, teachers Bert Wartski and Anne Thompson are no longer Chapel Hill High staff members, and instead will begin teaching at their newly assigned schools on Monday.
The two teachers, who were served with involuntary transfer notices in June, appeared in court Aug. 17 to petition Superior Court Judge Elaine M. Bushfan for permission to start the year teaching at Chapel Hill High School until a decision was made on their involuntary transfer appeal.
However, after hearing their request for a stay was denied, Wartski and Thompson have decided to drop their appeals and immerse themselves in their new schools in their new positions.
Thompson will be teaching at Carrboro High School, while Wartski will be teaching environmental science at East Chapel Hill High.
Their lawyer, Tre Tanner, and a standing-room-only crowd accompanied the two teachers, who were involuntarily transferred from CHHS by Superintendent Tom Forcella, at the Old Orange County Courthouse in Hillsborough.
The large crowd was comprised of fellow teachers and CHHS parents and students in opposition to the decision to transfer the two career teachers.
“The interest of these two teachers in remaining at their position at Chapel Hill High School outweighs the interest of the board in moving them right now,†Tanner told the judge.
On the other side of the courtroom was Forcella, accompanied by Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools attorney Ken Soo.
Soo reminded the judge that the board of education upheld the superintendent’s decision to transfer the teachers, meaning the decision is “assumed correct and the burden to prove otherwise is on the petitioners.â€
Tanner argued the teachers should be allowed to stay at CHHS until a decision on their appeal was made so that if they won their appeal they wouldn’t have to move schools. Additionally, Tanner said Thompson plans to retire after this year and should be allowed to finish her career where she started.
He accused the district of not following due process in identifying and then notifying the two teachers of issues regarding their teaching practices.
“The reasons given [for transfers] are frankly somewhat unsubstantiated,†Tanner said. “There was nothing in either personal file where they were told ‘you were engaging in “x†personal conduct and you are expected to do “y†to fix it.’â€
Soon after becoming aware of the transfers, the CHHS community responded in overwhelming opposition, writing letters and attending school board meetings to show their support for keeping the teachers at CHHS.
According to Forcella, the decision to move Wartski and Thompson was based on a year of observing and talking with past and present staff, administrators, parents and students. Soo said district administrators had received reports that the two were “railroading†younger teachers and were resistant to change.
Thompson and Wartski, who have served a combined 45 years at CHHS, chose to appeal the transfer to the board of education on July 19.
A week later the board notified Thompson and Wartski their appeals had been denied, leading the two teachers to submit a final appeal to Orange County Superior Court.
“If teaching is truly their calling, then you would think they would be excited to go teach [regardless of the school],†Soo said in court.
After hearing both sides, Bushfan told the crowded courtroom she would reach a conclusion by the beginning of the following week, and returned the verdict Monday that she would not grant the stay.
Bushfan said she did not feel the teachers had made a compelling case for why they should be allowed a stay during the appeal process.