PILSEN — Just months after publicly alleging that student grades and attendance records had been altered at Benito Juarez High School, a Chicago Public Schools teacher and union representative was let go — and the 14-year veteran believes it was done in retaliation for his speaking out.
Manuel Bermudez, a computer teacher at Juarez and the school's union representative for almost three years, spoke with DNAinfo Chicago in May regarding his concerns that attendance records and grades had been altered at Juarez in an effort to boost the school's performance levels.
In the last year, Bermudez had filed formal complaints with both the CPS Inspector General's Office and the Chicago Teachers Union regarding what he claimed were discrepancies in the high school's record-keeping.
On June 26, Bermudez was sent a letter saying he was being fired.
"Unfortunately, I regret to inform you that your position will not be available in FY 2015 due to 'other actions' as defined in the CPS-CTU contract and you will be laid off effective August 24," read the letter from CPS Chief Talent Officer Alicia Winckler. The letter did not define what "other actions" referred to.
Chloe Riley discusses how Bermudez is reacting to the termination:
On June 30, Bermudez said he received a phone call from Juarez Principal Juan Ocon, whom Bermudez had criticized in the past. Ocon informed him that his teaching position had been cut due to budget issues, Bermudez said.
The computer teacher said he then contacted the CPS Equal Opportunity Compliance Office.
"I'm sure it was in retaliation for me blowing the whistle and reporting corruption to the Inspector General, Barbara Byrd-Bennett, CPS CEO, and the media," he wrote in an email to Flavio Parra, a compliance office investigator.
Parra responded in an email to Bermudez last week that "I was told that you are not certified to teach video and web, is that correct?"
Bermudez said that he knew of no requirement that such certification was necessary and knew of no other teachers at the school with the certification.
Parra couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
CPS spokesman Joel Hood did not respond to requests for comment about Bermudez's firing.
Bermudez said he shouldn't have been let go due to budget issues because he was the most senior teacher in his department and is bilingual.
"It’s ridiculous," he said.
Before he was let go, Bermudez had also filed a complaint with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board on May 9, stating he was "threatened" by an email sent from a Juarez administrator to the school's staff in which Bermudez and other teachers were accused of libel after speaking to the media regarding the claims that grades had been altered at Juarez.
The email, sent by Juarez Assistant Principal Laura LeMone, called comments from Bermudez and other teachers "lies" and referred to their efforts as a "witch hunt."
Despite the accusations of harassment, Bermudez said he's currently petitioning Byrd-Bennett to get his job back at Juarez.
The investigation around claims of altered student attendance and grades at Juarez is still ongoing, assistant Inspector General Linda Brown said Monday.
Juarez officials have said the charges were coming from teachers who misunderstand the school's relatively new benchmarking grading system. The system allows students to make up missed classes and take missed tests, and if they can meet certain academic benchmarks, they can still pass their classes.
The policy allows Juarez administrators to change the student attendance records if students who missed class later attend the recovery sessions, Ocon said at the time.
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