District forces all West Valley teachers to transfer out

SUNNYVALE, Calif. (KGO) -- New details emerged Friday on the teacher outrage at West Valley Elementary School in Sunnyvale.

Not a single one of the 25 teachers will be back this fall; they will all be transferred. Monday, they were told they could reapply for their jobs.

Kathy White, who has taught kindergarten for 14 years at West Valley, was one of 25 recipients of an email sent Wednesday night that said reapplying for their jobs at the school was no longer an option.

"They led us to believe that we would have an opportunity to be considered along with anybody else who was applying for our jobs, and now we find out that that was never their intent," White told ABC7 News.

The teachers union and the Cupertino Union School District signed a memorandum of understanding that this is permissible under its current contract. However, some parents are very upset.

"That's just totally unfair. Every one of these teachers is phenomenal. I don't know why this is happening. I'm a parent. I pay taxes here. I'd like to know why the district is here, and I think the State Superintendent of Schools should get involved," parent Rick Gladfelter said.

The person behind the sweeping change is Superintendent Wendy Gudalewicz, who says she can't explain the reasons behind it because it's a personnel issue. A member of the school board told ABC7 News that she has the full board's approval.

Teachers' union president Dave Villafana he hopes all 25 West Valley teachers won't go to their new schools with targets on their backs.

"This is the fairest way, but it's obviously the most disruptive way as well, which is sad because the bottom line is the community and the children are suffering as well," Villafana said.

The West Valley teachers must now apply for openings at other schools.

"We just want to make sure that if the superintendent makes a decision to relocate all of the teachers,

we want to make sure that the best teachers are coming in," parent Leyina Chen said.