Karen Horwitz, Chicago, IL
Teacher
March 2002

I was a fifth grade teacher with excellent evaluations, bullied out of my job for speaking out. I was terminated with false charges in April of 1999. I am about half way through a book detailing my story, since nothing less could do it justice. I am determined to expose teacher abuse. The issue with bullied teachers runs deep since it affects our children's education in ways that few people know. What makes my story even more amazing is that they held the tenure hearing in the summer of 2000 and the decision was due by Dec. 2000. (The state needs to determine if the termination is upheld or reinstate me.) The hearing officer is refusing to render a decision and the state (Illinois) is telling me they can't get the original record back. While employed, I knew abuse was legal and there was little that could be done about it. But I figured if I documented it, and then hung in there until they fired me, I could reveal it via the hearing record. That way parents would find out why the schools are so messed up and why teachers are so silent. They tried to offer me money with a gag order, but I refused. That is where most teachers stop so few can tell the story. So they are in a unique position with me having gotten so far. They tried everything to get rid of me, including an outrageous trial that could have put me in the loony bin, but it didn't work. I knew what they were doing and I remained proactive. Since they are so accustomed to abusing teachers, they believe they can continue. However, they are now entering legal territory where abuse isn't okay. They are now violating my constitutional rights and providing me with the opportunity to reveal what they are all about via the legal system. Certainly, if terrorists must be given due process, something is wrong with denying it to teachers - even bad ones! So I am excited that my story gets better each day as their abusive ways are being more apparent. Meanwhile, they are wasting taxpayer funds to do this. So this puts bullying in schools on a higher level both because they are hurting kids, but also because they are using other people's funds to do so. If there were a justification for bullying in business, it could be "It's my company. I pay for the right to do what I want that is legal." But what is the justification in education? None.

As I work on my book, I regularly contact media and no one seems to care. I applaud you for pressing on (with "The Expendables") in an area that is most difficult. Our paths
may cross one day as I plan to expose this one way or another. One hope I have is to get on Oprah. I was thinking it would be nice to have both abused teachers and an expert on bullying in workplace on her show.

Wendy Colombo
Sausalito, California- March 11, 2002

Here I am writing to you today because of your stated efforts towards a more humane workplace. I have looked through expendablesatwork.com which came to me via Tim Field's newsletter. I am familiar with Tim's work and most of the organizations cited on your cite.

Quite familiar with bullying and mobbing when it comes to the pocketbook. It did destroy my career many years ago. Not to worry though, the emotional charges have been properly excavated to preserve history enough during my "getting reaquainted with the injury" phase, to put it mildy. Enough so to learn something about compassion. And so, enlightenment has occured. Get it?

It has taken me 15 years to call the creative half of my mind back from, well, let's just say out there. She was one pissed off chick when I found her lying there in a battered brainchild's shelter. She had quite the arsenal against logic and science. (I was an electrical engineer).

Now I am in the process of writing a creative novel that teaches a few things about "beating the living crap out of our brainchildren" in the workplace. It's about creativity in the workplace, or should I just say one brainchild finding the pathways in the mind to move beyond the beatings - to then prevail. Which doesn't mean defeating the right brain beaters, it means using the creative mind.

I have been working on this story for over three years and plan on investing two to three more years into it to get it where it needs to be to communicate what I have to say. I don't know if I can get there, but the NY Times bestseller list is what I want. No less.

I've done an enormous amount of healing and research. It shows something of the left and right brain conflict when it comes to the market place and tells a story of a brainchild (conceived in the creative juices of the right brain) and what she encounters in the workplace as a child of creativity. I wanted to write you about my efforts and read more of your site and see if there is a way that I can lend a hand (voice of experience) to your documentary.

From C.J. Hughes,
U.S.A.--April 15, 2002

Elyse,

What a MIRACLE that I came across your site. The following is a quote that I swiped.... ooops.... borrowed from your site: "I look forward to meeting the many courageous people willing to step forward and be part of a force that will open minds, empower and bring about change. -- January 2002 "

I was terminated from my last job in January of this year. Apon termination, I was given a Sexual Harrassment memo, notifying me to stay away from a fellow employee. I wasn't suprised by the termination itself. I had felt the noose closing in for about a year. But this other shocked me. it was unfounded, ungrounded, and completely untrue.

So, I requested my personnel file. NOT ONE mention regarding this employee. In fact, my termination letter stated that I had refused to do something that my supervisor had asked me to do on a certain date. On the date in question, I was vacationing in Australia-some 8000 miles away from work.

I notified my attorney and he informed me that the best thing that happened was that I retrieved my file and the fact that they gave me that memo without due process.

I am also a writer and a creative person in general. My attorney suggested that as a type of therapy I should write my life story up until now. Once I started I couldn't
seem to stop. I was born with birth defects and learning disabilities and was bullied all through school, and it has bleed into adulthood and at the workplace.

This little piece of work has turned into 33 pages. When I've reread it, I have found myself saying, wow, that happened to ME. Since January, I have taken steps to change my life and go into business for myself.

I guess my question to you is, how could I get my story out? And would it be wise before I notify the EOE or after they have investigated the grievences that I
am about to present them regarding my previous employer?

I believe it is a story worth telling and I believe too many people like me HAVE gone unheard.

Thanks in advance : )

The Little Mouse Who's Fixing to Roar.