LAUSD board member Tamar Galatzan has initiated a proposal that will take investigations of alleged physical or sexual abuse away from school principals and put it in the hands of professionals.
The proposal, approved by the Board of Education on Tuesday, comes after the Los Angeles Unified School District has spent months responding to criminal charges, claims and lawsuits over abuse allegations at multiple campuses.
Galatzan's plan is intended to streamline investigations that can last for many months.
The possible change could be good news for many teachers who have been taken off the job over allegations, including 51-year old Segelite Segel.
For the past year, the third-grade teacher reported each day to the 11th floor of the school administration building to while away the hours with pay and benefits.
"I just read, I wrote, I did a little research and I talked to the other ‘inmates,’" Segel said.
That's what teachers call each other in "The Rubber Room," as depicted in the documentary film of the same name.
At LAUSD there are more than 275 teachers who, after being accused of some offense, have been taken out of the classroom but remain on the payroll.
For some there is a criminal investigation of some sort. But even police clear them, the district does not necessarily send the teachers back to the classroom.
A secondary internal investigation could be required to determine if the accused teacher violated state or district policy -- and that investigation is done by the teacher's principal.
"The biggest issues when we sat down and talked with principals is they needed help,” Galatzan said.
As a result of the motion by Galatzan, the Board of Education agreed to turn over teacher misconduct investigations to a team of professionals, while establishing a timeline for such probes, and letting the accused know why they are not in the classroom.
Some teachers say they were never told of their alleged offense.
"There's absolutely no reason for the teacher not to know, at least in general terms, what he or she is being accused of," said Galatzan.
"In the current process you have lots of excellent innocent teachers who have been swept up into the riptide of investigations,” said Warren Fletcher, president of United Teachers Los Angeles. "The investigations have to be fast, fair and thorough. If they're not, no one is served."