A former teacher at a Canoga Park preschool is suing her ex-employer, alleging she was fired in 2019 for complaining about conditions at her job that included suspected drug use by another teacher, excessive classroom size and flooding in some of the restrooms.
Vanessa Madrigal’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit against Canoga Park Montessori Preschool alleges retaliation, wrongful termination and violations of the states’ Labor Code and Health & Safety Code.
The complaint filed Friday seeks unspecified damages.
A representative for the school could not be immediately reached.
Madrigal was hired in September 2018 as a Spanish teacher and her son was also permitted to attend the school at no cost for the duration of her employment, the suit states. She oversaw two groups of students and her duties included teaching lesson plans, changing diapers, feeding the children and other related childcare duties.
Shortly after Madrigal began working there, she began to believe that the school was “engaged in ongoing noncompliance or violations of law” and she repeatedly complained, the suit states.
In December 2018, a child’s parent found a container of marijuana outside one of the classrooms, the suit states. The parent then gave the container to Madrigal’s co-worker, who in turn reportedly handed it to a school director.
Instead of investigating, the director placed the marijuana container in an unsupervised stock room, where it turned up missing a week later, the suit states. When Madrigal reported that the container was gone, the director admitted that she let two employees have it, according to the suit.
In another incident, Madrigal learned last May that another teacher at the school was suspected of working while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, the suit states.
“On one occasion, (Madrigal) noticed that the suspected teacher looked disoriented and was falling asleep in class,” it states.
Despite the gravity of the situation and the danger to the children, the directors allowed the teacher to keep working, according to the suit.
Also last May, Madrigal returned from her wedding and honeymoon and was told by the directors that her son was being removed from the school, an action the plaintiff believes occurred “in retaliation for her many complaints about (the preschool’s) illicit practices.”
Madrigal further alleges she and other teachers were regularly assigned to classrooms that exceeded the child-staff ratios permitted according to government regulations. In February 2019, the directors assigned an excessive number of children to her classroom, creating a potential safety issue for the children, the suit alleges.
Madrigal complained to the school director and asked that some students be reassigned, but the director refused and said it was “not fair to parents who pay for their kids to learn Spanish,” the suit states.
Even though Madrigal was sometimes assigned a teacher’s aide, the number of children in her class was still excessive, according to the complaint.
When Madrigal reported that the school cook was supervising children even though she was not qualified, a director acknowledged that the cook’s actions were improper, but told the plaintiff, “You point things out too much. You’re very by the book,” the suit states.
From the time Madrigal was hired, she reported that the restrooms were flooding daily and could not be used, but nothing was done, the suit states.
Madrigal was fired last May 15 and was told by a director, “This is not working out. We don’t have a good relationship,” the suit states.
Madrigal believes she lost her job because of her “ongoing complaints and opposition to what Plaintiff believed to be egregious violations of the law” by the school directors, the suit states.