A teacher who filed a subsequent grievance with the state Employment Relations Board after being fired by Portland Public Schools in 2023 for insubordination and lack of duty was awarded a $295,000 settlement from the district.
Bryan Chu, a former teacher at Harriet Tubman Middle School, committed to refrain from bringing any more lawsuits or legal action against the school district in return.
The district denied any wrongdoing and stated that it was resolving this matter simply to save money on defense in the settlement agreement, which was adopted by school board members last June and obtained by the Oregonian/OregonLive through a public documents request.
Chu was a vocal supporter of social justice and racial equity in the classroom for many years. She also frequently and scathingly attended school board meetings. He asked for his termination hearing to be held in public, which made his case noteworthy.
Calls for comment on Thursday were not answered by Chu or Noah Barish, his union-provided attorney from the Portland firm McKanna Bishop Joffe.
District investigators claimed Chu had a history of intimidating and bullying his fellow educators, especially women, when arguing for his dismissal. They accused him of letting his pupils fall between the cracks by granting almost all of them As notwithstanding their performance or effort, which delayed or concealed the need for assistance for those who needed it.
According to Kate Wilkinson, the district’s assistant general counsel, during Chu’s virtual pre-termination hearing in August 2023, several principals and fellow educators from his time at the district characterized his actions as toxic backstabbing and callous toward students, coworkers, and superiors. Instead of turning on his camera during the meeting, Chu chose to show a photo of himself from behind while sporting a shirt that stated White Li(V)es Matter in PPS.
Barish retorted that Chu was an enthusiastic and motivating educator of color who protected his pupils from a racist system and was prepared to advocate for them, making his classroom a safe haven for students in one of the most diverse schools in the district.
He had been paid $75,000 a year as a social studies teacher at Harriet Tubman, and some of his former students repeated that description, supporting him by walking out of class and testifying at school board hearings.
Barish claimed that Chu was receiving unjust retaliation for his scathing public criticism of previous Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero and school board members on the district’s indecisiveness over a new Harriet Tubman location that would avoid Interstate 5 and the associated vehicle emissions.
Chu has previously taught at Southeast Portland’s Hosford and Lane middle schools before joining Harriet Tubman.
In September 2023, Chu was fired by the school board 5-1, with Eddie Wang, the current board chair, abstaining from the vote.
Julia Silverman writes for The Oregonian/OregonLive about K–12 education. Her email address is 503-804-4466.
