“The
strength of a woman is not measured by the impact that all her hardships in
life have had on her; but the strength of a woman is measured by the extent of
her refusal to allow those hardships to dictate her and who she becomes.”
― C. JoyBell C.
This quotation by C. JoyBell C. well
describes our friend and fellow California Healthy Workplace Advocate, Vernetta
Northcutt. In 2004, over 40 of us
gathered in Sacramento to hear Dr. Gary Namie of the Workplace Bullying
Institute speak on the subject of work abuse.
Vernetta was among us. On that
day, she was sprite, happy, and very interactive. Later we would learn that she was at the
beginning of a long, arduous journey that would take all the power and courage this
good woman had. But immediately we could
see that power and courage were the essence of Vernetta Northcutt.
Before our gathering dispersed, about
half of us decided to meet two weeks later at a local restaurant to see what we
could do to convince our State legislators to recall a previously cancelled
bill that would make status-blind workplace bullying illegal and actionable by
an injured target. California Healthy Workplace Advocates aka
BullyFreeWorkplace.org was formed and
Vernetta Northcutt was with us. As a
social science teacher, she knew full well that until the law was changed,
egregious acts of psychological violence would haunt the California workforce
with no hope for resolution for targets of bullying at work. She had no fear of this fight, though
Vernetta herself was in the middle of an emotionally violent workplace
situation while we worked toward our goal.
This was a strong woman who dared to
speak her truth. At each safe legal
turn, she would tell us more and more about her long, successful career as a
high school history and English teacher who loved her job and the students she
would sometimes have to beg, bump, and pull through to their graduation. She told us there were false claims about her
students’ failure rates. She told us
about her inexplicable teaching reassignment and about the perpetrators who
failed to follow the legal rules any reasonable
person would expect from all her co-workers, especially her supervising
educators.
As time passed and Vernetta became
able, she would tell us more and more.
She would speak to cameras and walk with us through the halls of our
California Capitol, telling legislators and their staffs about what real
teachers were facing in real public schools.
Eventually, she wrote and published the book, A Special Case. Vernetta’s
case was indeed special because this woman dared to take a stand for what she
knew was right. She understood the power
of a contract and the need for all to adhere to the letter of the law. This is what she taught her students and she
stood for what she taught.
Vernetta was a target because she was
an unintended threat to those who targeted her.
She was smart, pretty, outspoken, articulate, ethical, and had great
people skills: a classic target of
workplace bullying. The stress of this
battle wore her down and she was blackballed by the educational establishment. But Vernetta Northcutt could not have done
any different than to stand up for what she believed and to get knocked down
for what was right. The California
Healthy Workplace Advocates are better because she joined us. We can rightfully guess that Vallejo High
School is better because of Vernetta Northcutt, too.
The mission of the California
Healthy Workplace Advocates is to raise public awareness and to compel our
State to correct and prevent abusive work environments through legislation. Bullyfreeworkplace.org
