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200万美元和解！圣何塞学校前女校长赢得歧视案！
Women earn about 83 cents for every dollar men make. For the first-ever woman superintendent at one Silicon Valley school district, that number was closer to 81 cents compared to her male predecessors.
男性每挣1美元，女性只能挣83美分。硅谷某学区的首位女校长，与她的男性前任相比，这一数字接近81美分。
Former Evergreen School District Superintendent Kathy Gomez won a more than $2 million settlement, after a federal court validated her claims last month of unequal pay and discrimination against her at the district. The case is a crucial step in ensuring women in the education space get fair pay, but also reveals how abuses of power occur at the school board level, experts said.
前长荣学区主管凯西·戈麦斯(Kathy Gomez)赢得了200多万美元的和解金，此前一家联邦法院证实了她上个月提出的在该学区受到不平等待遇和歧视的要求。专家表示，该案件是确保教育领域女性获得公平薪酬的关键一步，但也揭示了学校董事会层面的权力滥用是如何发生的。
Gomez said the verdict serves as a bittersweet ending to a decades-long career in the same district. Born and raised in San Jose, Gomez said she wanted to be a teacher since age 14 and spent more than 30 years at Evergreen School District.
戈麦斯说，这一判决为她在同一地区长达数十年的职业生涯画上了一个苦乐参半的句号。戈麦斯在圣何塞出生长大，她说自己从14岁起就想成为一名教师，并在常青学区度过了30多年。
“It’s not the way you want to end your career,” Gomez told San José Spotlight. “I’m very happy with the decision, it’s definitely a victory. And more than that, I’m really happy that the truth came out.”
戈麦斯告诉San José Spotlight:“这不是你想要结束职业生涯的方式。”“我对这个决定很满意，这绝对是一场胜利。更重要的是，我很高兴真相大白了。”
Court documents reveal Gomez’s hiring salary in 2011 was $180,000, while her male predecessor received a starting salary with benefits not offered to Gomez that totaled more than $191,000. Adjusted for inflation, the predecessor’s starting salary was $222,474.
法院文件显示，戈麦斯2011年的雇佣工资是18万美元，而她的男性前任的起薪总额超过19.1万美元，其中包括戈麦斯没有的福利。经通货膨胀调整后，前任的起薪为222,474美元。
Evergreen School District declined to comment.
长荣学区拒绝置评。
Gomez initially advocated for higher pay following a 2015 district study that revealed Evergreen School District underpaid its superintendents compared to six other districts. In the next three years, Gomez’s request was met by both support and opposition from the school board. Court documents reveal that in a 2016 closed session meeting, board member Jim Zito allegedly told two female board members that the reason they supported Gomez was because “they had the same thing between their legs.”
戈麦斯最初主张提高薪酬是在2015年的一项地区研究之后，该研究显示，与其他六个学区相比，长青学区的校长薪酬过低。在接下来的三年里，戈麦斯的要求得到了学校董事会的支持和反对。法庭文件显示，在2016年的一次闭门会议上，董事会成员吉姆·齐托(Jim Zito)据称告诉两名女性董事会成员，她们支持戈麦斯的原因是“她们两腿之间有一样的东西”。
At the same meeting, the board verbally agreed to increase Gomez’s wage, but reneged on the decision in June 2017 following several changes in leadership. That reversal prompted Gomez to file a Department of Fair Employment and Housing complaint the same year. Court documents also reveal Gomez faced retaliation in the form of a “punitive and discriminatory” performance review authored by Zito, who has been on the board since 2010. The board, however, signed off on the review. Gomez ultimately filed a lawsuit in 2020.
在同一次会议上，董事会口头同意提高戈麦斯的工资，但在2017年6月的几次领导层变动后违背了这一决定。这一逆转促使戈麦斯同年向公平就业和住房部(Department of Fair Employment and Housing)投诉。法庭文件还显示，戈麦斯面临着由齐托撰写的“惩罚性和歧视性”绩效评估的报复，齐托自2010年以来一直在该公司董事会任职。然而，董事会批准了这项审查。戈麦斯最终在2020年提起了诉讼。
Zito declined to comment and referred San José Spotlight to the district’s responses to the lawsuit. He’s running to retain his board seat in the November election. Two newcomers, Stan Rose and Mary Pollett, and three incumbents—Christopher Corpus, Marisa Hanson and Zito—are all vying for three seats on the district school board.
齐托拒绝置评，并让San José Spotlight了解该地区对诉讼的回应。他正在竞选以在11月的选举中保住他在董事会的席位。两个新人，斯坦·罗斯和玛丽·波利特，以及三位现任教师——克里斯托弗·科珀斯、玛丽莎·汉森和齐托——都在争夺学区董事会的三个席位。
Discrimination was apparent
歧视是明显的
The unequal pay and discrimination Gomez faced is tied to more disparities, including fewer leadership positions and less retirement security for women, said Sonya Mehta, Gomez’s attorney.
戈麦斯的律师索尼娅·梅塔说，戈麦斯面临的不平等薪酬和歧视与更多的不平等有关，包括女性的领导职位更少，退休保障更少。
“Women are not being promoted into the highest levels, even though they’re the ones that are familiar with the work in these women-dominated fields like teaching,” Mehta told San José Spotlight. “When women are underpaid their whole life, you contribute less to retirement… The case for women everywhere is that there’s not only a paid wage gap, but there’s a huge pension gap.”
梅塔对桑José Spotlight说:“女性没有被提拔到最高级别，即使她们熟悉在这些女性主导的领域的工作，如教学。”“当女性一生的收入都过低时，你对退休的贡献就会更少……各地女性的情况是，不仅工资差距很大，而且养老金差距也很大。”
Her decision to file the equal pay lawsuit was difficult, but ultimately spurred by multiple instances of unfair treatment, Gomez said. She also made the decision to retire early in January 2019 as a result.
戈麦斯说，她提出同工同酬诉讼的决定很艰难，但最终受到了多次不公平待遇的刺激。因此，她还在2019年1月决定提前退休。
“The board members who were in the room when that promise was made to me (in 2016), they reneged on it… I was hurt,” Gomez told San José Spotlight. “I was shocked that they would go back on something that they said because I had trusted them.”
戈麦斯在接受《San José Spotlight》采访时表示:“当(2016年)董事会成员向我做出承诺时，他们食言了……我很受伤。”“我很震惊，因为我信任他们，他们就会反悔。”
Tensions on Evergreen’s school board also rose behind closed doors, said Sylvia Alvarez, a former district board member during Gomez’s tenure as superintendent. Alvarez was present when Zito allegedly made the sexist comment in 2016.
戈麦斯担任督学期间的前地区董事会成员西尔维亚·阿尔瓦雷斯(Sylvia Alvarez)说，长青学校董事会内部的紧张关系也在私下里加剧。2016年齐托发表性别歧视言论时，阿尔瓦雷斯在场。
“As soon as that came out of his mouth, I just shot up to my feet. How could that come out of his mouth? It was obscene,” Alvarez told San José Spotlight, referring to Zito’s comment.
“这话刚从他嘴里说出来，我就立马站了起来。他怎么会这么说呢?这是淫秽的，”阿尔瓦雷斯告诉San José Spotlight，提到齐托的评论。
Losing good people like Gomez has been the most difficult part of the process, said Alvarez, who ultimately left the board at the end of 2018 following months of discord with other board members.
阿尔瓦雷斯表示，失去戈麦斯这样的优秀人才是这一过程中最困难的部分。在与其他董事会成员发生数月不和后，阿尔瓦雷斯最终于2018年底离开了董事会。
“I was the only one who supported her, and they were angry with me because they wanted me to be in consensus with them,” Alvarez told San José Spotlight. “Behind closed doors it got ugly.”
“我是唯一支持她的人，他们对我很生气，因为他们想让我和他们达成一致，”阿尔瓦雷斯告诉San José Spotlight。“关起门来，事情变得很难看。”
The case is a victory for women who are often underpaid for doing the same job, but also reveals how school board tensions can cost the district—and ultimately students—millions of dollars, said Brian Wheatley, a current San Jose Unified School District board member and former president of the Evergreen Teachers Association. Wheatley testified in the lawsuit.
圣何塞联合学区现任董事会成员、长青教师协会前主席布莱恩·惠特利说，这一案件对从事同样工作的女性来说是一次胜利，但也揭示了学校董事会的紧张关系如何会让学区——最终是学生——付出数百万美元的代价。惠特利在诉讼中作证。
Wheatley said voters should choose their school board members wisely given their impact.
惠特利说，考虑到学校董事会成员的影响力，选民应该明智地选择他们。
Gomez’s victory will encourage other women in leadership and education to stand up for themselves, Mehta said.
梅赫塔说，戈麦斯的胜利将鼓励其他领导和教育领域的女性为自己挺身而出。
For Gomez, it’s a relief to finish the yearslong battle, she said. She still thinks fondly of her time at Evergreen School District.
对戈麦斯来说，完成了多年的战斗是一种解脱，她说。她仍然怀念在常青学区的时光。
“I’m really happy and proud that I was able to spend an entire career in one place,” Gomez told San José Spotlight. “Having that truth out there makes me as happy as getting the award.”
戈麦斯在接受San José Spotlight采访时表示:“我真的很高兴，也很自豪，我能在一个地方度过我的整个职业生涯。”“知道真相让我和获奖一样开心。”
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发表于 2022-10-13 09:27:48
发表于 2023-2-8 21:34:55