A culinary teacher’s battle at P.G. High reveals a troubling culture.

When the board of the Pacific Grove Unified School District met on March 16, one of the first orders of business was to honor the culinary arts teacher at P.G. High School. Imogen Erickson had been recognized by the California Restaurant Association as educator of the year, and is on the shortlist for a national award, which will see her traveling to Dallas in July. PGHS Assistant Principal Shane Steinbeck gave remarks, and presented Erickson with flowers. “Thank you, Chef Erickson, for all you do for students in and outside the classroom,” Steinbeck said, commending her for creating a “brave, safe space” for students, which has proven to be wildly popular. “Enrollment has tripled – not even a pandemic could slow her class down.”

The only thing, it seems, that could slow Erickson down is a big pile of bureaucratic red tape and a superintendent throwing shade her way. Less than an hour after receiving her commendation, Erickson stood up to tell the board about her dealings with Superintendent Ralph Porras. She read aloud from a selection of emails obtained via California Public Records Act requests.

“We all wish and hope that she will curtail the histrionics and get back to her work, which she performs very well,” Porras wrote in 2019 to board member Brian Swanson.

Swanson to Porras: “I hope [Erickson] chills on the ‘I’m horribly oppressed and live in fear’ vibe. I think most people love her and that we would just prefer they fall back in line with standard operating procedure.”

The use of such explicitly sexist and dismissive language is remarkable to me, but not to Erickson. “I never like to assume the worst of people. There’s always this glimmer of hope that my gut is wrong, that I simply misunderstood someone’s actions,” she says. But her gut told her that somehow she’d offended Porras, and she believed that he was retaliating against her.

Erickson was first hired in 2014 to teach culinary arts, part of PGUSD’s career technical education (CTE) program. A former baker, she uses the National Restaurant Association’s curriculum and says one year gives a student all of the basics they need to work in the industry, from an introduction to food safety and knife skills to basic principles about food cost and business.

Within two years, she started fighting for tenure, and raising questions about whether other CTE teachers in programs like art should be reclassified. When her inquiries fell short, the California Teachers Association eventually sued on her behalf on Oct. 13, 2022.

PGUSD sought to get the suit thrown out; in February, Monterey County Superior Court Judge Thomas Wills ruled the case should proceed. Erickson and the district settled in March, and the district agreed to reclassify Erickson.

Part of why she wanted tenure, she says, is so that she could speak up – like she did on March 16, her first opportunity to flex that newfound security. “We are completely vulnerable without tenure,” she says.

After Erickson spoke at the board meeting, two board members, Carolyn Swanson (no relation to Brian) and Jennifer McNary, urged her to formally request the board discuss the matter; Erickson says she has since filed such a request.

Porras declined to comment on the tone in his 2019 emails, because he says they pertained to a personnel matter – a 2019 investigation that was opened and closed later that year, concerning the use of alcohol in Erickson’s classroom. (She told the board that alcohol was used for legitimate culinary purposes. Porras will not speak about specifics, but says no policies were developed or modified based on the investigation. Erickson believes the investigation was a form of retaliation against her.)

“I believe that our school district has a duty to safeguard the dignity of those who advocate,” Carolyn Swanson, currently the board president, says by email. “I want to improve district culture.”

In her remarks, Erickson said she was grateful to be recognized especially during March, which is Women’s History Month. But that also makes it all the more jarring to see this type of language used by a top official, wishing that a woman teacher would just go be quiet. I, for one, am glad that Erickson wasn’t, and hope that her success inspires others to speak up.

SARA RUBIN is the Weekly’s editor. Reach her at sara@mcweekly.com