After losing his lawsuit against the Santa Barbara School District last May, Ed Behrens’ year-and-a-half-long legal battle reignited this week. The demoted San Marcos High principal fired back Friday through an appeal of the court’s ruling against the suit, which demands he be reinstated to the position because the demotion was “malicious and retaliatory.”
"In deposition, [school district Superintendent] Matsuoka admitted that strategic public statements he made about Ed were false," said Leila Noël, partner in the law firm Cappello & Noël, which is representing Behrens. "He also carefully controlled the information to the board and Ed about Ed’s performance to lead the board to the predetermined result he wanted: Ed’s removal from SMHS. We are pursuing this case to ensure justice is done.”
Behrens lost his lawsuit against the district in May of this year because Judge Pauline Maxwell said that the district didn’t need any specific reasons to demote Behrens, as he was an “at will” employee. His reassignment as a Santa Barbara Junior High social studies teacher in March 2018 came with more than a $50,000 salary cut, which he asserts is punitive. He has worked for the district 27 years, 20 of which were at San Marcos High School.