Conn

The Reporting by School Employees of Improper Governmental Activities Act (Act), a whistleblower act (Ed. Code, §§ 44110-44114), in section 44113, makes school officials liable in damages for interfering with the right of a schoolteacher to disclose evidence of improper governmental activities to an administrator or school board.

Plaintiff, Christina Conn, a second-year probationary teacher, was denied tenure when she was not reelected to a third year of employment. She claims that her nonreelection was intended to interfere with her right to disclose “that certain students . . . were not being properly evaluated, assessed, and assigned appropriate special education services . . . .” (§ 44113, subd. (a).) She sued defendants Western Placer Unified School District (the district), principal John Bliss, director of special education Tracy Murphy, director of personnel Robert Noyes, assistant superintendent Scott Teaman, and superintendent Roger Yohe, as the responsible parties, for damages pursuant to section 44113.

The trial court entered a directed verdict (Code Civ. Proc., § 630) on Conn’s interference cause of action on the view the individual defendants were…