Barker

I. Background

Barker was employed as an itinerant Resource Specialist Program teacher for students with disabilities within the Alternative Education Program of the Riverside County Office of Education from May 13, 2002 through August 1, 2006. Indeed, Barker was the most experienced special educa- tion teacher at the Riverside County Office of Education. Barker was regularly asked by other teachers to interpret edu- cational test results, and she received three or four telephone calls per day from her colleagues requesting her opinion and assistance in regard to special education issues with students.

Beginning as early as 2003, Barker voiced concerns to her supervisors that the special education services provided by the Riverside County Office of Education to its disabled students were noncompliant with federal and state law. In May 2005, Barker and a coworker filed a class discrimination complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. The class discrimination complaint filed with the Office for Civil Rights alleged that the Riverside County Office of Education denied its disabled students a free appro- priate public education that they are entitled…