Leaves Of Absence

The teacher whom the Los Angeles school district has spent seven years and nearly $2 million trying to fire spoke publicly for the first time Wednesday, saying he did not sexually harass students and is the target of discrimination. Matthew Kim, a former special education teacher at Grant High School in Van Nuys, had declined to speak to The Times numerous times over the last several months.

The Supreme Court on Monday dealt a setback to women who took pregnancy leaves from work before 1979. The year before, Congress changed the law and said pregnancy must be treated like other temporary disabilities. In a 7-2 decision, the court agreed with AT&T Corp. and refused to award pension credits to those who took a pregnancy leave before the change. The ruling in AT&T vs. Hulteen reversed a decision of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The chancellor of the Coast Community College District was placed on administrative leave earlier this month, district officials said The district Board of Trustees made the decision to place Ken Yglesias on leave during a closed session that took place in a meeting when the district's campuses were closed for winter break, said Jim Moreno, president of the board. Moreno declined to state why Yglesias, who had served as chancellor since May 2004, was put on leave.