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SAN FRANCISCO SCHOOLS FINED FOR H-1B VIOLATIONS
The San Francisco Unified School District has been hit with fines by the Department of Labor for H-1B visa program violations.  The District has been ordered to pay about ,000 in fines and back wages, ,000 in fines and more than ,000 in back wages.   
An investigation prompted by a complaint from a teacher who wasn’t hired discovered that the school district had committed multiple violations.  First, it had been requiring that the foreign teachers pay the 0 fee for H-1B visas that was imposed in 1998.  Also, the school failed to notify the union representing teachers in San Francisco, and did not make the required public posts. 
The district has cooperated with the investigation, and has changed its policies to comply with federal requirements.  From now on, the legal work for visa applications will be done by a city attorney.  However, it appears the district will not be recruiting foreign teachers in the future.  Even though the district is experiencing a shortage of qualified teachers, it says that cultural differences between the foreign teachers and US students sometimes cause difficulties in the classroom.  The district plans on stepping up recruitment efforts of teachers in the US.