Summerville High faces complaints of racism, cheating

Summerville High School administrators came under fire at Monday night’s Board of Trustees meeting, where parents accused staff of pushing racially charged incidents under the rug, and a special-education aide said she was forced to plagiarize students’ work and administrators did nothing to stop it.

Parent Peggy Blue ad-dressed ra-cially charged and “hate-motivated” comments and actions by some students, including an incident six weeks ago involving one of her daughters in the school library.

Blue, ex-wife of former Oakland A’s and San Francisco Giants pitcher Vida Blue, said a group of seniors used a racial slur around her daughter, who is half African American, and that the school administration has not followed its policies regarding severe student misconduct.    

The school’s discipline policy categorizes abusive language as “severe misconduct,” and it can result in a suspension.   

Blue handed out a packet to board members that included the district Superintendent John Keiter’s e-mailed response to Blue’s concerns over the issue, which de-tailed school policies on misconduct, misbehavior and reasons for expulsions.    

Her packet also included a picture of a swastika spray painted on the ground in the school parking lot.    

Blue said she believes the problem is widespread. She said she felt “pacified with an apology and swept under the rug.”    

Discipline isn’t handled equitably among student groups, she said.    

Blue and a handful of other parents at the meeting said they would be willing to participate in a discussion and action committee with staff about hate-crimes and increased understanding about discrimination.   

Parent Eric Peterson suggested a diversity committee be formed and alternative education be provided to students who commit hate-related offenses, much like tobacco education is offered to students caught smoking or with cigarettes.    

Parent Kimber Mywood said her children report hearing racial jokes “pretty consistently” at school, and staff training is necessary to combat it.    

Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians elder Robert Cox addressed the board with his concerns over the racial slurs on campus.   

He, like other parents at the meeting, asked what was being done to address the issue.    

If the school administrators won’t, he said, “maybe the school needs a new administrator and some new teachers.”    

Summerville High Principal Dave Urquhart later said he would be willing to meet with parents and staff and have a diversity committee. He suggested including the school counseling staff.

Williams complaint    

Following the public comments regarding the race issue, administrators were blasted by special-education aide Jan Williams, who maintains she was forced to write papers for students, falsify California High School Exit Exams and plagiarize work for students, while being harassed and threatened with termination.    

Williams said she was hired in December 2008 and went on leave from the district in August 2011, because of work-related stress.   

In a packet of information handed out to trustees, Williams also included a signed statement from a former student, now 21, who said Williams was forced to write his senior project paper.    

Williams also gave trustees a several-page history of events leading up to Monday, including photographs of large binders filled with work from nearly every teacher’s class, used when special education students needed to complete mainstream class assignments.    

Williams said students with disabilities, including autism, were given detention and bullied if they refused to copy work from the compiled cheat sheets.    

“My complaints have been ignored, dismissed and outright ridiculed by Summerville’s administration,” Williams wrote in her letter to trustees.    

She said her being a “whistleblower,” has made her a target for retribution.    

Williams is in the middle of a worker’s compensation claim over her stress leave and said she has filed a grievance against the teacher who she claims instructed her to plagiarize and falsify information.    

Three minutes into her speech, Williams was cut short by Keiter and the board, citing employee privacy issues.    

Keiter said complaints against staff are handled in closed-door meetings.    

Trustee Cheri Farrell said there is a process that must be followed.    

“You need to stop. ... You can talk about me,” Keiter said.    

Keiter told trustees the district is “in the middle of an extensive investigation.”    

The district’s lawyer, Byron Smith, interjected. “This is being handled through a complaint procedure. There’s a process to follow board members.”    

Farrell said the “snail’s pace,” at which things are handled is frustrating.   

Williams claimed Keiter put her through “six months of hell,” and a psychiatric evaluation as part of her worker’s compensation case.    

“I do have hard evidence to prove the plagiarism,” Williams said.    

The issue wasn’t discussed any further and trustees had no questions for Williams, other than to ask if the administration was looking into her reports of plagiarism.

Academic rankings    

In other public comments, parent Joe Nelson said he disagreed with the district’s policy on naming senior class academic rankings.    

Nelson said that, when his daughter graduated in the spring, she was told she was third in the class. However, upon receipt of her transcripts months later, she was notified she was actually second in the class.    

Nelson said the school policy on choosing heads of the class based on students’ grades through the end of the first semester of their senior year is flawed. He also took issue with a pass grade in a class with pass/fail grading, which allegedly lowered her total grade-point-average, even though she passed. Nelson said he was also once denied his daughter’s homework when she was out sick.    

“I think the policy should be changed. This is not right,” Nelson said.    

Nelson said his daughter and the student who actually placed top of the class should be recognized and reimbursed for any lost scholarships as a result of the discrepancy.       

Nelson also said principal Urquhart should be fired, though Urquhart said he didn’t know of the ranking change until Nelson told him at the grocery store.    

Farrell suggested the board look at the policy that delineates the timeline for determining class rank.