Picketing Teachers Call for Inglewood Principal’s Ouster

An ongoing dispute between a group of Inglewood High School teachers and Principal Lawrence Freeman erupted again Thursday afternoon as about 20 teachers and a small group of students picketed the school grounds to call for Freeman’s removal.

Marching back and forth in front of the high school at Grevillea Avenue and Manchester Boulevard, the teachers called for the school board to investigate what they say is a prison-camp atmosphere at the school.

An opposing group of parents, students and community activists marched in support of Freeman carrying signs with slogans such as “Oh God no, don’t let him go.”

Among other things, the teachers accuse Freeman of stripping them of their authority, humiliating them in front of students and punishing those who speak out against him by imposing suspensions or reassignments to less desirable class schedules.

Claims Policy Justified

Freeman, however, said his administrative policy--which he called “hard-line”--is justified.

“The problem with these teachers is that they think they run the school instead of the principal,” Freeman said.

“This school was a mess when I got here because the teachers were running the show and they clearly didn’t know what they were doing. I’m tough because I have to be tough.”

But the complaining teachers say Freeman is too tough, and last year the Public Employee Relations Board agreed. In two hearings in November, 1985, administrative law judges found Freeman guilty of eight counts of unfair labor practices, including preventing teachers from distributing materials that criticized Freeman’s policies, forcing teachers to check their classroom keys at the main office before leaving the building and refusing to allow teachers to have union representatives with them during disciplinary meetings.

The Inglewood school board voted in December to appeal both decisions.

Less Vandalism

“The board appealed the decisions because we saw that he was really trying to make the school a better place to learn (in) and we would like him to continue with some of these practices, especially the key system,” said Trustee Tony Draper. “We have seen a tremendous decrease in classroom vandalism and missing school supplies since he started keeping the keys in his office.”

If the original rulings are upheld in a another hearing to be held sometime this year, Freeman will have to discontinue the key policy and all other policies that led to the complaints.

Teachers who picketed the school grounds Thursday said they hope the school board will investigate new charges that Freeman frequently alters class schedules with little or no warning and that he grabbed a teacher by the throat for trying to place a union newsletter in other teachers’ mailboxes.

“He’s a dictator,” said Pamela Klein, who has been teaching French at Inglewood High School for 18 years.

“He threatens the teachers and treats the students like punks,” Klein said. “That is a terrible role model for students as well as parents.”

Known to Be Tough

A former Army officer, Freeman is known throughout the state for his brand of tough talking leadership and no-nonsense discipline, said Supt. Rex Fortune.

“We hired Freeman because we knew he could take even the worst school and turn it around into a place where students get a good education,” Fortune said.

Freeman’s office is crammed with awards he received during his nine years as principal of Compton’s Willowbrook Junior High School--an inner-city school once plagued by gang violence, high truancy and the lowest reading scores in the state.

Freeman defused gang tensions there by enforcing a strict dress code that prohibited any gang-related clothing and decreased truancy by more than 50% by enforcing strict penalties for tardiness and unexcused absences, Fortune said.

Program Praised

His required daily reading breaks won praise from several state educational agencies. “Administrators from all over the state were sending their faculties to Compton to observe Freeman and his policies,” said Ed Brownlee, the dean of students at Inglewood High who worked with Freeman at Compton.

Freeman, who says he can work the “same magic at Inglewood if the teachers would work with the administration instead of against it,” left Willowbrook in 1983 after a state audit of school funds. Although he was never accused directly of mismanaging the funds, he was reassigned as a truancy counselor.

“I have proven that my program works,” Freeman said in an interview Thursday. “The teachers who are criticizing me just don’t realize what it takes to shape up a school like Inglewood High. These are some of the same teachers that were letting the kids run wild through the halls and wear curlers and jackets with gang emblems to school.”

Since he was named principal of 2,376-student Inglewood High School in 1984, Freeman has implemented many of the same rules and regulations he used at Willowbrook. In many cases, however, violations carry a stiffer penalty, ranging from parent conferences to suspension.

Dress Code Imposed

Inglewood students must adhere to a strict dress code in which hats, curlers, chains, colored shoelaces, earrings on male students or anything that could be construed as gang attire are prohibited. Under the guidelines set in a 250-page student handbook Freeman calls his “Bible for behavior,” penalties for tardiness and unexcused absences are strictly enforced.

“When I was a freshman here nobody went to class,” said Kevin Pruitt, a 17-year-old senior. “It used to be a big party. Now it seems like a real school.

I’m proud of what the principal has done.”

Today, students literally run to their classrooms; two or three years ago many would saunter in late, if at all, Brownlee said. Trustee Draper said attendance figures are higher than they have been in almost 10 years, truancies have decreased by 25% and the school is free of the graffiti and garbage that once littered the sprawling campus.

No Academic Freedom

But teachers say Freeman’s achievements are largely cosmetic. “The building is clean and bright and he has the students going to class, but there is no learning going on in the classroom because he has stripped the teachers of their academic freedom,” said Jacques Bernier, the executive director of the Inglewood Teachers Assn.

“He has to do all the thinking and decision making. He decides what teachers teach and how teachers teach and who teachers discipline,” said Bernier. For instance, Bernier said, Freeman requires teachers to submit their lesson plans to him for approval but on several occasions has failed to return them to instructors in time for class.

Freeman, however, said he has always returned class assignments and examinations to the teachers on time. “They are telling outright lies when they say I don’t get their lessons back on time,” Freeman said.

Freeman removed all photocopying machines from department offices and the teachers’ lounge last year and now requires that instructors route all lesson plans and examinations through his office to be copied.

Reprimands Over Intercom

“If a teacher fails to submit a lesson plan or does something else he doesn’t like, the man gets on the intercom and reprimands the teacher in front of the whole school,” said Robert Dillen, a world studies and civics teacher at Inglewood High School.

“Those darned intercom announcements interrupted my class 16 times on Wednesday,” Dillen said, adding that some of his students said they were offended by the language Freeman used in a recent loudspeaker address. “He’s an awful role model,” Dillen said.

But parents, school board members and Supt. Fortune say Freeman is just the kind of role model students at Inglewood High School need.

“He has established higher standards of behavior, achievement and particularly a higher standard of self-confidence,” Fortune said. Many of the parents who once sent their children to school outside the district are putting their children back in Inglewood schools, Fortune said.

Support From Students

Freeman has strong support from students and their parents, despite the teachers’ accusations and a 1984 union survey that indicated that 88% of Inglewood High School’s 86 teachers wanted Freeman removed.

“If it weren’t for Freeman I definitely would have sent my son to another school,” said Kayzene Marshall. She and other parents regularly attend school board meetings where they often express support for Freeman’s policies.

Board members are expected to hold a public hearing to discuss the teacher’s grievances at the board’s next meeting March 3.