Secession Group Apologizes for Misquoting Official

A group that wants to secede from the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District has apologized for misquoting a senior district official and giving the impression that he supports their efforts.

Lawrence W. Burnight, assistant superintendent for instruction, was quoted as saying that keeping Miraleste High School open is a “necessity.” But Burnight, a former principal of the school on the east side of the Peninsula, denies ever making the statement and says he supports the school board’s decision to close Miraleste at the end of this school year.

The disputed statement, apparently published some years ago, appears in a document that the East Peninsula Education Council submitted recently to a county agency that looks into proposals to change school district boundaries.

Apology for ‘Confusion’

“EPEC apologizes for any confusion caused by these errors,” said Susan Brooks, a spokeswoman for the council. “Any implication that the statement reflects Dr. Burnight’s current view was unintentional.”

Asked to verify the source of the disputed statement, EPEC officials provided a blurred photocopy of a newspaper article on Miraleste’s uncertain future in the face of declining enrollment. There is no date, headline, or name of the newspaper. The statement, underlined in ink or pencil, reads:

It’s those narrow, winding roads and its seclusion from the west side that makes a high school on the east side a necessity.

The words are those of the reporter, explaining why district officials were reluctant--at the time the article was written--to close Miraleste.

Last November, the school board was still reluctant but concluded that mounting financial problems made closing Miraleste a necessity. Parents in the Miraleste area then formed the council and began a drive to set up a separate school system.

On page 21 of a document that the council submitted in January to the county Committee on School District Organization appears the statement:

As the former principal of Miraleste, Mr. Larry Burnight, stated, “It’s those narrow, winding roads and its seclusion from the west side that makes a high school on the east side a necessity.”

There is no reference to the original source of the statement, no indication of when Burnight supposedly made it, nor any mention of his current job.

The council prepared the document in response to a series of questions from the county school agency. Material from the document, including the quotation attributed to Burnight, was used in a Times article on March 3 outlining the group’s reasons for wanting to establish a new district.

‘Never Consulted’

Burnight, who was appointed to the district post in 1986 after seven years as Miraleste’s principal, said he was “surprised” to read that the council counted him among its supporters.

“I have never been consulted by EPEC to determine my point of view on the traffic concerns they have raised,” Burnight said, “but I have on several occasions in recent months informally expressed to EPEC leaders my support for the board’s decision to close Miraleste.”

From his own recollections and other references in the photocopied news article, Burnight said it may have been published as far back as 1982, but not later than 1984. Officials of the parents’ group were unable to provide a date for the article.

Donna Perrin, president of the east side group, said that in attributing the underlined statement to Burnight, it “did not mean to cause Dr. Burnight any embarrassment or create the impression of insubordination in his current position. . . . In fact, we are sure that he is a loyal and dedicated employee.”

Perrin, one of 12 volunteer researchers who prepared the 43-page document, said she wrote the section in which Burnight is quoted. An “ambiguity in the source document,” she said, led her to believe that Burnight made the underlined statement.

After a second reading, she said, it would appear to be “more accurate” to attribute the statement to district officials, “with Larry Burnight offering his assent. This is a minor discrepancy . . . not any intention on EPEC’s part to paint a misleading picture.”

Not Quoted on Topic

In fact, the article does not quote Burnight as accepting the underlined statement’s conclusion that a high school on the east side is a “necessity.”

It quotes him as saying that the topographical isolation of the Miraleste area is “a primary factor . . . one reason it would be difficult to close this school.”

In a comment that seems prophetic years later, the news article quotes Burnight as saying: “I don’t know to what extent the community would rise against an attempt to close Miraleste.”

The article also quotes Burnight as saying that the district’s financial problems “may have taken away the luxury of maintaining such a small campus.”

Brooks, the council spokeswoman, said the group will correct any errors in the document submitted to the county agency.