Bombing Fallout: How Van Explosion Has Affected Principal Figures : Letter Gives a Day-by-Day Account Leading to Firing

Just as Capt. Will Rogers III ordered an Iranian airplane gunned down to protect the safety of his crew, the headmaster of La Jolla Country Day School said the Navy captain’s wife was removed from the campus “to ensure the safety of the children.”

In his first detailed account of the internal decisions at his school, Headmaster Timothy M. Burns has written a three-page letter laying out a day-by-day scenario of how the school tried to find proper security for the campus and how, when that attempt failed, concluded that Sharon Rogers should not return as a teacher to her fourth-grade classroom.

“The events of the past week will eventually bring our school community together through bonding which makes us stronger,” he said in the letter received Saturday by parents of the 700 students. “We were participants in tragic events which we hope will never occur again in this country.”

Lack of Security Cited

The crucial decision to sever the popular teacher from the school came after La Jolla Country Day administrators were unable to obtain adequate protection for the school in the wake of the March 10 bombing of Rogers’ van just blocks from the campus, 9490 Genesee Ave., Burns said.

It was a decision that has brought the school sharp criticism, not only from parents at the school but also the public both here and throughout the country which perceives her departure as tantamount to the school surrendering to international terrorism.

Rogers was not injured in the explosion. Federal and military investigators theorize that a pipe bomb was planted under her van by a terrorist, possibly in retaliation for her husband’s order to shoot down the airplane last summer over the Persian Gulf.

Burns said in his letter that the school turned to numerous sources for security at the school but was turned away at every juncture.

“Perhaps the most discouraging aspect of the week’s activities was the lack of response we received from most of these contacts,” his letter said. “We found a resistance to commit to offering our

school any kind of security from most of these sources.”

Officials from the FBI and the Naval Investigative Service confirmed that they were asked by the school for protection, but they declined to divulge why they did not provide any. Instead, the officials referred to the San Diego Police Department as the proper agency to provide such measures.

Never Approached

However, Capt. Dave Crow--head of the Northern Patrol area, which includes the school--said he was never asked by school administrators to provide security after the first day of the bombing.

“The school said they’d make some other provisions,” he said. “And since that day, I have not had any communication with them.

“I heard the FBI and the NIS were talking with them, but I have no idea what those discussions were all about. And neither the FBI or the NIS has contacted me about security measures for the school.”

In his letter, Burns said he met with Sharon Rogers three days after the van bombing.

“At this meeting, we discussed the fact that dozens of parents had called me to express their concerns about their children’s safety.”

They also discussed the fact that some of these same concerns were raised after her husband’s ship, the Vincennes, shot down the Iranian plane.

“At that time, Sharon’s continued teaching at our school posed no unusual threat to our students,” the headmaster’s letter said. “Therefore, she was welcomed back with the enthusiasm appropriate for a master teacher.”

But then her van exploded while she was driving to school and, the letter said, “the entire situation took on a different tone.”

He warned her that now “the possibility existed that the children’s safety at school might preclude her return to campus for the remainder of the school year,” the letter said.

“Learning this, she offered to continue to help prepare lesson plans for the class and to work closely with her substitute. I agreed this was a reasonable approach given the situation.”

Burns and Rogers also devised a plan at the meeting for her to speak to her class by telephone, which was accomplished by March 17--a week after the van explosion.

The day after the first meeting between Burns and Rogers, a bomb threat was phoned to the school. The next day--Wednesday, March 15--school administrators were on the telephone trying to line up security protection in the event Rogers returned to the classroom.

Security Strategy

“Our conversations included a Washington lobbyist with contacts in the Dept. of the Navy,” the letter said. “In addition, we contacted local political officials and several governmental agencies.

“Our objective was to locate guards for the entrances to our school as well as dogs that were trained in ferreting out explosive materials. The strategy was to check the classrooms first thing in the morning before school and to provide security checkpoints at each school entrance.”

But the school was unable to obtain the kind of security it was seeking, the letter said, except for “one bright spot” offered by San Diego Police Chief Bob Burgreen. The chief arranged for specially trained dogs to sniff the school for explosives.

But now, with no full security measures under way, a special meeting of the school’s board of trustees was held.

“The one-item agenda was the security of our 700 students and whether Mrs. Rogers’ return to the campus would put that safety in jeopardy,” the letter said.

Statement Drafted

The board drafted a statement that announced “Mrs. Rogers will not be returning to our campus.” Burns said that he read the announcement to her and that she wanted the term “mutual consent” added to the statement.

“I believed then, as I do now, that she offered this freely and without coercion,” Burns said in the letter.

He added that the remainder of her school-year contract will be honored, and that she will be paid in full. But, he said, “We did not discuss her plans for next year or discuss any other plans on how she might make a professional contribution to the school in the future.”

In looking back at the school’s decision to part ways with Rogers, Burns’ letter said he had “foremost in my mind” the same sentiment that Capt. Rogers spoke of after ordering the airplane shot down, to wit: “to ensure the safety of the personnel of my ship.”

‘To Ensure Safety’

“I, too, as head of Country Day, believe that it is my responsibility to act as Capt. Rogers acted, namely “to ensure the safety of the children in our school.”

Also in the letter, Burns attempted to deflect criticism that the school appeared to be unwilling to cooperate with the press in the midst of the controversy.

“We had to deal as best we could with our children’s fears and our parents’ struggle. The burned-out van which sat on a street just two blocks from school might have been on our campus within minutes.

“Our rationale, to which we steadfastly adhere, has been to return as quickly as possible to a normal campus life where the integrity of the educational program was maintained.”

And the letter reflected a “sadness” in Sharon Rogers’ departure from the school, where she had taught a dozen years.

“I also want to make our parents aware of our sadness that the events of the past week prevent Sharon from being on campus with us,” Burns wrote. “She is a fine educator, and the courage she has exhibited and the dedication to the safety of our children have been admirable.”