Headmaster of Rogers’ School Says It’s Secure

La Jolla Country Day School will be safe and secure when classes resume next week at the close of Spring Break, and former teacher Sharon Rogers will continue to work preparing lessons until a new contract can be worked out for next year, the headmaster assured parents and faculty in a letter mailed Friday.

Rogers, the wife of the Navy captain aboard the USS Vincennes that shot down an Iranian airplane last summer, also said in an interview that letters of support and community understanding have helped her overcome the trauma since she escaped unharmed from a bomb blast in her van three weeks ago.

“We have received hundreds of letters from concerned citizens, and we have received assistance of all kinds,” she said in the interview to be published in the April 10 editions of the Army Times, Navy Times and Air Force Times.

“The feeling of community spirit is extremely strong.”

Driving to Class

Her van exploded March 10 while the fourth-grade teacher was driving to her classroom at the exclusive, private La Jolla Country Day School. Federal investigators theorize that it may have been set by a terrorist acting in retaliation for the airplane bombing last July, which killed all 290 persons aboard.

Rogers’ subsequent removal from the school sparked an uproar in the community, and accusations were leveled that the private school was caving in to terrorism.

Timothy M. Burns, the school headmaster, indicated in his letter Friday that, after the 700 students return Monday from the two-week Spring Break recess, the school hopes to rectify that perception.

“The school has experienced what has been termed ‘the first act of terrorism in the United States,’ ” he wrote. “We are going to treat this incident as a learning experience by providing speakers on issues such as terrorism and the ethical questions surrounding it.”

He also assured parents that private security guards will be posted at each of the school’s entrances, and that other guards will provide another “24-hour presence on the campus.”

Taught for 12 Years

Rogers had taught 12 years at the school. Since she was removed, Burns has met with her to discuss contract proposals for the next school year.

Richard Roth, the school’s spokesman, said Rogers will be welcomed back for the 1989-90 school term if her presence provides no “significant” security risks to the school and the students. Otherwise, he said, she may be able to participate by preparing lessons and working with the school alumni in an off-campus setting.

Either way, Burns said in his letter, the school is continuing to gauge its security needs, should Rogers be allowed to return.

“With regard to next year, I have offered Sharon a full-time teaching contract on campus, which includes conditions for safety and for insuring the proper educational environment for our school,” his letter said.

“We want to receive confirmation . . . that her presence on campus would pose no substantial threat to the students and faculty of La Jolla Country Day School. I am waiting for her response to this contract.”

Exactly what Rogers will decide about next school year is uncertain. She could not be reached for comment Friday. She did, however, meet with Burns on Thursday to discuss the contract options, and Roth on Friday said their 90-minute meeting was “cordial.”

“Our position is that we’re hopeful she will be coming back here,” he said.

However other sources close to Rogers have described her as disappointed in the school’s actions, and some have said she was fired. But Burns reiterated in his letter Friday that that was not the case.

“Sharon has been and will continue to be paid under her current contract,” the headmaster wrote. “I want to make it clear that, from the very beginning, her employment at the school was never terminated. Her presence in the classroom was indeed ‘terminated’ as Sharon herself has pointed out, and, consistent with that, she is not on campus.

But, he said, “she was never ‘fired.’ ”

Rogers, in the interview with the independent weekly military publications, thanked crew members on her husband’s ship for passing out flyers “concerning the crime” and urging anyone with information about the van explosion to notify authorities.

‘Won’t Tolerate’ Terrorism

“It’s their way of showing that they won’t tolerate this kind of thing,” she said. “So I just want you to know that San Diego is with us 100%.”

She said she hopes that the $37,000 in rewards being offered through the San Diego Crime Stoppers program will lead to an arrest and conviction of those responsible for the blast.

“Money talks sometimes,” she said. “We’re hoping that people become aware of it, if they weren’t before. Again, we don’t know who committed the crime. And I want that to be underscored.”