Teachers Outraged After Board Refuses to Expel Accused Student

Burbank teachers expressed outrage Thursday night at the Burbank Board of Education’s decision not to expel a John Burroughs High School student accused of striking a teacher and threatening to kill him and another teacher.

“Teachers have left Burbank and many more are saying they are going to leave now because it is no longer safe to work in Burbank schools,” Sid Jurman, a teacher and president of the Burbank Teachers Assn., told the members of the board during a sometimes raucous meeting.

“You’re telling us that you condone this type of behavior, that we are nothing. I’m telling you we won’t put up with it.”

Jurman’s comments drew a standing ovation by the nearly 100 teachers from Burbank and Burroughs high schools who crowded the board room in the Burbank Unified School District’s administrative building.

Despite a strong recommendation from administrators at Burroughs High to expel the student, the board decided during a closed session Tuesday night not to take any action.

The incident began Sept. 27 when a fistfight broke out between two rival gang members in the hallway at the high school in the 1900 block of Clark Avenue, said Burbank Police Sgt. Don Goldberg. When teachers David Hermans and George Rosales tried to break up the fight, a student standing nearby suddenly struck Rosales in the shoulder, Goldberg said. Rosales was not injured.

However, the teachers told police that the 15-year-old threatened to kill both of them.

“He said he was going to kill me,” Hermans said. “The way he said it was very calm and deliberate, like he meant to.”

The three students, who were not armed, were arrested at the school and later released to their parents, Goldberg said.

He said it was unclear whether the boy who struck Rosales was also a gang member.

“I’m so angry I can hardly spit,” Hermans said of the board’s decision. “Personally, if I could find another job with the same rate of pay, I’d be gone tomorrow.”

Several board members said they could not comment on specifics of the case, but defended their decision.

“I’m very sorry if they’re unhappy with the action that we took,” board President Vivian Kaufman said. “But I stand by the board’s decision.”

Board member Audrey Hanson said it was difficult to understand how the teachers could “make judgment calls if they are not privileged to all of the details” of the incident.

“I felt we dealt with it very carefully,” Hanson said. “I’m very confident with the decision I made.”

District Supt. Arthur N. Pierce also defended the board’s action. “The board has made its decision, and that’s the end of that particular matter,” he said.