Teachers Walk Out After Failing to Get Boy Expelled

Teachers at John Burroughs High School in Burbank staged a one-day walkout and demonstration today over a Board of Education’s decision not to expel a 15-year-old student accused of hitting and threatening to kill a teacher.

Nearly all the school’s 60 teachers participated in an early morning demonstration outside the high school in the 1900 block of Clark Avenue. Many of them carried placards, bearing such messages as: “Our Board Needs an Education,” and “Go On, Hit Me, They Won’t Do Anything.”

The work stoppage was not sanctioned by the teachers union.

“It’s a crime that we have to be out here to coerce our school board to protect us,” said Tom Marshall, a history teacher at John Burroughs. “For the school board to desert us like this when a teacher put his body on the line to protect students, that is truly outrageous.”

The demonstration was prompted by an incident that occurred on the school campus Sept. 27.

According to police, teachers David Hermans and George Rosales were trying to break up a fistfight in the hallway between two gang members when another student looking on suddenly hit Rosales in the shoulder.

Rosales was not injured, but both he and Hermans told police that the same student threatened to kill them. All three youths were arrested and later released to their parents, police said. It was unclear whether the student who hit Rosales was a gang member, police said.

During a closed hearing Tuesday, the board voted not to expel the student who hit Rosales.

Board members have declined to comment on the case, saying it is a confidential matter.

District Supt. Arthur N. Pierce, however, said the teachers have made their point.

“I share their concerns for their safety and the safety of all students,” Pierce said. “But the broader issue is that the teachers and the board need to be working together to say what are the things that we need to do to address future incidents.”