Transfer of Teacher Stirs Gompers Protest

A demonstration Friday morning by about 200 Gompers Secondary School students in support of a teacher being involuntarily transferred provoked an extensive police response and a brief flurry of excitement around the Southeast San Diego campus.

An estimated 200 students out of 1,400 at the science-math-computer magnet school left their second-period classes to march in support of Rhoenna Armster. The business education teacher is being transferred to Lincoln High School to teach English, effective Monday, as a result of longstanding disagreements with the principal at Gompers.

San Diego police were called with reports that students were spilling off the campus onto nearby streets. More than 30 police cars and motorcycle units responded, along with a police helicopter, but officers did little more than herd some of the crowd back through a gate onto school grounds, officials reported.

“This had been planned for a couple of days,” said Al Cook, assistant superintendent of San Diego schools in charge of the area that includes Gompers. “Rhoenna had talked to students about demonstrating in support of her, and they did just that, for about 45 minutes.”

Cook said students returned to classes at the end of the second period, and the rest of the school day passed uneventfully. Both he and Nancy Shelburne, schools operations manager, who was at the demonstration, said the march was “good-natured,” with many students uncertain why they were out of class “other than to have a good time.” No injuries were reported.

Cook said Gompers Principal Marie Thornton requested Armster’s transfer because of complaints about Armster’s conduct on campus. Cook approved the transfer after reviewing the documentation, he said.

Armster has been outspoken in her opposition to the year-old program extending the high-powered Gompers curriculum to all of the overwhelmingly nonwhite neighborhood students who attend the school. That is a change from past procedure, under which only a portion of neighborhood teen-agers participated in the magnet with white students who are voluntarily bused to the campus.

Many veteran Gompers teachers, including Armster, objected to the program, approved by the board of education, saying that the nonwhite students were not adequately prepared for the advanced curriculum. Although some teachers have left the campus voluntarily, Armster, who is black, remained and has openly denounced the plan to the media and school trustees.