Student Who Lived in Hide-Out at High School Is Transferred

A student who lived for several months above the stage of his Sun Valley high school has been transferred to another school in an administrative action his attorney called unfair.

Robert Davis, 18, was told that he will be allowed to graduate in June, but not from John H. Francis Polytechnic High School, where the student ate and slept in a makeshift apartment complete with a VCR and a microwave oven, attorney Forrest B. Smith said.

“He was very unhappy with the decision,” the attorney said Tuesday. “He wanted to finish at Polytechnic.” Smith said he considered the transfer an unwarranted form of punishment.

Davis said in a recent interview that he moved onto campus so he could finish school. Aware then that he might be transferred, Davis said he was being treated unfairly, especially in light of family problems that led him to leave home.

“I could’ve dropped out and gotten a full-time job and an apartment, but where would I be?” Davis said. “I want to be somebody.”

“I went above and beyond--almost ridiculously above and beyond--just to stay in school,” he said. “And they’re kicking me out.”

Carmen Terrazas, a high school division administrator for the Los Angeles Unified School District, confirmed that Davis met Friday with his former principal and other administrators. She said only that he would be allowed to “continue in an educational program within the district.” Neither Terrazas nor Smith would say where Davis will finish high school.

Polytechnic Principal Virginia Holt was not available for comment.

Davis drew national attention after campus police discovered that he had been living at the school in a secret apartment he created in the auditorium above the stage. As head of the school’s student stage crew, which prepared the lighting and sound systems for plays and assemblies, Davis had been entrusted with a key to the auditorium.

The slender, blond youth painted the room’s bare cement walls, installed wall-to-wall carpeting and built a sleeping loft.

He furnished the apartment with a couch, chair, television, VCR, refrigerator and microwave oven.

Holt said it appeared that the student had tapped into the school’s circuitry to install a telephone.

Davis’ hide-out was uncovered the night of March 26 after a school official noticed another student using a key to enter the locked auditorium.

Campus police were alerted, and subsequently arrested three of Davis’ companions.

Davis escaped but turned himself in the next morning.

Los Angeles police accused him of one count of trespassing, and his case is currently under review by the Los Angeles city attorney’s office.

Smith said Davis will not appeal his transfer, mainly because he has so little time left in school.