Principal Unfit Foster Parent, State Charges

The state is seeking to revoke the foster parent license of a Pico Rivera elementary school principal, alleging that the principal, among other things, pushed one of her foster children down a staircase and bit another on the neck for misbehaving.

Helen Cease, principal of Lawrence T. Magee Elementary School, also was accused of locking two foster children in their bedrooms, often for hours at a time, according to investigators for the state Department of Social Services.

Cease and her husband, Wesley, a music professor at Glendale Community College, had been caring for five foster children in the couple’s Pasadena home. The children were removed in July, pending the outcome of an investigation by state and county social service agencies.

At the conclusion of a three-month investigation initiated by the county, state authorities said they determined that the Ceases were unfit foster parents and should lose their license.

Cease, 43, has taken a 60-day leave of absence from her job, said Arthur Narvaez, acting superintendent of the El Rancho Unified School District in Pico Rivera.

The Ceases declined to comment about the allegations. “We are going to respond to this, and we are going to do everything we can to clear my wife’s good name,” Wesley Cease said.

Sources close to the investigation said the Ceases told investigators they would fight to get back the children, ages 13, 11, 4, 3 and 1 1/2. The youngest child had been with the couple almost since birth.

Three of the foster children are siblings, and the Ceases argued in a juvenile court hearing that they might be placed in separate homes if they are not returned. The couple has provided foster care for 11 children during the more than two years they have held a license.

If the Ceases challenge the state’s action, the matter will be referred to an administrative law judge, who can revoke the license, put the license on probation or dismiss the allegations.

In addition to the other accusations, the Ceases allegedly failed to comply with department requirements that they report the hiring of a live-in housekeeper, said Miguel Martin, staff counsel for the Department of Social Services.

The El Rancho school district began looking into the matter in August after receiving an anonymous letter about the state investigation prior to a school board meeting, said Narvaez.

He said the district’s legal counsel is seeking documentation of the state investigation. Narvaez said he could not comment further until district officers and board members examined all the information.

Cease requested her leave of absence after the school board held an emergency closed session to discuss the matter, sources said.

Before joining the El Rancho school district, Cease left the South Pasadena school district after serving one year as principal. A former district official, who requested anonymity, said personality conflicts played a part in Cease’s resignation.

Before working in South Pasadena, Cease had been an elementary school principal and an administrator with the Centralia school district in Buena Park.

She and her husband moved from Glendale to their stately, 2-story, 7-bedroom, 75-year-old home in Pasadena about three years ago.

A number of neighbors and friends defended the couple. “The kids always seem very happy, well dressed, clean and on time” for church functions, said Dave Koser, a pastor at Lake Avenue Congregational Church in Pasadena. “When I’ve been over at the home, the kids seemed very close to each other as well as to Wesley and Helen.”