Hearing on Suspension of School Security Chief Ends

An administrative hearing over the suspension of Hawthorne High School Security Chief Jerome Brown concluded this week with testimony from McKinley Nash, the fired superintendent of the Centinela Valley Union High School District.

Nash, who is involved in litigation with the district over his contract, said the trustees’ handling of the charges against Brown was “arbitrary and capricious” and that the allegations could not be substantiated.

Trustees placed Brown, 33, on administrative leave with pay in March after he was briefly jailed by Hawthorne police for failing to appear in court four times since 1984 on traffic citations.

Brown also had been arrested for possession of crack cocaine in May, 1988, and entered a court-supervised drug counseling program. Drug charges were dismissed in Torrance Superior Court after Brown completed the program.

In support of the suspension, school officials later filed administrative charges accusing Brown of drug possession, bringing notoriety to the district, interfering with the arrest of a student and passing out protest flyers during student walkouts in early March.

Brown, who is black, denies all of the charges and insists he was a victim of harassment and racism.

In August, after the administrative hearing had begun, the district suspended Brown without pay, accusing him of disobeying his superiors and threatening Assistant Supt. Robert Church during a confrontation at district headquarters.

During the hearing, which took place on three days between August and Tuesday, testimony was given by Brown, several security guards, administrators, two police officers and former Hawthorne High Principal Kenneth Crowe.

Although Nash, who is also black, limited his comments at the hearing, he said Wednesday that he believes the way the district dealt with Brown was consistent with what he called a pattern of unfounded accusations lodged against blacks and others who support change in the district.

“Whether Jerome Brown should or should not have been an employee is a legitimate subject for board and superintendent review,” Nash said. “But the way in which it was done was as a public expose to say, ‘Hey, there’s another criminal black over there.’ ”

The district’s attorney, James Baca, insisted Brown’s race had nothing to do with the board’s action.

Brown is one of several black employees in the district who have filed complaints with the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing alleging that blacks are not treated fairly at Centinela Valley schools.