Parents Back Principal Named in Scandal : Morals: Two school administrators have asked that they be allowed to resign rather than face dismissal in sex scandal. Some parents are saying that termination is too strong a punishment.

The likely departure of a popular elementary school principal over allegations that he had sex with a district administrator on school property has raised questions about whether the district has overreacted to what some say is essentially a private question of morality.

Some parents of pupils at La Pluma Elementary School are rallying to the defense of Principal Michael Newcomb, who district officials say was allegedly discovered by a district security guard one recent Sunday having sex in his office with Christine Roubidoux, the district’s director of elementary programs.

Both Newcomb and Roubidoux, who have neither publicly confirmed nor denied the incident, have asked that they be allowed to resign rather than face an investigation and possible termination, according to Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District officials. Both have been on paid administrative leave since the incident was disclosed early last month.

The school board could approve a deal accepting the resignations as early as Monday, but some parents continue to stand by the highly regarded principal, who was described by one top district official as “one of the best principals we have ever had.”

Engaging in sex on school grounds does not specifically violate the state Education Code, according to state officials, but the code does give districts the authority to punish--even dismiss--employees on moral grounds.

It is that gray area of right and wrong that has some parents second-guessing what is widely perceived as the district’s effort to force the two to resign. The parents say the allegations, even if true, are not egregious enough to warrant the loss of two of the district’s best administrators.

“Of course, that is not conduct becoming a principal, but we are talking about off-hours, with no kids there,” said Pauline Deal, president of the La Pluma PTA, which as an organization has not become involved in the debate. “If he was married and it was his wife, nobody would even be saying anything. . . . This has nothing to do with him being a principal. It isn’t anybody’s business.”

Parents and staff at La Pluma have collected more than 250 signatures of people in support of Newcomb, and several parents have called school board and district officials urging that Newcomb be retained, Deal said.

“Get in the real world, people,” said Georgia Osborne, who has a daughter at La Pluma. “This is the ‘90s. All of them on the board better not live in glass houses, that is all I can say.”

The school board refused to allow parents and staff to speak on Newcomb’s behalf at a meeting last month, insisting that personnel matters are confidential. Several parents, however, are trying to organize a public meeting--perhaps this week--with district officials to air grievances over how the incident has been handled and to make a final plea for Newcomb’s job.

Newcomb started with the district in 1968 as a student teacher, getting a permanent elementary school teaching post the following year. In 1983, he was promoted to assistant principal, and later served as principal at Dolland Elementary School in Norwalk. He was transferred to La Pluma last year.

“Our main concern about this whole ordeal is that it came out of executive session and became public knowledge,” said Pam Severns, a parent who works lunchtime and recess duty at the school. “If indeed the allegations are true, (Newcomb and Roubidoux) were on their own time and there were no students around. I feel the only indiscretion was the choice of location. A reprimand of some sort may be appropriate, but termination is not the answer.”

District officials say they do not know how closed-door discussions of the allegations were leaked to the media. The News Tribune, a weekly newspaper based in Paramount, first reported the incident early last month. In a front page story two weeks later, the reporter who broke the story wrote: “I’d go to my grave before I’d give up a source.”

Johnna Moore, the district’s administrator of personnel services, said district officials are advised as a matter of policy not to speak publicly about personnel matters or closed-session discussions. Citing advice from the school district’s attorney, Moore and other officials refused last week to discuss the allegations or the district’s plans for Newcomb and Roubidoux.

“Those people have been crucified enough,” said board member William White.

Former school board member Lucille Colln said publicity about the incident may have backed the district into a corner because of accusations in the past that officials “sweep things under the rug.”

“If it hadn’t come out (publicly), I am sure they would have been dealt with . . . but not like this, not this kind of blast,” said Colln, who served on the board for 13 years before losing a reelection bid in 1987. “I can’t see hurting good, innocent people who do a lot in the community.”

Privately, some district officials complained about their predicament.

“What are we supposed to do, say, ‘OK, our schools are here for you to use?”’ asked one board member.

Newcomb, who is in the process of getting divorced, said in a brief telephone conversation that he was aware of the groundswell of support among parents, but he would not say whether it had encouraged him to fight for his job.

“Under the circumstances, I have no comment to make,” Newcomb said.

Efforts to reach Roubidoux, who started in the district in 1984 as a principal at Johnston Elementary School in Norwalk, were unsuccessful. Several parents said they also believe Roubidoux should be able to keep her job, but they said parents know less about her because she works at the district offices in Norwalk.

Attorney George William Shaeffer Jr., who represents both Newcomb and Roubidoux in negotiations with the district, refused to comment. But James Baca, the school district’s attorney, said the two employees had “requested the opportunity of resignation” and attorneys for both sides were working out the details.

“We are just in a wait-and-see mode,” Baca said.

Parents who said they have spoken with Newcomb said he has denied any wrongdoing, insisting that he and Roubidoux were merely embracing when discovered by the security guard. The parents were hard-pressed to explain, however, why the two administrators have not defended themselves more aggressively.

“I feel like a black cloud is hanging over our school,” Osborne said. “I just wish that he could come back.”

Steve Curl, the district’s director of police who reported the allegations to the superintendent’s office last month, said the incident has led to “soul searching” among employees throughout the district.

“This is a big district, but not that big,” Curl said. “Mike is really well-known throughout the district and so is Chris. It is hard when something like this comes along. It is hard to know right or wrong. There is no right or wrong here. It is whatever the Board of Education decides is right or wrong.”