Parents Launch Campaign to Recall School Board Head

A parents group has launched a recall campaign against school board President Armando Moreno, charging him with mismanagement, misuse of power and intimidation of students and school employees.

Recall organizers allege that in late March or April, Moreno threatened to fire a coach unless Moreno’s daughter was allowed to compete in a track meet. They also say that Moreno threatened a student after a disagreement with his daughter at a track meet.

Moreno denies any wrongdoing and says his accusers are trying to ruin his chances for reelection next year. “These people are just out to get me, and they’re willing to do anything,” said Moreno, a financial consultant who was elected in 1989 as a trustee for the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District.

Moreno said that he never threatened any coach and that the incident involving the student has been blown out of proportion.

“Some girls told my daughter that if she showed her face over there, they would beat her up--not in such nice words,” Moreno said. “And they wouldn’t let her on the field.”

His daughter, a ninth-grader at La Mirada High School, called Moreno for a ride home and burst into tears when he asked why she wanted to leave the track meet early, he said. Moreno said he then confronted the girl who had allegedly threatened his daughter.

“I told her, ‘This is exactly what gets kids into fights. Did you know that La Mirada has a policy that if you get into one fight, you are out? This is what gets kids transferred to other schools, like John Glenn or El Camino.’ It wasn’t a threat. It was letting her know,” he said.

Moreno’s opponents insist that the board president threatened to have the girl transferred to another school and that he grabbed the student’s arm. Moreno said he touched the student’s arm while making his point but quickly let go when she objected to being touched.

Recall organizer Pauline Deal said she could not offer witnesses to verify that a coach and a student were threatened because students and employees felt too intimidated to talk. She said Moreno has also threatened other students and employees, but again, no witnesses could verify the charge.

“I can’t begin to tell you how much fear there is in this district of these people,” Deal said, referring to Moreno and several other board members.

“They have nothing, absolutely nothing,” said Moreno, who defended his right to respond to problems as a parent. “It’s OK to be a board member, but when it comes to your kids, hey, they’re your priority. I don’t know that there’s any parent that would do it any differently. . . . I don’t throw my weight around.”

Recall proponents will have 120 days to circulate their petition once it is approved.

To force a recall election, about 8,725 district voters, or 20% of the 43,621 voters registered, must sign the petition. To make the November ballot, the signatures would have to be gathered by Aug. 7.