Students Dismissed Over Sins of Parents : Education: Catholic officials at St. Joseph School say it is ‘morally impossible’ to teach the 13 pupils. Outraged parents call it retaliation for their protests.

Catholic administrators have dismissed 13 children--including student body officers and straight-A students--from St. Joseph School, saying it is “morally impossible” to teach them because of the “uncooperative or destructive attitude” of their parents.

The parents, who said they were outraged, called the action retaliation for their protests about what they said were unsafe environmental conditions and intimidating behavior by the former pastor.

“We were trying to make things better at the school and this is what we get. They take it out on our children,” said Susan Browne of Anaheim Hills, an active school fund-raiser who already had paid to register her children, 7 and 9.

Auxiliary Bishop Michael P. Driscoll denied the dismissals were related to the complaints of parents, some of whom picketed the school and filed a lawsuit against the Diocese of Orange in April. The suit, which is pending, claims children had become ill from light fixtures said to be leaking PCBs and that diocese officials ignored the problems.

However, Driscoll added, “the parents’ attitudes were such that it would be for the healing process of the school and parish that the decision was made.”

The letters of dismissal, which the parents received last weekend, were the most recent in a series of upheavals at the school, including the replacements of the pastor, John Ruhl, and the principal, Marion Patzem, a longtime Catholic educator who had also pushed for greater safety precautions at the school. The seventh-grade teacher who first noticed the toxic problem has also resigned, saying she was forced out.

“Now they’re firing the kids,” Patzem said.

Lynne Browning, an attorney for the diocese, said the children had to go because their parents’ demands were insatiable. Officials had, in fact, repaired the light fixtures said to be leaking PCBs. There is no proof that children were ill, Browning said. She noted Ruhl (who diocesan officials said had asked for a leave of absence) has been replaced.

“Some of the parents were disruptive on the school grounds, picketing, standing outside school and calling people dirty, foul names. . . . At the last public meeting I was concerned. People were so emotional about it. There’s frustration and anger out there that isn’t going to be satisfied.

“This is not a public school,’ she said. “This is private school, private property, private personnel.

“It seems as though the parents’ group wanted some control or some voice in the personnel assigned to St. Joseph, which is not appropriate.”

In the letter, signed by the new school administrator and new principal, the parents were told that the action was authorized by the “Department of Education Administrative Handbook, Section 4330:E which reads . . . Under normal circumstances, a child is not to be deprived of a Catholic education on grounds relating to the attitude of parents; nevertheless, it is recognized that a situation could arise in which the uncooperative or destructive attitude of parents might so diminish the effectiveness of the school in acting in loco parentis that continuation of the child in the school might be morally impossible. . . .”

The letter told the parents that the registration of their children for the 1992-93 school year was “hereby declined.”

Browne said she called the school administrator to ask why she was deemed uncooperative and destructive. She said she had spoken out in a public meeting with diocese officials, complaining that Ruhl was a “dictator” who had screamed at her more than once. “I said it was wrong and he needed counseling.”

The administrator said “they had decided it was best for the school and the decision had been made. I said, ‘I’m asking you a question and you’re not answering it.’ He said, ‘That’s the answer I’m going to give.’ ”

School officials did not return phone calls seeking interviews.

St. Joseph School, which includes kindergarten through eighth grade, has an enrollment of about 290 students. Tuition is $1,740 per year.

Browne said she believes the toxic issue became a problem because Ruhl “was not able to relinquish power and sit down and explain to people what was going on. The diocese was aware of the problem, ignored it, and as a result had chaos.”

Some events turned bizarre and theatrical. The day in May that Patzem was fired, she said, a private investigator hired by the diocese showed up with her letter of dismissal and gave her two hours to pack and leave. As parents began to gather in support, the investigator videotaped them. Police were called.

One officer jokingly asked a mother, “Are you the leader of this mad mob of mothers?” said parent Bart Carey of Placentia.

Attorneys said both they and the parent group videotaped public meetings to air the issues.

Carey, whose two children were among those dismissed, said the parents are putting together a mailer to be sent to other parents. He said they also plan to picket the school on registration day.

“They need to know,” he said. “Even those who didn’t get a letter are very upset and their kids are very upset. Basically these kids know retaliation when they see it. They have a well-developed sense of fairness.

“It’s caused a great crisis of faith,” he said. “They’re not dealing in a way you expect from moral leaders.”

Msgr. Lawrence J. Baird, a spokesman for the diocese, said: “Fairness is subjective. You have to try and be just. It’s a matter of justice here.

“Life is not fair. Decisions have to be made in terms of all the families. Maybe their initiation in the beginning was unfair. . . .

“I suggest parents should have thought of those consequences at the beginning.”