Santa Paula Superintendent Suspended : Personnel: Schools chief David Philips is accused of roughing up a student. He is leaving for five days amid an inquiry.

The superintendent of the Santa Paula Elementary School District was suspended Friday for allegedly roughing up an eighth-grade student at Isbell Middle School, district officials said.

At a special board meeting Thursday, the board of trustees voted in closed session to suspend Supt. David Philips for five days with pay while an independent private investigator hired by the district and Santa Paula police look into the May 27 incident, board President Janet Grant said.

Philips could not be reached for comment Friday.

According to the 14-year-old male student, whose name is being withheld because of his age, the incident occurred a few minutes after the start of fifth-period math class.

The boy said he was sitting at his desk when he saw two girls in the hallway trying to get in the door, which was locked to keep tardy students out. He opened the door a crack to let them in when Philips suddenly yanked on the handle from the other side, pulling him into the hallway, he said.

Philips grabbed him “under the arms and slammed me against the wall and held me up in the air (while yelling), ‘I can expel you from school,’ ” the boy said. “He was really mad.”

The student, who said he had no idea Philips was the superintendent, said he “kept thinking, ‘What did I do?’ ”

The incident was the most recent in a tumultuous year at the 950-student school.

Teachers last week gave first-year Principal Arvid Brommers a vote of no-confidence and asked for a grand jury investigation over alleged misuse of school funds. Two teachers were suspended for allegedly battering students.

Fights among students and bomb threats also have increased tensions, students and school officials said.

Karen Cunningham, a parent of another eighth-grader, said Philips went to Isbell on May 27 after parents had presented the trustees with a petition calling for the administration to beef up student disciplinary policies and after teachers had picketed a board meeting the night before. She said her son Josh was beaten by 10 to 20 students during a lunch-hour brawl March 24.

Brommers called the no-confidence vote “an offensive by the teachers’ union” because of their dissatisfaction with disciplinary actions against some teachers.

Brommers defended Philips, calling him “the best boss I have ever worked for. I couldn’t believe it when I heard about (the incident).”

Brommers said the boy, who hasn’t been disciplined, “is a Huck Finn kid, a prankster now and then, but basically a real good kid.”

Autumn Cruz, an eighth-grader at Isbell, said the boy was not the type to provoke an administrator. “It’s not like he’s some troublemaker,” Autumn said.

The boy received minor scratches on his rib cage, he said.

Santa Paula Police Chief Walter Adair said the department is investigating complaints filed over the incident, but declined to elaborate.

“If there’s something to the complaint, we want to prosecute,” Adair said. “If there’s nothing to it, we want to exonerate (Philips).”

Times correspondent Patrick McCartney contributed to this story.