School Board Race Marked by Claims of Grade Fixing

Charges of grade fixing have overshadowed a race for control of the school board in the ABC Unified School District.

Board hopeful Charlie Chung has alleged that opponent Howard Kwon, a retired school administrator, charged parents of newly immigrated Korean students a $500 fee to change failing grades to passing scores when Kwon translated student transcripts from Korean to English. Chung made the allegations at a news conference last week.

Kwon denies the allegations and says a district investigation exonerated him. District officials would not discuss the investigation.

Chung provided no documentation to prove his claims. He said he had notified the state attorney general’s office of his allegations. A spokeswoman for the office could not confirm Wednesday whether a complaint had been filed against Kwon. There is currently no investigation, she said.

The dispute between Kwon and Chung, both Korean-Americans, has divided a minority community that is seeking to elect the first ethnic Korean to the ABC school board. Koreans are one of the largest ethnic minorities in the district, which serves Cerritos, Hawaiian Gardens, Artesia and parts of surrounding cities.

The campaign also is a struggle for board control between backers of the powerful teachers union and supporters of Supt. Larry L. Lucas.

The Nov. 2 election for three board seats includes incumbents Sally Morales Havice, a professor of English at Cerritos College; Catherine Grant, an attorney; and David Montgomery, a contractor. The challengers are Kwon; Chung, an engineer; and Judy Lamb, a secretary and community volunteer. The seats will be filled by the top three vote-getters.

The teachers union is backing incumbents Montgomery and Morales Havice as well as challenger Kwon.

While at Tetzlaff Junior High in Cerritos, Kwon frequently offered to perform translation services because of his fluency in Korean, officials said. This work often included converting student transcripts from Korean to English.

These transcripts became part of students’ permanent records both for the district and for college applications. The district used them to determine the proper grade level for recently immigrated students.

Kwon denies any wrongdoing. He said he charged students only a $30 notary fee for transcripts he prepared during the summer and charged nothing when school was in session. He acknowledged making translation errors in two student transcripts that prompted the district investigation in November, 1992.

The mistakes came to light when a high school counselor who understood Korean noticed a difference in the Korean and English transcripts of a student. The counselor reported the discrepancy, Kwon said.

A district investigation found another discrepancy in a transcript, but cleared him of any intentional misconduct, Kwon said.

District officials refused to comment on the investigation, citing laws that forbid them to discuss personnel matters.

Kwon said he had a letter from the district exonerating him but declined to make it public.

But board member Jim Weisenberger said no such letter exists.

“The board did not issue a letter vindicating him,” Weisenberger said. “That was an untruthful statement by Mr. Kwon.”

But like other officials, Weisenberger declined to discuss findings of the investigation.

Kwon, 56, of Lakewood retired from the district in June.

He is one of three candidates endorsed by the ABC Federation of Teachers, which is seeking to elect a board majority of their endorsed candidates. Incumbent Cecy Groom, whose term has two years to run, is one union-backed trustee. If Kwon, Morales Havice and Montgomery prevail in their board bids, union-endorsed candidates will hold four of the seven seats.

Such an outcome could affect salary negotiations with teachers, which are at a standstill. Teachers have been working under an expired contract since June, 1992, and plan to take a strike vote on Monday, union co-President Laura Rico said.

The union has called Supt. Lucas autocratic and ineffective, and has criticized numerous board decisions. The candidates they support echo those sentiments.

Kwon, for example, said four board members, inclu and juvenile hall, Tubwell has lived most of the last five years at Nelles. At 16, he began serving time there for an assault conviction. He said he robbed and carjacked people because he couldn’t get a job.

He was released in September, 1992, but found himself back behind bars last month for vandalism, a violation of his parole. Now he appears eager to turn things around, raising his hand to ask questions during class.

“I need as much education as I can get,” Tubwell said. “I’m gonna make it work. Jail ain’t for me.”

All the cadets are 16 to 21, and are in custody with the Youth Authority for parole violations or because of drugs, burglary and other nonviolent offenses. Most are from broken homes and have run with gangs, used a variety of drugs and carried weapons.

At Nelles, they have no contact with other wards, living in a dorm that is fenced off from the rest of the compound.

Some joined the program because they want discipline in their lives; others see it as a quick way out of the system. “It’s short, (and) you get out easy,” said a youth who asked not to be named.

The regimented lifestyle has been anything but easy. One cadet, after his head and mustache were shaved on the first day of the program, clenched his fists and stamped the ground in protest. He got no sympathy.

“Check that attitude right now,” said a counselor who was wearing green fatigues and combat boots. “You have three seconds to get (back to the platoon).”

Cadets were ordered not to speak unless spoken to. They were issued combat boots, uniforms, and assigned steel-framed beds in a barracks with bars over the windows. There the cadets were told to sit silently at attention, with their backs straight and hands on their knees.

Some are visibly irritated by the discipline, rolling their eyes or mumbling under their breath when commanded to stand at attention or to hit the floor for pushups. Most are still trying to cope with two-minute bathroom runs, the never-ending stream of commands, the six hours of daily classes.

And the pressure won’t let up. The counselors, who are referred to as officers in the program, were trained by the California National Guard to watch the cadets’ every move.

“I am treated as though I am a robot,” one cadet complained in the daily journal he keeps as part of class. “Left flank, right flank. Eat. Go to school. Everything becomes blurry. They try to turn you into something you don’t want or are not sure you want.”

Whether Tubwell and the others succeed remains to be seen, but the odds appear stacked against them. Graduates of the state’s other boot camp, near Sacramento, appear to be returning to their criminal ways about as often as others who are released from the Youth Authority, said William Pruitt, chairman of the California Youthful Offender Parole Board.

Of 86 cadets who have completed the Northern California program in its first 10 months, about a third have violated conditions of their parole or committed subsequent offenses, he said.

Boot camps established in other states over the last decade also have had mixed results. Just more than 14% of the graduates of a similar program in Louisiana, for example, were arrested within six months of their release, about the same rate as other Louisiana parolees, according to a study by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Pruitt and others say it is too early to judge the Nelles program. Facing adversity together will teach the cadets teamwork and self-worth, things they’ll use when they hit the streets, said Capt. Mike Naquin, who heads the boot camp.

The program’s emphasis on drug counseling and practical education--including lessons on how to balance a checkbook, write a resume, interview for jobs and the effects of various drugs on the body--will help the cadets face life on the outside, Naquin said.

Each month, another platoon of 15 cadets will be added until the program has 60 members. Each platoon will help train the one that follows, Naquin said.

During the final month of the program, cadets will practice public speaking when they visit Southeast area schools to talk about the dangers of drugs and gang life. They also will perform community service, clearing trash from local parks and painting homes in the area. Parole officers will help link the cadets with jobs and counseling on the outside.

“I want them to walk out of here with a changed attitude about themselves and their place in the world,” Naquin said.

After their release, the cadets will be monitored closely for six months by parole officers.

Pruitt believes that the program graduates will stay out of trouble for longer periods than wards who do not get training and supervision. And the longer they stay crime- and drug-free, the greater chance they have of remaining so permanently, he said.

A few of the cadets believe that the strict routine will help them break with their impulsive--and criminal--habits. They are learning to understand, even appreciate, the discipline that comes with the early morning runs, the obstacle course, the pushups and the marching.

One cadet said in his daily journal: “It’s time to get on with life, because you only live once, and I’m not spending it in jail.”