Teacher Reassigned During Abuse Inquiry

A Wilmington teacher has been removed from her fifth-grade classroom after a parent accused her of grabbing, shaking and scaring her daughter.

Constance N. Scharff, who had been transferred to Fries Elementary School only three weeks ago, was reassigned with pay to the Los Angeles Unified School District’s administrative office in Gardena on Friday, district spokesman Bill Rivera said.

Scharff will remain in the office while the school district and the Los Angeles Police Department investigate claims by parent Rachael Diaz that Scharff violently shook her daughter by the arm twice and pulled her blouse down for “not paying attention.”

After her daughter told her of the incident, Diaz said, she went to school to confront Scharff. Diaz said the teacher turned on her when the parent told Scharff not to touch her daughter.

“She had me by my sweat shirt and was swinging my arm around. . . . It was in front of the whole class,” Diaz said.

Other students, Diaz said, were also “physically and mentally abused” by Scharff. “These kids didn’t have respect for her. They had fear for her.”

Scharff could not be contacted for comment.

But Fries Elementary Principal Nancy Orozco said parental concerns were being “grossly exaggerated” by Diaz.

Asked if she had witnessed Scharff behaving inappropriately, Orozco said: “Not really. There were certain things on which I was working with her but certainly nothing that comes close to child abuse, either physical or mental.”

Rivera said the school district also is investigating an incident at Normont Elementary School in Harbor City, where Scharff taught before being transferred to Fries Elementary.

“She evidently, in an argument with the principal, issued a death threat, and it was on that basis that she was transferred out of the school. So there’s an investigation going on about that, as well as the child abuse allegations,” Rivera said.

Another student’s father, Ernesto Orozco, said in an interview that his son came to him near tears and told him Scharff had grabbed him and scratched his arm. The nail marks are still on his son’s arm, Orozco said. He did not file charges against the teacher because school officials removed her from the classroom, he said.

Rivera said he expects the school district to conclude its investigation this week.

The district has received 163 abuse complaints against teachers since June 1. Rivera said 126 were complaints of physical abuse and 90% of all complaints were dismissed.

The district has about 34,000 teachers.