GLENDALE : 2 Students Sue Over School Suspension

Two Rosemont Middle School students have filed a lawsuit against the Glendale Unified School District, alleging that they were wrongly accused of stealing an administrator’s wallet and suspended for five days last spring.

Samantha Miller and Krystal Anderson, who filed the lawsuit Monday through their parents in Glendale Superior Court, are seeking $5,000 each in damages from the school district. The suit stems from an April 1 incident in which the two girls were left alone in the assistant principal’s office with two other students who the complaint alleges instigated the theft.

District spokesman Vic Pallos said Tuesday that the district had not yet been served with the lawsuit and he declined to comment on the case. However, some district officials said privately that they were surprised that the students were taking legal action because they had gone through a lengthy appeals process in which the school tried to administer punishment that was “fair and equitable.”

But Lew Hollman, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, said Anderson and Miller are “absolutely innocent.”

“I think the district is punishing them because they feel (Samantha and Krystal) should have turned in the other two girls, who were in fact the thieves,” he said. “But those aren’t grounds for a suspension.”

According to the complaint filed in court, Krystal was in the assistant principal’s office that day doing voluntary paperwork, while Samantha was serving detention for tardiness. The other two students, who were not named in the document, were there for disciplinary reasons, according to the lawsuit.

The students allege that when the assistant principal left the room, the other two girls rifled through the administrator’s purse, took her wallet and credit cards and demanded to use Samantha’s backpack to hide the billfold.

Hollman said the plaintiffs refused to take part in the theft, but the other two girls threatened and intimidated them. He said Samantha eventually gave one of the alleged perpetrators her locker combination and the girl went and got Samantha’s backpack.

Hollman said the two other girls then left, stole about $90 to $100 in cash from the wallet and spent it at a nearby 7-Eleven store, discarding the wallet on a nearby street, where it was found that evening.

The two alleged thieves were arrested that day, but school officials called all four girls into a meeting, during which the two others said Samantha and Krystal had participated in the theft, Hollman said.

According to the complaint, the two girls were suspended for five days and, despite several hearings before school administrators, the punishment was not lifted.

Rosemont Principal Lois Neil said she could not comment on the lawsuit, but she indicated that the school had done its best to give Samantha and Krystal a fair appeal.

“We work very hard to do the best we possibly can for the children, whether it’s in academic programs or discipline,” Neil said. “So it’s very disconcerting when parents can’t seem to work with us.”