District to Pay Parents of Teen Slain at Junior High

Two years after a 14-year-old boy was stabbed to death at a Simi Valley junior high school, the school district agreed to settle a wrongful death suit by paying the boy’s family $35,000.

Without admitting any wrongdoing in the death of ninth-grade student Chad Hubbard, the Simi Valley Unified School District opted to settle the suit out of court to avoid further grief and to bring the tragic incident to a close, Supt. Mary Beth Wolford said.

“It’s been very painful to everyone involved,” she said. “This resolution is intended to avoid additional emotional trauma for the family, district employees whose testimony was anticipated and another 40 witnesses, many of whom were students.”

She said many of those people had already testified at the juvenile trial of Philip Hernandez, who was in the eighth grade at the time of the stabbing and who is now serving up to four years at the California Youth Authority.

“It’s been very traumatizing,” Wolford said. “I know that the people who were involved directly will never, ever forget it.”

Since the incident on Feb. 1, 1994, the district has refocused its efforts on safety, conflict resolution and student responsibility for their actions, she said.

Officials have toughened enforcement of a zero-tolerance policy toward weapons on campus, suspending students for bringing look-alike and toy weapons to school. In addition, parents have become more involved, particularly at Valley View Junior High, where the incident occurred, Wolford said.

“The school has noticed a decrease in disciplinary incidents, a marked decrease in graffiti,” she said. “These are positive outcomes from a very tragic incident at our school.”

Hubbard was stabbed in a fight that culminated weeks of feuding between the two teens. At Hernandez’s trial, Hubbard was portrayed as the larger, stronger and more aggressive of the two. He also threw the first punch, according to attorneys for both sides, and had a blood-alcohol level of 0.06 at the time he was stabbed.

But Hubbard’s parents vehemently denied that their son was a bully and sued the district a year ago for $2 million for alleged negligence in not having notified them of the ongoing dispute between the boys. In addition, the Hubbards contended that school district officials knew or should have known that Hernandez was carrying a knife. The Hubbards were not available for comment Wednesday.

Some parents, including the Hubbards, complained a year ago that the district had not moved quickly enough to implement promised safety measures.

At that time, the district had only just begun its conflict resolution program at Valley View. But that program has since proven a great success, said Richard Gillespie, a physical education teacher and one of 10 teachers at Valley View trained in conflict resolution.

“It absolutely works,” Gillespie said. “It’s amazing. The kids will actually come up with their own solutions.” He said teachers trained in the method take the students aside, find the problem, force one to listen to the other and come to an understanding. Then both parties must sign their agreement.

Gillespie said that immediately after the stabbing, many more parents volunteered to spend time on campus--fathers as well as mothers--although their numbers have since decreased. But teachers, who may have once stayed inside their rooms between classes to prepare for the next group of students, now stand in hallways to prevent incidents.

“The teachers who were here two years ago will never forget that,” Gillespie said. “And they are still aware that their presence does make a difference.”

Gillespie said he had been lax before the incident as well, staying inside the locker room between periods. “Now, at passing time, I get out where I’m visible,” he said.