Complaint Filed in Student Harassment

The Simi Valley father who said his son was repeatedly kicked and harassed by military-clad students at school has filed a formal complaint with school officials, seeking stronger action against the offending students.

Jack Rowe filed a complaint with the Simi Valley Unified School District on Tuesday and with the Police Department last week, alleging that the principal’s lack of proper discipline at Valley View Junior High has allowed the incidents to continue.

Joshua Rowe, 13, said Wednesday that a group of boys and girls, wearing combat boots and camouflage pants, have surrounded him and a friend on several occasions during school lunch. One member of the group, a girl, then comes forward and kicks the boys in the back or ribs, as the others threaten Josh and his friend not to retaliate.

“It makes me nervous to come to school,” said Josh, who described himself as at least 6 inches shorter than many of the other boys. “But I go because I don’t want to fall behind.”

Josh said he started bringing change to school every day so that he could pay members of the group a quarter or 50 cents when they start asking him for money. “Then they leave me alone that day,” he said. “But I don’t like doing it because I have to do chores around the house for that money.”

A member of the group also recently slapped Josh in the back of the head so that his head hit against his locker, Jack Rowe said. Rowe also said the students involved should, at the minimum, be immediately expelled from the school for the rest of the year.

Some of the students involved in the incidents have been suspended, said Leslie Crunelle, director of secondary education for the district. She declined to discuss details, citing student confidentiality. She also would not say whether the school or the district considered Josh’s injuries serious enough to take tougher disciplinary action against the students.

However, Crunelle said school policy requires immediate recommendation for expulsion when a student causes “serious physical injury” to another student, and that no students involved in the incidents have been recommended for expulsion.