District Stance on Harassment Is Criticized

Claiming Simi Valley school officials have mishandled complaints that their children have been harassed by schoolmates, one parent plans to seek remedy in the courts while another is going public with a picket and protest.

Jack Rowe, whose 13-year-old son allegedly was repeatedly shoved and kicked by other, bigger students wearing military-style clothing, said that repeated requests for information on policy have been ignored by the district. In addition, the students, at least one of whom has been suspended but not expelled from Valley View Junior High, continue to harass his son, he said.

He plans to take his case to court and is working with an attorney preparing a suit.

“What do they want to do, wait until they have another Chad Hubbard and then expel the kid?” Rowe asked, referring to a 1994 incident at Valley View in which a student who was being harassed fatally stabbed a larger boy during a fight.

Hillary Levy alleges that her 9-year-old daughter was sexually harassed by a male classmate and had to be transferred to another school.

According to Levy’s daughter, the 9-year-old boy’s harassment included throwing leaves in her face, shoving her in line, and one day calling out her name while holding a pickle and yelling, “This is your new boyfriend.” Levy said she plans an informational picket at a Simi Valley Unified School District board meeting today.

She said members of the National Organization for Women and 30 concerned parents will join her at the meeting.

“People need to be aware that the district does not have the best interests of our children at heart,” Levy said. “They are only interested in their statistics, showing little incidences of violence in the schools. They are more interested in looking good on the surface.”

But school officials said they have taken action in the cases, suspending one student twice in the case of Rowe’s son and referring both Levy’s daughter and the boy who harassed her to a district psychologist.

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In addition, the school’s policy on harassment, both sexual and other kinds of intimidation, is up for board review at tonight’s meeting.

“We are concerned about making sure we have everything in place to protect students against harassment,” Supt. Mary Beth Wolford said. “We are looking at the policy in public to see if we have enough [in the current policy] or whether we need to do more.”

Wolford said that in both cases the district has tried to be responsive. In the Levy case, she said the allegations were discussed with the principal and again when she pressed for more serious disciplinary action at the district level.

In the Rowe case, Wolford said she has tried to contact Jack Rowe to set up a meeting with him, but he has not returned her calls.

Rowe, however, said he is waiting for information he requested from the district on its procedure for filing a formal complaint before he sets up a meeting with Wolford.

Rowe submitted a written complaint to the district last month, asking for forms and information to file a formal complaint and alleging that school officials had not sufficiently protected his son from further harassment.

“I feel that these repeat offenders need to be dealt with and expelled,” Rowe said. “They [students] use these three-day suspensions as vacation time. The kids who are doing this just don’t care.”

Rowe said he was offended by a school finding that his son was not hurt severely enough to warrant the other students’ expulsion. District policy calls for immediate recommendation for expulsion of any student who causes “serious physical injury” to another student.

“What difference does it make how serious the injury was?” he asked. “The fact is that it happened and it happened repeatedly.”

Rowe’s son said a group of boys and girls had surrounded him and a friend on several occasions during school lunch. One member of the group, a girl, has kicked the boys in the back or ribs, while the rest of the group warned Rowe’s son and his friend not to retaliate.

Since the last suspension and since Rowe complained in writing to the district, there have been no more kicking incidents, but his son has been shoved and threatened, he said.

“It makes me nervous to come to school,” said Rowe’s son, who described himself as at least six inches shorter than many of the other boys.

In the Levy case, Levy’s daughter said a 9-year-old classmate had repeatedly harassed her.

“I don’t know why he picked on me,” said Levy’s daughter. She called the incidents “embarrassing and humiliating.”

Levy’s daughter later transferred to another school in the district, in part, because she said other students in the school found out about the incident and kept asking her why her mother “was suing the school.”

“They [officials] did what they always do,” Hillary Levy said. “They transferred the victim.”

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Hillary Levy said the child who bothered her daughter should have been suspended, rather than just counseled. She appealed the decision to a district administrator.

But Rebecca Wetzel, director of programs and assessment for the district, concluded in her report that the boy was too young to understand any possible sexual references he was making. Levy’s daughter and the boy were asked to apologize to each other for name calling and the problem ceased, according to a copy of a letter from Wetzel to the Levy family.

The family, however, says that incidents of harassment against their daughter continue.

Beverly Radloff, principal of Atherwood School where Levy’s daughter was a student until September 1995, declined to discuss specifics of the case to preserve the students’ privacy.

But, Radloff said, “I am an advocate for children and I take all complaints that children and parents bring to me very seriously.” She said discipline in the school is handled with the intent to educate the child that the act was inappropriate and that there are consequences.

The appropriate consequences could be removal of privileges, counseling, lecture, meetings with parents and even suspension.

Radloff said, however, that different people perceive the district’s handling of any given matter in different ways.

“Whether enough is done is in the eye of the beholder,” she said.