A Little E-Mail Mischief Brings On the Big E, Expulsion

The essential facts, which aren’t disputed by either side, are these:

Sixteen-year-old Morgan Dawirs, a senior and honors student at all-girl Rosary High School in Fullerton, was expelled last month after sending out an e-mail from her home computer that included “rumors” about various teachers and administrators.

The rumors ranged from the comically disrespectful (that the principal “sleeps in a coffin in her office”) to the hurtful and defamatory (that a teacher “has a rollaway bed in his office for personal use” and dates students after graduation).

Titled, “Archive of RHS Teacher Rumors,” Morgan’s e-mail circulated electronically among several girls as the school year began. One parent told me the list probably was the product of summer boredom.

Eventually, however, the list found its way to Principal Trudy Mazzarella, who expelled Morgan and with her, her 4.2 grade point average, her membership in the National Honor Society, not to mention her extracurricular involvement in weekly tutoring of younger students and volunteer work in a local soup kitchen. Mazzarella also suspended for five days several other students who received and forwarded the e-mail.

Mazzarella later reduced the punishment to a transfer for Dawirs to Mater Dei High School. Stunned by her expulsion and unhappy apart from her high school friends, Morgan has earned lower grades this semester, her father told me last week.

Once again, I find myself writing and wondering about schools and punishment.

Mazzarella’s actions prompted another parent at the school, Michael Dolan, to fire off an open letter to other parents, decrying the harshness of the principal’s action.

Dolan, who sent me a copy of his letter, said, “When kids communicate to each other privately, they enjoy freedom of speech, unless they’re publicly posting something or using a school computer. I don’t think what kids communicate back and forth over summer vacation and do with the intention of privacy is the school’s business. Kids joke and laugh about teachers all the time. That’s happened since the first teacher existed.”

Douglas Dawirs, Morgan’s father, was reluctant to discuss things, partly because he has another daughter in Rosary and a third daughter who wants to attend. Despite that, Dawirs said, “we feel a terrible wrong has been done, and we said that to them [school officials] very bluntly.” The “rumors” were provided by various students, and Morgan compiled them, Dawirs said. “I think gossip is a venial sin,” he said. “It’s something people should not do, and I think discipline is in order, but expulsion from a school she loved more than anything in life is just so over the top.”

Dolan said he took up Morgan’s cause because he feared her expulsion set a bad precedent. “When you’re a kid, you don’t have the same sense of judgment as an adult does,” he said. “As a kid, there are a lot of things you do before you learn better. . . . We all know you’re not supposed to speed, but if you do, you don’t expect the police to take you out and shoot you. You expect punishment proportionate to what you did wrong.”

Another Rosary parent, but one who didn’t want to be identified, said suspension would have been the proper punishment. “Morgan’s whole life revolved around Rosary,” the parent said. “She would live and die for that school. That’s why it’s very unfortunate. It’s unfortunate this had to happen at all, especially in her senior year.”

I asked another parent if the issue weren’t about holding students to a standard.

“There is a code of conduct,” that parent said, also asking for anonymity. “They hold the girls to a high standard. It’s a well-thought-of private school. The bottom line is it’s a private school, it’s their ballgame, they can do what they want. The school is an excellent, excellent school. I’ve got nothing but good things to say about it. I just think in this particular case, they were too heavy-handed.”

This is Trudy Mazzarella’s 19th year at Rosary and seventh as principal. Parents agree in writing to school standards and agree that the school has the right to interpret those standards, she said.

What did Morgan do that warranted expulsion, I asked. “Blatant disrespect,” Mazzarella said, citing one of the school handbook’s justifications for an immediate expulsion.

Some of the remarks and innuendoes “were very harmful to [the faculty’s] professional reputations. The seeds of suspicion have been sown when this became public.”

Many parents support her decision and large turnout at recent school functions convinces her there isn’t widespread disapproval of her actions, she said.

Allowing Morgan to transfer to Mater Dei gives her a chance at a “fresh start,” Mazzarella said. Acknowledging that expulsion “carries a stigma” with it, she said the transfer “makes a different kind of statement.”

I asked if separating a one-time offender and honor student from her classmates of three years weren’t too harsh. “I’ve been in education for a long time, close to 40 years,” Mazzarella said. “No, this was more serious than a student who’s an adolescent making a mistake. A choice was made and what we’re dealing with are consequences. And we have to learn there are consequences with every action. Some are more serious.”

But Morgan didn’t intend for the teachers to see the list, I said. “Intent is one thing,” Mazzarella said. “The standard of conduct, as Jesus said, is to treat everyone with goodness and care and to treat everyone as you would want to be treated.”

My question: Would Jesus have expelled Morgan?

Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by calling (714) 966-7821 or by writing to him at the Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or by e-mail to dana.parsons@latimes.com