Rival Views Shape Two Versions of History Teacher

Paul Pflueger was either one of those rare high school teachers who influenced hundreds of students to think critically for the first time or an unbearable bully tormenting vulnerable teenagers.

Those contrasting portraits emerged at Monday’s Capistrano Unified school board meeting, where 300 people packed the boardroom. After three hours of public hearings, the board voted to dismiss the 55-year-old Pflueger from the teaching job he held for 18 years at Capistrano Valley High School.

Some are still wondering how parents, students and teachers could come to such polar opposite conclusions about the same man.

“It seems like we’re talking about two different people,” fellow teacher Bob Jenko said at Monday’s meeting, which drew 50 speakers to the podium.

Compare accounts from fans and foes, and the images of Pflueger are as different as night and day.

“My favorite lecture was on patriotism,” recounted Pflueger’s former student Valerie Smith, 29, who graduated in 1987 and is now a Yorba Linda attorney. “He made a point of saying that true patriotism is not only about saluting the flag but about loving your country and making it a better place by being informed, voting and becoming involved.”

But there were disturbing comments as well. A sobbing Lacey Csuzdi painted Pflueger as an overbearing instructor who set out to brainwash students.

“He had propaganda on his walls,” said Csuzdi, a 1996 graduate. “When we said the Pledge of Allegiance, he asked us why are we standing and called us ignorant followers.”

Despite the conflicting portrayals of Pflueger, a tenured history teacher, the school board voted 6 to 1 to dismiss him. Board member Peter Espinosa was the sole dissenter. The other trustees said they based their decisions on the troubling pattern of problems raised against Pflueger.

“This is not something new,” Trustee Crystal Kochendorfer said, causing some to hiss and heckle the board’s decision. “It’s something with a history, and it needs to be resolved.”

District administrators argue that over the past four years, Pflueger has used offensive language with students and teachers, that he did not assist slow learners, that he graded arbitrarily, and that he failed to comply with any of the improvements suggested to him.

One example cited in the district’s report that detailed 42 misconduct counts against Pflueger involved an allegation that he told a Latino student “he was not a citizen and therefore didn’t have rights.”

But Humberto Ramos, to whom Pflueger directed the comment, said he was not offended by the remark.

“He was trying to prove a point,” said Ramos, 17, who had Pflueger last semester. “It was part of a discussion we had.”

Pflueger explained that he was teaching a lesson on citizens’ rights and that an administrator observing his class that day witnessed the exchange without understanding the context.

“They’ve distorted things,” he said. “I’m really offended by the process.”

Pflueger argued that school administrators failed to give him a chance to contest the charges before his firing, which some teacher union representatives say is a flaw in the state’s education codes.

Under state mandates, a teacher cannot confront an accuser until he or she is fired. Once dismissed, an instructor has 30 days to request an evidentiary hearing in which a three-person panel--including a state administrative judge--reviews evidence, hears testimonies and makes a final decision about the termination.

Pflueger said he will file for such a hearing.

Chris Kirkland, executive director of the south Orange County teachers union, said the board’s decision to enter the hearing phase amounts to nothing more than “passing the buck” on a complicated case.

“They would rather have an administrative judge make that decision,” Kirkland said. “That certainly seems unfair to me.”

Ultimately, few cases are even heard, according to the state office of administrative hearings, which processed only 54 California cases last year. Most are dismissed or settled because of a lack of hard evidence.

Thomas Anthony, the principal at Capistrano Valley High from 1986 to 1991, said he receives hundreds of complaints about teachers each year.

“I probably get a complaint on two-thirds of my teachers one way or another, whether they are right or wrong,” said Anthony, now a superintendent at a San Diego school district. “In our business, it is [the administrators’ role] to make them better teachers.”

Pat Wheeler, an expert in teacher evaluations, said too often teachers are judged more on their techniques than their effectiveness, shortchanging students in the process.

“The critical question is whether they are fulfilling their responsibilities as teachers,” said Wheeler, president of a Livermore-based group that measures teacher effectiveness for school districts.

“We don’t feel teachers should be evaluated on their style, as long as it’s legal. We don’t want them beating students up or anything,” Wheeler said.

But in Capistrano Unified, some strongly believe that Pflueger’s brash ways were abusive toward students.

“Mr. Pflueger is a master of intimidation in the classroom,” said parent John Miklaus, who waited to complain to the district after his daughter graduated in 1996 because he feared retaliation against her while she was his student.

Pflueger, now at home awaiting his hearing and considering filing a lawsuit, called the board’s decision to remove him as a “victory” despite his dismissal.

“It was a very positive night,” he said. “I think the board had been kept in the dark, so what they learned in the phone calls and letters they received showed them that there’s more than one side of the evidence.”

Times staff writer Phil Willon contributed to this report.