Parents, Students Picket School, Demand Removal of Principal

A group of sign-toting parents and students called Wednesday morning for the ouster of Hart Street Elementary School Principal Dorothy Padilla, accusing her of neglecting medical emergencies involving students with broken bones.

As the school increased security and drivers waved and honked in support, about 30 parents and their children picketed the school and denounced Padilla, who was removed as principal of Eastman Avenue Elementary School in East Los Angeles in November 1992 after weeks of similar parent protests.

Padilla could not be reached for comment Wednesday. She is in Hawaii this week on a vacation that school officials said they approved about a month ago.

While many parents and teachers expressed support for Padilla, other parents complained Wednesday that she was indifferent to neighborhood gangs and drug dealing, bullied parents, and threatened to turn them in to immigration officials.

“[Padilla] is not interested in the parents and students,” said Juana Mojica, who said she is representing the parents as an advocate with the nonprofit San Fernando Valley Partnership.

In fall 1992, more than 800 parents and nearly all Eastman teachers signed petitions asking the district to remove Padilla, citing concerns that she tried to divide parents and teachers, among other issues.

“There was a lot of bullying and intimidation,” said Tomas Fresquez, who was an Eastman parent. He and his son said they plan to protest today with Hart parents.

Los Angeles Unified School District administrators said they are seeking help from a district mediator. While acknowledging that the principal has been the target of complaints before, officials said they were mainly focused on the current protests.

“What I’m concerned about is 1999, and what she’s doing here,” said Joseph Luskin, a San Fernando Valley cluster administrator. “We are trying to work with the parents and the staff so we can reach a common denominator.”

Luskin and other district officials said they were unaware of any additional complaints against Padilla, who has been with L.A. Unified for 28 years and a principal at five schools since 1988.

The district has received a letter with about 40 signatures of Hart parents supporting Padilla and her staff at the 1,100-student school, Luskin said, adding that teachers there have expressed support for her.

The district found no wrongdoing in the handling of two incidents in which school officials did not call for an ambulance after students had broken bones.

“To my understanding, everything was handled appropriately,” said Luskin, who added that the cases were reviewed and approved by the district’s nursing supervisors. “There was no negligence on anyone’s part.”

An emergency room report from Encino/Tarzana Regional Medical Center confirmed serious injuries for a 7-year-old boy, Juan Hernandez, who slipped last week in a puddle at Hart and broke his left elbow.

His mother, Maria Hernandez, who provided the report, said that about an hour after the June 29 accident, the school nurse drove Juan to their Canoga Park home and suggested that the mother take him to the hospital, which she did. He had surgery the next day and may need more surgery.

“The doctors told me that it was too late to set his arm,” Hernandez said with the help of a Spanish interpreter. “[The school] should have called an ambulance.”

School nurse Helen Nelson declined to comment. Hospital officials also declined to comment, citing confidentiality issues.

Also speaking through an interpreter, Maria Hernandez (no relation), a parent volunteer, recalled how her daughter fell while playing in the schoolyard April 20. Hernandez, who was on campus that day, said she rushed to help her daughter and asked Padilla to call an ambulance.

“[Padilla] wouldn’t call an ambulance because of the cost involved,” said Hernandez, who then drove her daughter, Rosamaria, to a hospital where doctors treated the 11-year-old girl for a broken leg.

Speaking generally about medical emergencies, Tricia Chicagus, a coordinator with the district’s nursing services department, said that school nurses hold special credentials and that situations are left to their professional judgment.

“Cost is never a factor in calling for an ambulance,” she said. “The health and safety of a child always comes first.”