Parents Seeking Principal’s Ouster to Hold Vigil

As parent protesters from Hart Street Elementary prepared for a candlelight vigil to be held this morning, the head administrator for San Fernando Valley schools said Tuesday he’s “at a loss” about what to do since demonstrators won’t meet with him or a professional mediator.

About 60 parents and community members are expected to attend the 7:30 a.m. vigil, which follows a week of protests by parents who want to oust Hart Principal Dorothy Padilla, accusing her of indifference and intimidation. They say Padilla ignored two medical emergencies involving students with broken bones.

The district has investigated the complaints and found no wrongdoing by the principal or staff at the year-round school.

“I’m at a loss with Hart Elementary,” said John Liechty, assistant superintendent for the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Valley cluster office. “I only have second- and third-hand information. [The demonstrators] won’t talk with me. I don’t want their concerns to be ignored.”

Parents refuse to meet with a mediator or high-level bureaucrats because they don’t believe it will do any good, said Juana Mojica, an advocate with the nonprofit San Fernando Valley Partnership, which is representing the parents.

Mojica said the parents have gathered hundreds of signatures for a petition they plan to present to the Los Angeles Board of Education on Aug. 10. Until then, she said, the parents intend to continue protesting about twice a week.

“We want to be visible and keep the pressure going until the board meeting,” Mojica said. “Mediation is going back to square one. The problem is the principal.”

In 1992, parents ousted Padilla as principal of Eastman Avenue Elementary School in East Los Angeles, saying that she tried to divide parents and teachers, among other issues.

Padilla, who is on a vacation approved by the district a month ago, could not be reached for comment. She returns Thursday.

Meanwhile, Assistant Principal Susan Klein, who started at the school July 6, said staff “is conducting business as usual. . . . The staff just wants to teach the children.”

District officials said that in the past week they’ve received many letters supporting Padilla from Hart parents and teachers who credit the principal with improving literacy and campus safety.

“I don’t have any reason to question the principal,” said Liechty, who mailed letters Monday to the protesting parents requesting a meeting with them.

“There are very ugly things being said about [Padilla],” he said. “That’s unfortunate. When there’s conflict in the adult world, it behooves us to resolve the conflict,” otherwise it can have negative effects on the children.

“That’s what I am most concerned about,” Liechty said. “The children.”