School Official Influenced Son’s Grades, Suit Says

A West Covina School Board member has become embroiled in a controversy over whether he overreached as a parent and leaned on middle school officials to change two grades for his son.

George Fuller, himself a high school teacher in another district, says he did nothing more than any other father when he discussed with his son’s counselor nearly two years ago how a change in the boy’s schedule would affect his grades.

But in a lawsuit, the California Teachers Assn.; its local affiliate, the Teachers Assn. of West Covina; and an unnamed teacher say the student’s academic and citizenship grades for a computer course were changed because of “the considerable influence the parent has by virtue of the parent’s position as a member of the [school] board.”

Although the suit does not specifically name Fuller, he acknowledges that he is the anonymous board member mentioned in it.

The highly unusual lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court this month against the School Board and the superintendent, asking that the original grades be restored because state law says no marks can be changed without first consulting the classroom instructor.

The suit does not identify the teacher involved in the incident or the specific grades, but attorneys representing the unions say the allegations prompted an internal investigation by the West Covina Unified School District.

West Covina Unified Supt. Steve Fish refused to comment on the lawsuit, saying he was only served with legal papers on Thursday and has yet to discuss it with the district’s lawyer.

Meanwhile, The Times has obtained a copy of a letter, apparently signed by Fuller, that was written to a school counselor. It thanks the school administrator for his “intervention” having to do with the grade and course work.

In an interview, Fuller, who teaches at Los Angeles Unified’s King Drew Medical Magnet High School, said he doesn’t recall writing the August 1998 note and maintained that he never asked for a grade change; he only inquired from the school on how it would be calculated.

Fuller said his son, Stephen, was a sixth-grader at Edgewood Middle School in 1998 when he transferred from the computer class into a library class in the middle of a grading period.

He said the switch took place “halfway” through the period, raising the issue of how his son’s final grade would be calculated.

“The principal and counselor were involved when he switched classes, and I asked how the grade would be determined,” said Fuller. “I was told it would be averaged.”

Fuller said his inquiry about the matter was nothing more than what other parents in the 9,500-student district would do to ensure the best education for their children.

However, the Pasadena attorney representing the teachers union described a different scenario surrounding the grades. Glenn Rothner said the boy was switched out of the computer class with only a week and a half left in the term--a circumstance that meant the computer teacher alone should have assigned his final grades.

“The grade in the records isn’t the one [the teacher] gave,” Rothner said.

“If a teacher’s grades can be overridden by parental pressure, then standards and accountability mean nothing,” Rothner said. “The teacher may as well poll the parents for grades.”

Fuller said that, until the lawsuit was filed, he never knew that the computer class teacher had taken issue with his son’s final grades. “It happened two years ago. He got his grades.”

Fuller also said he was shocked that his own union, the CTA, would bring such a lawsuit, which doesn’t name him or his son specifically.

“This is a real low blow by the teachers. As a parent, it is devastating they’d involve a child in litigation,” Fuller said. “My son is aware of the events. . . . He is taking it the best he can.”

A father of five, Fuller is an ex-Marine and Los Angeles police sergeant who was elected to the West Covina School Board in 1997 by a margin of 4 votes after a recount. A pilot, soccer referee and licensed private investigator, Fuller ran on a platform of supporting strict grading and charter schools.

That support for charter schools drew political opposition from the West Covina teachers union, which endorsed the candidate who finished 4 votes behind him. Fuller now says he suspects that this lawsuit isn’t about his son’s grades, but is intended to influence the district’s negotiations with the union over teacher pay.

“We are at an impasse in negotiations. The teachers want more than [the] 3%” the district is offering, Fuller said.

Added Mike Spence, a colleague on the five-member School Board: “Whether the accusations are true or not, the timing of this suit raises a red flag. . . . The teachers union bosses seem to be sacrificing one of their own; George is a teacher.”

But Jo Ann Van Eyk, president of the Teachers Assn. of West Covina, said there is no connection between the suit and the negotiations, which began in March.

Rothner said the lawsuit was initiated after the unnamed teacher lodged a complaint with district officials, who launched an internal review. He said he had obtained records that reveal that the original grades in question apparently had been “erased” from the student’s records and new grades were added in different handwriting. He did not produce the document or any copies.

But nothing was resolved, he said. “Their response was to try and hush it up.”

He said the state education code allows teachers’ grades to be changed only in cases of “clerical or mechanical mistake, fraud, bad faith or incompetence.” But there is no evidence of that in this case, he said. Before a school board or superintendent changes a grade, the teacher must be given a chance to state the reasons for assigning it in the first place.

Rothner said the board member is not identified in the suit because the child’s name could be figured out, contrary to state law, if the parent was identified.

The Times obtained a copy of an Aug. 25, 1998, letter that Fuller wrote to an Edgewood School counselor. “Thank you for your intervention regarding . . . citizenship grade and honors course.”

By most accounts, lawsuits over grades are rare. According to state records, most documented cases involve challenges by parents.

“I haven’t heard of anything like this issue before,” said Judith Grayson, director of teaching education at USC’s School of Education.

In 1993, an Orange County community college professor won a lawsuit against his employer after college administrators changed one of his students’ grades from a failing D to a passing C.