LOS ANGELES TIMES October 4, 1968

Board of Education

Reinstates Castro

in Policy Reversal

By Jack McCurdy

Times Education Writer

Teacher Sal Castro was returned to the classroom at Lincoln High School by the Board of Education Thursday night under a new policy giving teachers charged with crimes the right to appeal before being relieved of duties.

The board's action brought to an apparent conclusion more than a month of rising pressure from Mexican-Americans demanding Castro's reinstatement, climaxed by seven days of sit-ins which ended with the arrest of 35 demonstrators Wednesday night.

At the fourth meeting in eight days on the hotly debated Castro case, the board voted 5 to 1 to reassign the 34-year-old social studies teacher to Lincoln High immediately.

The board thus reversed its decision of three weeks ago and settled the second major conflict between the city school system and Mexican-Americans on the East Side this year.

The first dispute last March led to Castro's removal from the classroom after he was indicted by the county grand jury on felonious conspiracy charges for allegedly helping plan the walkout of Mexican-American students at four East side high Schools.

He was then assigned as a nonteaching consultant away from Lincoln High, touching off bitter protests by Mexican-Americans who see Castro as a symbol of cultural pride and of outspoken condemnation of educational conditions in the East side schools.

It was the school district's administrative policy, calling for all teachers accused of felonies to be relieved of classroom duties, which the board changed Thursday night.

The new policy provides teachers with an opportunity to appeal to a board of review if administrators attempt to transfer them after they are charged with crime.

Teachers' Group Agrees

The board voted 6 to 0 to adopt this policy with concurrence from the teachers' Negotiating Council, which represents a majority of teachers in the school system. Board member J. C. Chambers was absent.

To make certain that the policy would be applied retroactively and immediately to Castro, the board specifically ordered that he be reinstated immediately. Board member Hugh Willett voted no.

About eight other teachers who have been relieved of classroom duties will come under the new policy and be provided with the appeal opportunity but will not automatically be reinstated.

The board's decision was met with cheers and tears from the predominantly Mexican-American capacity audience of 200 persons and another 100 who listened to discussions during the six-hour meeting on loud-speakers outside the board room.

Castro was embraced by his followers and carried on their shoulders from the chambers.

Castro said he must wind up his work as a curriculum consultant today and will be away from his job next week, making it possible that he won't return to Lincoln High until Monday, Oct. 14.