LOS ANGELES TIMES October 6, 1968

'EXCEPTION THAT DESTROYED THE RULE'

Policy Miscue Cited in Transfer

of Sal Castro

By Jack McCurdy

Times Education Writer

Last June 3, a Monday morning, teacher Sal Castro was routinely transferred from Lincoln High School to the central headquarters of the Los Angeles city school system as an "audio-visual consultant." His job: viewing old education films.

He had been removed from contact with students-a typical action under long-standing administrative practice when a teacher is charged with felony.

Castro had been indicted by the County Grand Jury three days earlier on felony charges for allegedly conspiring with others to plan the classroom boycott by Mexican-American students at four East Side high schools last March.

The only difficulty with this logical sequence of events, said Board of Education member and attorney Arthur Gardner later, was that Castro's case was not typical.

"The transfer procedure worked well until this one case," Gardner told the board last week. "But this is the exception that destroyed the rule."

So the board changed the policy and put Castro back into the classroom at Lincoln High.

But if this policy were so clearly inequitable, why did the board vote 6 to 1 three weeks ago to uphold the decision by Supt. Jack Crowther to transfer Castro and then decide to reverse itself by practically the same vote?

Did the board "cave in" to the rising tide of pressure from Castro's Mexican-American supporters on the East Side?

The pressure began to build in Lincoln Heights-where Lincoln High is located-during a summer of discontent climaxed by an impassioned appealed to the board several weeks before the start of the fall term.

Leading the way was the Educational Issue Coordinating Committee, which was formed after the student walkouts in order to press for the demands made during the demonstrations in March.

The Rev. Vahac Mardirosian, committee chairman, implored the board to understand the feeling in the community for Castro is a teacher who "is proud to be a Mexican" and who is not afraid to speak out against the injustices which many Mexican-Americans see in the public schools for their children.

Castro, he said, is the kind of "new" Mexican-American emerging for equality by Spanish-speaking people and is the kind of model of educational achieement which children of his ethnic background can emulate.

But there were detractors, too.

A group of parents deplored Castro's participation in the boycott and his unrelenting criticism of the school system charging failure to educate and motivate East Side children.

Called Disruptive

They see him as a disruptive force, bent on destroying order in the school system by arousing students to commit illegal acts or improper conduct to achieve questionable goals of educational change.

In this divided atmosphere, the board apparently felt that Castro's supporters may have represented a minority, possibly composed of numerous people who do not live in the community, and that most East Side parents opposed his viewpoint.

But the board agreed to consider Castro's transfer in executive session and give an answer before classes resumed for the fall semester.

Up to shortly before this time, most board members had been unaware that teachers accused of felonies were automatically removed from the classroom under administrative policy, with no room for exception.

Furore Grows

But with the furore growing over his transfer, the board began to look closely at the case for the first time.

In its secret meeting on Castro, the board was told by its administrative staff that the overwhelming majority of teachers at Lincoln High and all the administrators are against allowing Castro to continue teaching there.

Several officials even threatened to resign if Castro were returned and "teacher morale at Lincoln is destroyed." Mass resignations of teachers also were predicted.

The board was told further that the sentiment among parents also was heavily against Castro.

In addition, board members knew that the cooperation of the administrative staff is essential to make policy effective.

To go against such an adamant position of the powerful element in the school system-particularly considering the apparent attitudes of teachers and parents-would be futile.

In such cases, the board also has attempted in the past to refrain from interfering with administrative policy, especially when there is no clear-cut board policy in the matter.

And so the board voted 6 to 1 behind closed doors to keep Castro out of the classroom. Dr. Julian Nava cast the dissenting vote.

One aspect of the case that apparently was never brought into contention was Castro's teaching competency-he has been rated highly by his superiors.

In addition, most board members were highly critical of the indictment.

Castro was charged with a felony for allegedly conspiring to commit two misdemeanors, disturbing the peace and disturbing a school. Felonious conspiracy to commit a misdemeanor is not a commonly used charge.

Other Reasons

With a feeling that the felony charge was not justified and no cause for a transfer, the board members began to study more closely other reasons for Castro's removal, such as teacher and parent attitudes.

And as they did, their opinions apparently began to change.

"The more we looked into it," said one board member, "the more we were impressed that Castro had been a good teacher and should have stayed. It appeared to be a misuse of policy (to transfer him)."

Meanwhile, demands for his return began to intensify. Pickets were set up at the entrance to Lincoln High, and Castro's supporters began to attend each board meeting in large numbers calling for his reinstatement.

The Castro case quickly became the cause celebrate and plans were made by adult pickets to enter the Lincoln High campus to invite arrest in acts of civil disobedience.

But, Mr. Mardirosian said, emotions were running so high and the threat of violence so imminent that a peaceful sit-in at the board chambers was decided on instead.

Agree to Remain

The demonstrators then made a pact among themselves not to leave the board's meeting room until Castro was given back his teaching job.

Among those sitting in however, were many middle class Mexican-American men and women and not just the youngsters, the college students, Brown Berets and militants.

After the Rev. James Jones, board president, proposed an outside committee to study the Castro case and the other Mexican-American demands, the teacher's Negotiating Council did him one better by recommending an immediate change in policy which would reinstate Castro immediately.

The council, representing the large majority of teachers in the school system, proposed a board policy calling for teachers accused of felonies to remain in the classroom until proved guilty, except for narcotics and moral offenses.

In these cases, teachers would be suspended immediately.

That suggestion was made the day after the sit-in began on Sept. 26, and last Wednesday the board met with the council to discuss the policy change.

Policy Adopted

The board agreed to adopt a general policy providing teachers with an opportunity to appeal to a board of review before being removed from the classroom, but the actual wording was not completed.

There was a question whether the policy would reinstate Castro immediately and so the sit-in continued.

School officials, who thought they had obtained the demonstrators' agreement to leave Wednesday, ordered the arrest of 35 persons who elected to ignore orders to clear the building.

On Thursday the board was faced with making a final decision-or possibly more and worse demonstrations.

After two hours of debate, the board seemed close to agreement on a policy providing teachers with an appeal procedure, but its provsions also called for teachers to be placed on paid personal leave when charged with crimes rather than remaining in the classroom.

In addition, there was no guarantee that it would be applied retroactively to give Castro back hi teaching duties.

Views Change

The board then decided to hear the nearly 50 persons who were scheduled to speak on the issue. And during their remarks, some information developed that seemed to confirm the changing views of the board on community attitudes toward Castro.

Teachers at Lincoln had voted last week not to take a position as a group on Castro's return, but Don Holtgrieve, the school's faculty association president, told the board that he estimated about 40 teachers are for Castro, 50 would transfer from the school if he returned and the other 80 are between the two extremes.

Dr. Nava commented that this estimate of teacher attitudes at Lincoln, which contrasted with the assessment of administrators was "extremely significant."

In other testimony, the Lincoln Heights Chamber of Commerce came out against Castro, but Mrs. Eva Romero, chairman of the school advisory council, said her group of parent are solidly behind Castro.

The council is selected by the school's own administrators.

Principals and vice principals in the school system also opposed the return of Castro.

Several board members said the principals' position generally reflected the private views of the board's administrative staff, although Crowther supported the policy change.

During the discussions the Negotiating Council had made it clear that it also wanted the new policy applied retroactively and Castro reinstated.

Thus, a new picture of teacher and parent attitudes had surfaced since the original board vote was taken on Castro.

After the speeches, the board voted the new policy procedure providing teachers with appeals rights before being transferred, but it remained unclear whether this would put Castro back in the classroom.

Even under the new policy, it appeared that the administration had the prerogative either to allow Castro to remain a consultant while being given a chance to appeal or to transfer him back to his classes and then move for a new transfer under the new policy.

To prevent this, the board voted to direct Crowther to return Castro to Lincoln immediately.

About eight other teachers charged with crimes have been transferred.