County scolds high school board County scolds high school board (April 08, 2005)

Expulsions overturned, MVHS students reinstated

By Julie O'Shea

The Santa Clara County Board of Education accused the Mountain View-Los Altos high school board of "prejudicial abuse of discretion" when it expelled a senior baseball player earlier this year for putting glue in classroom locks.

County trustees said the teen received an unfair hearing before the high school board, adding that the district "failed to present evidence at the hearing that the student is a danger to himself or others and that other means of correcting the student are infeasible." School districts must prove one of these two things before it can legally expel a student, according to the California Education Code.

The county board ordered the student's record expunged and that he be allowed to return to Mountain View High immediately. The boy, whose name is being withheld because he is a minor, and three other teens caught vandalizing the campus last December missed 14 weeks of school during the course of the expulsion hearings and the county appeal.

At least two of the boys' families retained attorneys and are now considering suing the district for legal fees.

"We thought we acted in the interest of the school district," said high school board President Dave Williams this week. "We fully understand the (education) code and had the (education) code in front of us when making this decision."

Administrators have taken a firmer no-tolerance stance on vandalism since the district complete its $80 million construction upgrade two years ago.

"We take protecting that investment very seriously," Williams said, adding that students have been warned that there will be grave consequences if they are caught defacing school property.

Leon Beauchman, president of the county board, said this was the first time to his knowledge that an expulsion had ever come to county on appeal from Mountain View-Los Altos Union.

Beauchman said his board had problems with the way the high school district handled itself from a procedural standpoint. Nonetheless, "I would say that Mountain View-Los Altos is a fair and professional group," he added. However, based on the lack of evidence presented at the March 16 county board meeting, Beauchman said he had no other choice but to overturn the student's expulsion.

Muriel Sivyer-Lee, whose son was one of the boys charged with vandalizing Mountain View High with spray paint and glue last December, admits what the teens did was wrong but thinks the district went a little over board when trustees voted to expel them. The board ultimately chose to suspend the four friends' expulsions, meaning the students were allowed to return to school, but the mark would remain on their records. This was later reversed by the county ruling.

"The punishment must match the crime. They had no justification to recommend an expulsion," said Sivyer-Lee, adding that her son is a good student who's never gotten in trouble before.

Sivyer-Lee's son and another teen were the only two who appealed their expulsions before the county. In the end, all four boys benefited from the hearing.

Sivyer-Lee believes the school board wanted to make an example of these boys and a senior prank that went too far.

Williams wouldn't comment on the specifics of the case because of state laws that restrict comments on closed session discussions. However, he did emphasize that the expulsion hearings were not about making examples out of the students.

Added Mountain View High Principal Pat Hyland: "You don't (expel students) without thinking it out."

But, according to the state education code, districts must show just cause before handing down an expulsion. The board must either prove the student is a threat to themselves or others or have exhausted all other corrective action and an expulsion is deemed the last resort.

According to Sivyer-Lee, neither of these two reasons were proven by the board. The County Board of Education agreed with her.

The trustees "made a mistake. They made a terrible mistake," Sivyer-Lee said. "I cannot let this go. They destroyed a lot of people with their carelessness."

Hyland said the district has seem an increase in acts of vandalism, noting that the board expelled a student earlier this year for defacing a series of lockers at Mountain View High after getting mad about something that had happened in class that day. That student's expulsion was also suspended.
E-mail Julie O'Shea at joshea@mv-voice.com

E-mail a friend a link to this story.