Junior High Principal Is Transferred After Faculty Complains

HUNTINGTON PARK —  A junior high school principal active in the Latino community has been transferred after faculty members accused her of racial favoritism and misuse of funds.

Soledad S. Garcia, principal of Gage Junior High School since 1983, was reassigned last week to an administrative position in the district office of the Los Angeles Unified School District, said Sidney A. Thompson, deputy superintendent.

Thompson said the reassignment was not punitive but an acknowledgment that Garcia could no longer work effectively with a substantial portion of the staff at the year-round school. A group of teachers recently circulated a petition and held a small demonstration in front of the 3,160-student school, calling for her ouster. A small number of community members also demonstrated in support of Garcia but did not sway district officials.

“We had a situation at the school that would not have been conducive to any kind of learning process for the kids,” Thompson said. “What we have is a situation in which there are allegations going back and forth that are very difficult to prove. Minimally we have an atmosphere that would not be good for youngsters.”

Garcia did not return several telephone calls seeking comment last week.

Thompson said district officials are investigating how Garcia filled supervisory positions at the school. So far, no evidence of favoritism has been found.

Some Irregularities

Auditors last spring turned up some spending irregularities at the school, Thompson said, but “they could find nothing that would indicate someone took or lost substantial amounts of money.”

A Gage employee was disciplined last spring for the unauthorized purchase of computer cabinets with district money, Thompson said. The employee circumvented a policy that restricts spending for items costing more than $300, such as the computer cabinets, which cost about $4,000. The employee worked through a vendor to buy the cabinets with numerous invoices that, taken separately, did not require district approval, Thompson said.

“What happened was apparently some dummy purchase orders were made up between the company and the school,” Thompson said. “Instead of showing large amounts of cabinetry purchased, it showed small amounts of supplies that were never delivered.”

Thompson said the district disciplined the employee. But he declined to specify what action was taken because it was a personnel matter that he considered confidential.

But several other school officials said the employee, Fernando Ramos, was removed from his position as the school’s coordinator of a federal program, called Chapter 1, which aids underachieving students. He was then put in charge of one of Gage’s counseling centers.

“The main problem that occurred, was that we dealt directly with the vendor and there was one more step that needed to be taken,” Ramos said recently, declining to confirm or deny that he was the employee involved. “We needed to communicate more clearly with the district offices. It was just a problem that came up and had to be clarified to the district.”

Employee Took Responsibility

Thompson said Garcia had a responsibility as principal of the school to prevent such policy violations, and district officials scolded her for that.

But, Thompson continued, “we didn’t find anything there that indicated the principal did this. He (the employee) took the responsibility for that.”

In addition, auditors in 1984 and again last year warned Garcia that money earmarked for student body activities had been improperly spent to purchase a copier used by school personnel and to buy paint to spruce up a classroom, according to a district report.

A group of instructors led by teacher Ed Zschoche say their working relations with Garcia began deteriorating shortly after her arrival in 1983. Zschoche is chairman of the United Teachers of Los Angeles chapter that represents teachers at Gage.

They accused her of punishing teachers she did not like by removing them from desired assignments or administrative positions and changing their teaching schedules. Year-round schools have three teaching schedules. They also accused her of favoring Latino educators at the school, which has a student body that is 96.8% Latino.

In an Aug. 29 letter to Supt. Leonard M. Britton, Zschoche wrote that 126 teachers and eight administrators had left Gage since Garcia became principal. In a subsequent interview, he said the majority, many of whom were experienced educators, left because of Garcia. Zschoche said 49 teachers recently signed a petition pressing for Garcia’s removal. He said he had wanted to collect 60 signatures before submitting the petition to Garcia. There are 157 teachers and administrators at Gage, according to Sab Yamashita, assistant principal.

At a press conference called last week to demand Garcia’s removal, UTLA President Wayne Johnson instead announced that Garcia had been transferred.

“You cannot treat people the way Sally (Garcia) treats people without it eventually getting blown up in your face,” Johnson said.

Union officials said that Garcia had been transferred from three previous schools for similar problems.

Joined District in 1955

Garcia joined the district as a teacher in 1955 and became an assistant principal in 1968, according to district officials. She was appointed principal of Wilmington Junior High in 1971. She was transferred to Northridge Junior High in 1976, and to Webster Junior High in 1980. She left that school for Gage in 1983, a district official said.

Thompson said he did not know why Garcia was transferred from Wilmington. But he acknowledged that she was moved out of Northridge and Webster because of problems with staff.

“It wasn’t (to) the degree Gage had, but it was serious enough for the district to say, ‘Let’s reassign her to another spot,’ ” the deputy superintendent said.

Garcia, however, has her supporters on staff as well as in the Latino community. She was one of the organizers of the local chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens.

Manuel Rangell, who was appointed by Garcia to oversee the Chapter 1 program after Ramos, supports Garcia. Last year, Rangell was coordinator of Gage’s bilingual program.

“Anybody dedicated to teaching their students hasn’t had trouble (with Garcia), shouldn’t have trouble and won’t have trouble,” Rangell said. “I think there’s a racist undercurrent of the people involved in the complaining. No matter how much they deny it, it’s there.”

Zschoche said that neither he nor the other protesting teachers are motivated by racism. And he charged that Rangell represents one case of favoritism. Rangell said he was appointed only because he is qualified for his position.

Unusual Assignment

Thompson said it is unusual for a relatively inexperienced teacher, such as Rangell--who does not have tenure--to be placed in an administrative position. But he said there are no district regulations that would have prevented Garcia from doing so.

Sigifredo Lopez, president of a community organization known as the Region Hispanic Coalition of the Los Angeles School District, said the district has found no wrongdoing on Garcia’s part. And he accused the complaining teachers of ignoring the needs of the Latino children at Gage.

“She is a good principal,” Garcia said. “She’s opened the doors to Latino parents. She has a good relationship with the community.”

Zschoche said Lopez cannot be impartial because two of his daughters worked as aides under Garcia and are still employed at Gage. Lopez said his daughters have a right to work where they choose and their positions have nothing to do with his support of Garcia.

“We understand the need to have bilingual people to communicate with our parents,” Zschoche said. “We also have the need to have experienced and qualified people to do the job. As an Anglo, I feel I have something to offer these kids.”

In addition to her work with LULAC, Garcia was appointed by Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley in 1975 to serve on the Commission on the Status of Women. She resigned a year later when Bradley appointed her to the board of directors of the Metropolitan Water District. She served on the MWD board until Sept. 1983, a MWD spokeswoman said.