SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Parents’ Group Alleges Bias at School

Parents and relatives of Latino and African American children attending Aliso Viejo Middle School are asking for an investigation into what they contend are a series of discriminatory actions by school administrators and staff members.

Speaking to trustees of the Capistrano Unified School District on Monday, the group said minority students have been harassed, falsely accused of being gang members and ridiculed in front of classmates by school administrators and teachers.

“I think we need to take a look into the leadership at Aliso Viejo Middle School,” said Lateef Kareem, whose son attends the school, which opened this fall at Park Avenue and Cedarbrook in the unincorporated community of Aliso Viejo.

School district Supt. James A. Fleming said the district will examine the allegations.

Fleming also noted that the school’s principal, Cheryl Lampe, has “vast experience in racially diverse settings.” Lampe came to the school from Hawthorne, where she was principal at Hawthorne Intermediate School.

“We need to find out what exactly is going on,” Fleming said, adding that district officials will conduct a “deliberate analysis of clearly defined areas of complaint.”

In a letter to school district officials, a group called African American Parents and Concerned Citizens of South Orange County cited several purported cases of what they consider discriminatory treatment:

* Several boys who are friends outside of school “have been targeted for behavior which has been described to them as gang-related behavior.”

* A child’s lunch was searched for drugs in front of his peers. The student was later searched in the assistant principal’s office. The school staff accused the student of trying to sell drugs over the phone.

* A bus driver used a derogatory term for illegal immigrants when referring to Latino students.

* A student was informed in front of his peer group that he was being expelled from school because his parents did not attend a conference with his teachers.

* Three nonwhite girls who were office aides at their former school were not selected as aides at Aliso Viejo “and were replaced by only Anglo aides.”

* An African American girl served detention for cutting into a lunch line, “where it is felt that others who are Anglo with the same offense have been told to go to the back of the line.”

Principal Lampe said she was unaware of some of the allegations. On those she was aware of, she said, she has contacted parents and asked them to meet with her. No parents have taken her up on her offer, she said.

“I have difficulty putting credibility to these charges, because I haven’t had the chance to talk to anyone regarding them at this point,” Lampe said.

She also questioned why the group went directly to district officials and the public board of trustees meeting on Monday.

“It’s interesting that (the parents) haven’t come to the school, which would seem to be the first place you would go to address these issues,” she said. “I think they just wanted a public forum to air concerns and create controversy.”

Lampe said some of the students’ complaints may derive from the fact that they are all adjusting to a new school.

Patricia Ashley, a parent who volunteers at Aliso Viejo, where her child is a seventh-grader, defended the school’s teachers and administrators.

Ashley accused the parents’ group of “trying to prematurely bias this board and not allow the formal grievance process to proceed.”

Donald Meyers, one of the concerned parents who has one of two children at Aliso Viejo, told trustees that the group wanted district officials to hear their allegations directly.

“The challenge that we have is to nip something in the bud before it gets out of control,” Meyers said. “We cannot allow our children to be educated in a horrible environment.”