Parents Demand District Action in Ethnic Slur Complaint

La Cañada parents--and one student--hammered the La Cañada Unified School District Tuesday night for its "broken'' and glacially slow process of investigating a and other inappropriate language toward her students.

"I, too, am here to address these verbal atrocities,'' LCHS sophomore Alyssa Stolmack said of high school math chair Gabrielle Leko.

Leko is accused of calling a student "Jew boy,'' as well as allegedly using other racial and ethnic slurs in class, in addition to exhibiting gender discrimination against female students. The district is in the process of investigating. Leko has not responded to requests for comment from Patch.

LCUSD governing board member Cindy Wilcox, acting as a member of the public, filed a complaint against Leko in June.

But disturbed by the pace of the investigation, Wilcox went public with the matter in October. At that point, parent in class in 2009, reportedly calling her students "s--theads'' and saying they could all "go to hell.''

Werhane was not sure what, if anything, came of the complaint.

And two weeks ago, parent Debra Archuleta told Patch about her complaint against Leko last school year, after her daughter Archuleta and her daughter alerted a high school counselor and LCHS Principal Jackie Luzak, but Archuleta was dismayed that the district did not formally interview, or follow up with, her or her daughter.

On Tuesday, Stolmack--Archuleta's daughter--addressed the district herself.

Standing at the podium wearing her high school pull-over, sweatpants and a bow tied into her pony tail, the teen-ager looked directly at administrators and board members and told them Leko mocked students with speech impediments and varying dialects.

Stolmack said certain students were "targeted,'' and her peers were afraid to speak out for fear of retribution.

"It was all very atrocious,'' she said of her ninth-grade honors geometry class.

Archuleta followed her daughter to the podium and told the district that Leko's "hostile, oppressive learning environment'' almost killed her daughter's love of math.

A Broken Process?

Until Archuleta read about Wilcox's complaint in the media, she feared the issue had just been stifled. And the fact that no other parents appeared to be stepping forward to assist Wilcox with first-hand accounts, or to potentially share in the public scrutiny for accusing a veteran teacher of such wrongdoing, angered Archuleta.

"Not one other parent is willing to do what my daughter and I are willing to do. ... It's shameful. I've gone out on this limb to the potential detriment of retribution, but this is a fight we feel is worth fighting. I hope you consider it seriously,'' she said to a round of applause.

Assistant Superintendent Patricia Hager has said there is no specific deadline for the investigation. .

Hager has said, "I am conducting extensive research that involves interviews, reviewing documents, etc. I am moving as quickly as possible, but am also determined to make an informed decision.''

LCUSD Governing Board President Susan Boyd pointed out that because the district's complaint process was not an item on Tuesday's agenda, board members were precluded from commenting on it or replying to any of the people who addressed the board.

To this, the crowd grumbled, with one parent shouting that the issue should be on the agenda, and another shouting that the process is "broken.'' Parents, some talking over each other, told the board that it has a responsibility to keep the public informed when a high school teacher is accused of using racial and ethnic slurs.

Poetic Irony

Parent Monica DeMoulin, who is Jewish, pointed out that the topic for the 7/8 Reflection's Contest this year was "Diversity Means ... .'' So when children are tasked with writing about how diverse and wonderful a community La Cañada is, but they hear teachers or students using offensive language--with no repercussions--DeMoulin asked, what is the message that kids are receiving?

"My kid has told me about horrific, antisemitic comments that go around. It's really mean stuff, and he's heard it so often, he's kind of used to it by now,'' DeMoulin said of her seventh grader.

"The truth is, [these remarks] are tolerated. They don't get consequences,'' DeMoulin said.