Parents protest district move
Michael Miller
More than 300 TeWinkle Middle School parents and students are
demanding the retention of an assistant principal whose job they
believe is in jeopardy.
At Tuesday’s Newport-Mesa Unified School District board of
trustees meeting, a group of parent representatives delivered a
petition signed by more than 200 asking the district to retain the
services of Tony Valenzuela, one of the two assistant principals at
TeWinkle. The parents claimed that the district was planning to
discontinue Valenzuela’s position after this school year. The numbers
of signers has since grown to more than 300.
District officials denied the charges, saying that Valenzuela
would work elsewhere on the staff and that another official would
fill his current job.
“We haven’t received any reason,” said Mirna Burciaga, a TeWinkle
parent who led the petition drive, about Valenzuela’s reassignment.
“What bothers me is that they didn’t talk to the parents. Parents
have been asking the district, and the district says they can’t talk
about that issue because it’s a personnel thing.”
Burciaga, who has served on Costa Mesa’s parks and recreation and
human relations commissions and ran for the City Council, filed a
formal complaint in 2000 with the state Department of Education
alleging, among other things, that many Latino children attending
Newport-Mesa schools were given less opportunity than required by
law.
The district was then required to create a systematic program to
address the needs of English-language learners or risk losing federal
funding.
In the latest case, Burciaga and other parents are upset that
Valenzuela, who has worked at TeWinkle since 2001 and in the district
since 1978, would no longer serve as assistant principal at the
predominantly Latino middle school. They say Valenzuela, who is
bilingual, offers solid support to students and parents who have poor
English-speaking skills.
However, a number of district officials said Valenzuela’s position
would not be “discontinued,” as the petition’s cover letter claimed,
and that he would remain at TeWinkle in a different post next year.
“We will continue the services that Tony is providing, one way or
another,” said Jaime Castellanos, assistant superintendent of
secondary education for Newport-Mesa.
He said he planned to meet with Valenzuela next Monday to discuss
ideas for the following school year. As assistant principal,
Valenzuela works both as an administrator and as a part-time teacher,
and Castellanos said his job next year would involve most or all of
the same duties.
Valenzuela confirmed that he had received a letter from the
district office in March saying that he would no longer work as a
TeWinkle administrator next year. However, he said he did not
interpret the letter as a dismissal and expected to fill a teaching
job in the fall.
“I wasn’t being fired, like fired out of the district,” Valenzuela
said. “I’d imagine I would go back and teach, either at the
elementary or high school level.”
He added that he did not know why the district was moving him out
of administration, but said he thought the reason was “maybe
funding.”
Regardless of the district’s true intentions, the rumors of
Valenzuela’s dismissal sparked the ire of hundreds in the TeWinkle
community. A number of parents at the Tuesday meeting spoke in praise
of Valenzuela after handing in the petition, and Burciaga said she
had accumulated dozens more names since then.
“When parents are having concerns with their children about
discipline, if something’s going wrong, Tony is there to provide
support,” she said. “With parents, they identify themselves with Tony
because he speaks their language.”
Burciaga, a member of TeWinkle’s English Learners Advisory
Committee, said she started the movement after Valenzuela told her
about the letter he received in March. Valenzuela said he did not
hear about the petition until Wednesday, the day after the board
meeting. He declined comment on the parents’ campaign.
Jane Garland, the spokeswoman for Newport-Mesa, said she
sympathized with the petitioners but believed their information was
inaccurate.
“I seriously feel that this is just part of a concern that gets
out of control,” Garland stated. “People are very passionate and very
caring, and the concern isn’t as warranted as they thought it was. He
was never being fired.”
Garland noted that during the comments at the Tuesday meeting, the
word “fired” often came up. She said a more accurate description of
the district’s action was “lateral change.”
“What [Valenzuela] is doing now might not fit under the title of
‘assistant principal,’ so what he’s doing may not change even though
the title may change,” Garland explained.
Castellanos said that the district would decide Valenzuela’s
official job title in the future, but that his work next year would
likely be full-time teaching, full-time parent coordination, or a
combination of both. As assistant principal, Valenzuela currently
handles discipline, campus supervision and community outreach, and
also teaches at the school part-time.
“I love teaching,” Valenzuela said about his possible job for next
year. “It’s my passion, and so is helping kids and their families.”
* MICHAEL MILLER covers education and may be reached at (714)
966-4617 or by e-mail at [email protected].
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