Residents call for reforms at heated Bassett board meeting
BASSETT >> Parents and students at Bassett Unified called for a revolution at a heated board meeting that at one point turned into a screaming match between the board’s vice president and a speaker.
Guests held up signs reading “Bully” and “Revolution is Coming” at the meeting; the crowds spilled into the hallway because of the large turnout.
“Tonight will mark the beginning of the end of the tyranny that has engufled the Bassett Unified School District. I’m not here to overdramatize anything, just to call it by its well-deserved names,” said Hugo Lopez, an alumnus and friend of art teacher Jennifer Lenihan, who committed suicide in July after claims of bullying by administrators.
“The community you see before you tonight, as well as the hundreds that you don’t see,” Lopez said, “will no longer stand idly by as you all play with the lives of its teachers, staff, students, and parents.”
Administrators suspended and allegedly threatened three students — Aaron Simental, Elizabeth Zevallos and Johnell Gonzalez — with a charge of making “terrorist threats” if they did not reveal who coerced them into disseminating stickers reading “Revolution is Coming,” according to the students and their parents. The district reversed the suspensions two days later.
Emails between administrators and comments made to parents indicated investigators attempted to draw out the name of a staff member who may have rallied the students to action.
Much of the controversy comes from how the students say administrators treated them. The speakers connected the treatment to bullying affecting both students and employees.
Zevallos, the first suspended student, said she was told by Bassett High Principal Robert Reyes that if she did not cooperate he would send negative letters to any college she applied to. Reyes did not attend the board meeting.
“He said he was going to put in there that I was a terrorist activist,” Zevallos said.
Maria Arreola, who spoke in favor of the administration, said a “secret society” used the students as pawns.
“They are playing the victim, using the students, and I don’t think it is fair,” she said. “Why hide under students, students who were convinced to do this?”
The students speaking at the meeting said they made their own choices. Many said they became vocal because the district removed Christina Topjian as their Associate Student Body adviser and placed an uncertified person, Arlene Zemla, in the position with a higher pay rate.
Executive Director of Administrative Services Anne Welsh-Treglia confirmed at the meeting that Zemla has a lower hourly rate but receives more hours, making her pay higher than Topjian’s. Zemla has only a 30-day credential, she said.
“I’m not asking you to bring our teacher back, I’m demanding it,” student Gigi Ball told the board.
Comments attacking Reyes by parent Eliezer Castillo incited board Vice President Joe Medina to call Castillo a “coward.”
“You’re making accusations against a person that isn’t even here,” Medina yelled at Castillo. Another speaker, Manuel Maldanado, approached the board’s table and repeatedly told Medina to let Castillo finish before being escorted out of the room by a security guard.
“Now I know how Mr. Reyes gets his back up — from you,” Castillo said. “My daughter was abused, my wife was abused. These other kids were abused.”
Simental’s mother, Vira Simental-Martinez, said she was not allowed to see her son while administrators interviewed him before his suspension.
“If Reyes is the problem, then Reyes needs to be removed. You want a lawsuit? You’ll get a lawsuit,” she said. “Your gig is up, the time is up. This is a revolution.”
Reynoso asked for patience from the community members in an impassioned speech.
“I want to appeal to everyone in this room, to always remember that we come here to work for the students, and their parents, and this community,” he said. “It is my belief that healthy relationships and organizations listen to one another, and forgive one another. This is the legacy we must give to our students, to our community and staff. That is the sole purpose of our work. We must be examples, despite how we might feel.”
The district plans to release a report on the suspensions in the near future, according to spokesperson David Garcia.
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