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by Tom Louie
Friday, Mar. 30, 2001 at 7:17 AM
tclouie@pacbell.net
Mothers of East L.A. call a protest over intimidation, discrimination and police brutality in the public schools of Los Angeles!
Community Protest at Sheridan Elementary School, 416 N. Cornwell, at the intersection of Breed and Sheridan Streets, in East Los Angeles, for Friday, March 30, 2001, beginning at 2:45 p.m. and continuing to the offices of Bonnie Rubio, Superintendent of Local District H, at 1115 S. Boyle, L.A., 90023. About 200 or more parents, teachers and community people from East Los Angeles have organized this protest to demand:
1. An end to the intimidation of parents by the principal, Nora Gonzalez, who has only been at Sheridan for two months. She calls the Los Angeles Unified School District police on a daily basis to threaten the sidewalk vendors, who are mainly parents from the same community served by Sheridan.
2. An explanation for the abuse by school police of a mother, Margarita Martinez Hurtado, which occurred on March 21, 2001. This mother was accused of selling candy with drugs in it by a school employee and was arrested by order of the principal in front of 1500 students and parents. They left this mother with bruises on her arms when they forcefully took her away from the school in front of her daughter. She was freed after being detained in a squad car for an hour, after the police failed to find any drugs or candy in the backpacks of her daughter and her daughter's friend, which she had been carrying when she entered the school grounds that morning. This mother received written notification from Principal Gonzalez that she is prohibited from entering her daughter's school without a valid excuse.
3. During the panic of that morning, another student's arm was injured by the Bilingual Coordinator, a fact which has been denied, even though the parents have tried to file a formal complaint of abuse with the police.
4. Two bilingual teachers and several teaching assistants have been removed by the principal, mainly because of personal reasons which the principal held against these employees. One of those teachers, Susana Betancourt, had contacted Councilmember Nick Pacheco and School Board Member Victoria M. Castro to help the local parents understand their civil rights and the laws of the City and the School District concerning vendors. This teacher also informed several parents of their right to submit complaints about Principal Gonzalez when she did not permit them to put their children in bilingual programs, which has been reported to MALDEF. This teacher, who is also a mother who has lived in the community for 37 years, has been temporarily transferred to Bonnie Rubio's offices without any disciplinary reason being given, simply for instructing parents in the civil process of reporting the abuse and discrimination which continues to occur at Sheridan School.
We hope to see you and tell you about these injustices at this important protest on March 30, 2001.
Mil gracias.
Parents of Sheridan School.
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