Category: Los Angeles News Group / Daily Breeze

A former secretary at El Camino College near Torrance who accused her boss — a dean — of sexual harassment will receive $2.5 million in a settlement with the school.

The secretary, Nyesha Artiaga of Los Angeles, said the former dean, James Schwartz, subjected her to more than two years of sexual harassment and allegedly raped her in his locked office, according to court documents.

The community college will pay about a third of the settlement, or $833,000, and its insurance company will pick up the bulk of the rest, although Schwartz was ordered to chip in $25,000.

Artiaga said the harassment took place from 2007 to 2009. In graphically worded court documents, Artiaga, 33, accused Schwartz, 74, of groping her, demanding sex on his birthday and threatening to fire her or downgrade her performance review if she refused to have sex with him.

The documents also state that Schwartz, then the interim dean of fine arts, offered her up to $800 in exchange for sex in hotel rooms. While Schwartz did not deny that they had a sexual relationship, he contended that it was consensual.

The case is a setback to El Camino, which in recent months has been defending itself against two similar harassment cases that are intertwined with Ariaga’s.

In October, the college was vindicated when a judge ruled mostly in favor of the district in a sexual harassment and discrimination case filed by a former dean, Kristi Blackburn, who claimed she was the victim of a “good old boys” club.

The third case is set to begin today, with a jury trial in Los Angeles. In that one, former professor Carmen Hunt says the district tried to force her out for taking extended leaves of absence due to post-traumatic stress stemming from an alleged sexual assault by a former dean (not Schwartz).

As for the Artiaga case, the former secretary also made claims against El Camino’s current vice president of academic affairs, Francisco Arce, who was Schwartz’s superior before Schwartz’s decadeslong tenure ended in June.

Artiaga said Arce had had it in for her even before Schwartz became her boss in March 2007. For instance, she said Arce had coerced Schwartz’s predecessor – Blackburn – to give her a negative performance review. (Blackburn concurred in the lawsuit she lost.)

El Camino officials went public with the settlement on Tuesday during their regular school board meeting. As part of the settlement, which the El Camino board approved in closed session in January, Artiaga agreed to quit her job and never to apply for employment with El Camino again.

Public disclosure of the settlement wasn’t required by law, but school board President Bill Beverly said the board decided to do so largely to show it has nothing to hide.

“Now maybe people will know, if this should ever happen to them, to stand up and say something – this isn’t Libya,” he said. “I believe if somebody is taken advantage of or trodden upon, they are going to get protected, and the bad guy is going to get what’s coming to them. Maybe this will prevent it from happening – or from happening again if it did happen.”

But Beverly also said nobody besides Artiaga and Schwartz really knows what happened between them. He insisted that while Artiaga often filed complaints to human resources about other co-workers and bosses, she never – to his knowledge – filed anything internally about the alleged abuse from Schwartz.

“If someone had come to us when the incident first occurred, we would have immediately separated them and gotten to the bottom of it,” he said. “But you have to give us a chance to protect you. It’s like expecting the police to show up and protect you from a burglary if you don’t call.”

Schwartz’s administrative career with El Camino spanned four decades. He served as the dean of health sciences and athletics from 1975 to 1996, the interim vice president of academic affairs from 1996 to 2005, the interim dean of fine arts from 2007 to 2009, and the interim dean of the health services and athletics division from 2009 until his departure in June.

In 2009, he was inducted into the El Camino College Athletic Hall of Fame. During his last year at El Camino, his annual salary was about $141,000, according to a college record.

While accounts differ as to whether the relations were consensual, nobody disputes that there were improper sexual relations between a supervisor and a subordinate, Beverly said.

“The disappointment on the part of the board is that a trusted and well-liked employee (Schwartz) at a minimum exercised very bad judgment and at a maximum, who knows,” Beverly said. “No. 2, we have an employee who allegedly was being subjected to – again, in the worst light – some type of extorted behavior.”

Schwartz, who didn’t return a call requesting comment, was hired as Artiaga’s superior in March 2007, after Blackburn left the post amid turbulence with Arce.

Also unavailable for comment were Artiaga’s attorney, Trina Roderick, and the college’s attorney, Larry Frierson.

“Upon their first introduction, Schwartz hugged Artiaga for an uncomfortably long time, his body making contact with both of her breasts and pelvis,” said a complaint for damages filed by Artiaga’s lawyers about a year ago. “Artiaga felt groped as Schwartz patted her back and kissed her on the cheek.”

On Sept. 14 of that year, Artiaga said, Schwartz requested sex as a birthday gift. Meanwhile, her office mates, unaware of the dynamic between them, were planning a surprise birthday party for him.

“They treated him as if he were a god … worshipping the ground he walked on and digesting every word that came out of his mouth,” she said in a written testimony. “UNBELIEVABLE how much power one man can have.”

By her telling, the co-workers arranged to hold the surprise party at P.F. Chang’s China Bistro in Torrance. They asked Artiaga to drive Schwartz to the party, and she played along. In the car, on the way to the party, she said, Schwartz began groping her, allegedly pushing her head into his groin area. She said he demanded they get a hotel room.

“I panicked, knowing that the office staff was waiting for us at the restaurant,” she wrote. Artiaga said she suggested they get a glass of wine at P.F. Chang’s.

“He agreed! To further the humiliation, he patted my head as if I were a dog,” she wrote.

When they entered the restaurant, the surprise party was waiting.

“The SHOCK on his face when he saw our staff was priceless,” she wrote. “He was very angry with me but could not openly express himself with everyone around so instead he kept nudging me under the table.”

It was later that day that the alleged rape took place, according to her written account.

By August 2009, Schwartz had moved on to become the interim dean of physical education, but was still responsible for her performance evaluation. According to court documents, Schwartz met with her on campus and showed her two completed evaluations, one negative and one “slightly positive.”

“He then began rubbing Artiaga’s legs, telling her it was her `decision.”‘

According to a written complaint filed with the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, Schwartz harassed Artiaga on her voice mail at work as recently as September 2009.

“Ms. Artiaga believes Mr. Schwartz has sexually harassed other employees he has supervised and that the employer knew, or had reason to know, that Mr. Schwartz had a history of sexually harassing the employees he supervised,” the complaint said.

In July 2009, Constance Fitzsimons had taken over as the dean of fine arts. Artiaga accused her, too, of retaliation and harassment.

“In their first meeting, Fitzsimons told Artiaga that Schwartz and Arce `told (her) things about’ Artiaga,” the complaint said. “Fitzsimons, from her first day as Artiaga’s supervisor, has micromanaged Artiaga’s work in a clear attempt to `find cause’ to terminate her employment.”

Centinela Valley school board reprimands Suarez during contentious meeting

Political tensions have reached a boiling point in the Centinela Valley school district in Lawndale, where the school board has issued a formal public reprimand to its most outspoken member.

The fireworks happened Tuesday night, when the board voted 2-1, with one abstention, to censure fellow trustee Sandra Suarez, who has publicly raised questions in recent weeks about all manner of issues, from the amount of money the district spends on attorney fees to the cross-country travel of the board.

In general, the board vote, with Rocio Pizano absent and Gloria Ramos abstaining, said Suarez has overstepped her authority in several respects.

A censure is an official rebuke or severe admonishment for an abuse of power or lapse of judgement on the part of a policymaker. It carries no formal consequences other than public humiliation.

The move raises questions about how much authority an elected school board member has when he or she is acting as an individual. In the case of the Centinela Valley school board — which oversees operations at Leuzinger, Lawndale and Hawthorne high schools — three of the five board members rarely ask questions or cast dissenting votes in public meetings. Suarez, meanwhile, has begun questioning almost everything the district does of late.

Suarez struck back Tuesday night, saying school board President Hugo Rojas — who initiated the reprimand — is the one who should be censured: He teaches a karate class out of Leuzinger High School.

“The difference between Mr. Rojas and myself is he’s working at Leuzinger getting a paycheck and I’m working at Leuzinger volunteering for free,” she said Tuesday night, drawing gasps from the crowd of about 60.

Rojas could not be reached for comment, but district officials insist that her accusation is a mischaracterization.

After the vote, a handful of residents – all of them supporters of Suarez – stormed out of the meeting, shouting “recall!” This prompted Rojas to bang the gavel and call the group “out of order.”

The case against Suarez was made in a strongly worded five-page letter signed by Rojas.

In it, Rojas pointed to several e-mails she allegedly sent directly to district employees, including principals and assistant superintendents, to request information or to scold them. Rojas said this circumvents the chain of command, because board members are supposed to deal directly with the superintendent.

He also said her recent request, made in person at the district office, to review all legal counsel billings for the past two years was conducted in a disruptive manner and was inappropriate because she was not acting on behalf of the board.

“No individual Board Member is stamped with the imprimatur of the collective Board to interfere in personnel matters,” he wrote. “You engaged in disruptive conduct when you raised your voice and stormed out of the Business Services Department.”

Suarez’s supporters on Tuesday night said she is being punished for asking tough questions.

“This is absolutely idiotic,” fumed Teresa Alcantara, a graduate of Leuzinger High School. “Sandy is actually saying something to actually put a thought in people’s minds, instead of just rubber-stamping.”

“I’m appalled by the possible censure of Sandra Suarez,” said Patrick Holmes of El Camino Village. “Everything she is saying appears to be true.”

A stay-at-home mother of 10 children, Suarez, whose first term expires in November, has been a volunteer in the school district for 15 years. In 1996 she reactivated what had been the long-defunct PTA at Leuzinger High School. She is currently the school’s band booster president. Herself a 1972 graduate of the school, Suarez also founded Leuzinger’s alumni association, which organizes the school’s annual Memorabilia Day every March.

Much of the recent acrimony centers on Suarez’s affinity for history.

Relations between Suarez and the district leadership first began to sour in the summer. That’s when she discovered that a ballot measure asking voters to approve a $98 million construction bond would lead to the demolition of buildings at Leuzinger she considers historic. Two weeks before the November election, Suarez – who initially supported the measure – reversed course and came out against it. (The measure passed.)

Not long after, Suarez began raising questions about other issues. She asked to view estimated hotel and flight expenses for four scheduled trips to be taken by other members of the board. She requested information on stipends for administrators. She publicly expressed regret about voting for the contract of Superintendent Jose Fernandez.

A couple of months ago, tensions escalated when Fernandez had the lock changed on the door to a room at Leuzinger High that Suarez and the alumni association had been using to store historic memorabilia. Fernandez said he is simply trying to ensure that no single organization has exclusive rights to occupy the public space.

He added that Suarez and the association are free to ask the plant manager to let them into the room. Suarez believes the move is retaliation for her opposition to the bond measure.

As for legal fees, Superintendent Fernandez said the district spends about $600,000 annually, or two-thirds less than the $1.8 million it paid lawyers the year he arrived, in 2007-08. The district works with a general fund budget of about $60 million.

Fernandez said when individual trustees do not secure permission from the rest of the board as a unit, their rights are equivalent to those of any member of the public. That means that such a trustee would not be allowed to view documents deemed confidential, he said. So when Suarez received the legal documents she was requesting, the specifics were blacked out.

Multiple calls to the California School Boards Association seeking clarification on the legal rights of individual board members were not returned Wednesday.

The recent unrest has strained board relations between Suarez and Ramos, who have historically been allies. Ramos said she believes the only thing Suarez will achieve by going it alone is “martyrdom.”

“The problems she has are real problems,” Ramos acknowledged. “But how is her behavior going to fix it? … If you don’t have a partnership, you can’t do it by yourself.”

Ramos added that she, too, is unafraid to vote against the wishes of the superintendent, when appropriate.

But the three other board members – Rojas, Pizano and Maritza Molina – are firmly aligned with the superintendent. At board meetings, they speak very little, and rarely, if ever, cast dissenting votes.

In the November 2009 election, those three board members beat out the three candidates favored by the teachers union. Their campaigns were all heavily financed by Telacu, the construction company charged with managing the district’s bond projects.

The last time the Centinela Valley school board censured a colleague was in late 2003, when it reprimanded then-President Jorge Arroyo for allegedly making sexist and profane remarks at a dinner.

rob.kuznia@dailybreeze.com

Torrance students shine amid cutbacks

Torrance schools are experiencing historic cuts — probably the worst in the South Bay — but you’d never know it from the performance of the students.

As the budget situation gets bleaker, their measurable results seem to soar only higher.

Earlier this month, West High School achieved an impressive three-peat, winning its third consecutive academic decathlon, besting 54 other teams for the Los Angeles County title. Two other Torrance high schools placed in the top eight.

And that’s not all. API and SAT scores in Torrance are also defying the laws of economics, rising higher and higher as class sizes grow bigger and bigger. The success even extends to nationally televised game shows. On a teen episode of “Wheel of Fortune” that aired last week, two girls from Torrance High won $52,000. The runner-up team took home $3,000.

But Torrance educators are worried the day of reckoning is coming.

“The problem we have is I can’t predict when the financial situation will have an effect upon us, but it will have an effect upon us,” Superintendent George Mannon said. “There is a tipping point. We’re just not sure when we will experience it.”

In the past few years, the district’s annual budget has shrunk from $200 million to $150 million. Due to an outdated funding formula, Torrance receives less state money per student than most school districts.

Programs like summer school and the district orchestra are no more. High school English and math class sizes have surged past 40, at times reaching 45 or higher.

And yet, year after year in Torrance, test scores go up. The district’s API – a score from 200 to 1,000 based on student test scores – has risen steadily from 810 to 853. The state average is 767.

Torrance high-schoolers also are acing the SAT test, a college entry exam. While the average score in the state and nation hovers just above 1,500, in Torrance it’s 1,624, up from 1,613 the year before.

Demographics undoubtedly play a major role. A third of the 25,000 students in the district are Asian and another third are white, the two populations that score highest on test scores. In Torrance, 35 percent of the parents have college degrees, compared with just under 20 percent statewide.

But there are other factors. For one thing, test scores are rising all across California. Also, teachers in Torrance say they are burning the candle at both ends.

“We are dropping a lot of the extras and going straight with what we see on the tests,” Torrance teachers union President Julie Shankle said. “It’s no longer about teaching the kid. It’s about producing the test score.”

She said the pressure is beginning to take a physical and mental toll. Teachers are taking extended absences due to stress, for instance.

“I’ve had more than a few teachers come up to me and say, ‘I hate my job now,”‘ she said. “The joy has just been sucked out of it.”

Meanwhile, the students are under increasing pressure to master the material as the college application process gets more competitive.

Take Aaron Cheng, captain of West High’s academic decathlon team. One could argue that the easiest part of his day occurs during regular school hours. After that, he adjourns to the library to study with his academic decathlon teammates. In the two months before a meet, practice runs from 3 to 9 p.m.

Then he goes home, where he gets cracking on his real homework. He goes to bed sometime around 2 a.m. Every day in the shower, he practices impromptu speeches – a major facet of decathlon.

“The biggest challenge is learning how to survive with the stress,” said Cheng, who has been accepted to USC, and is waiting for a response from Harvard, MIT and Duke.

District favorite

As for the academic decathlon, it’s clearly a darling in the Torrance district. Despite all the budget cuts, the district has not only continued to support the program, but also gone above and beyond by allowing students to take decathlon as a class during the regular school day.

As a result, Torrance schools often rank among the best in not only the county, but also the state. Last year, West High took sixth. It could be said West High ranks among the top teams in United States, since the California champion in recent years has almost always taken the national trophy.

All told, the Torrance district spends a total of $40,000 to $50,000 on the program, or roughly $11,250 per school. The nonprofit Torrance Education Foundation chips in $2,500 per school to purchase study materials. The teams also raise funds for travel money.

Ann Cortina, the coach at West High, said she’s grateful for the support.

“Some districts don’t even have a coach stipend,” she said, adding that, in Torrance, whenever someone asks high-level administrators if the program is in danger, “they look at you like you’re crazy to suggest it.”

Bone-deep cuts

Meanwhile, educators in Torrance and across the state are fearful of an impending budget catastrophe.

Torrance administrators say that if Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal to ask California voters to extend temporary tax hikes doesn’t come to pass in June, the district will have to cut an additional $14 million from its $150 million budget.

“I don’t know where you are going to get that kind of money,” said Mario Di Leva, executive director of the Torrance teachers union. “Classrooms don’t physically hold 100 students. They can’t handle 50. We have 40 and they were built for 30.”

One remarkable aspect of the district’s financial woes is how it hasn’t yet had the effect of stoking tensions between the teachers and the administrators. At least not publicly.

Di Leva cited a recent study by the California Department of Education concluding that Torrance is among the most administratively lean districts in California.

“Everyone is waiting for this situation to turn a corner, and it’s not going to happen,” he said. “This may be our new reality. … We are running this vehicle on the redline and on fumes. And there’s a lot at stake.”

rob.kuznia@dailybreeze.com

Torrance High pair hits it big on ‘Wheel’

It’s safe to assume Ariel Dela Cruz and Katlyn VanNieuwenhuyse, both seniors at Torrance High School, will never forget the phrase “Boy Wizard Harry Potter.”

That’s the answer to the word puzzle that triggered their hot streak on an episode of “Wheel of Fortune” last week, where the duo cleaned house, netting $52,620 in a teen tournament.

“I was fine at the beginning of the show,” said Ariel, 17. “When I realized how much money we were getting, I could not stop shaking.”

To say the friends emerged victorious would be an understatement. The next runner-up took home just $5,000. The show aired across the nation on Wednesday, but it was actually taped in November.

Like so many adventures, theirs began on a whim. Last school year, the girls occasionally Skyped with the show playing in the background on TV. One day, in the spring, Ariel visited the “Wheel of Fortune” website and decided to sign them up as potential contestants. To her shock, a rep from the show called her up a few months later.

In August, the girls showed up for an audition at a hotel. Part of it involved playing a mock version of the game, but it was more about demonstrating their ability to be lively on camera – to shout key phrases such as the signature “Can I buy a vowel?”

“They wanted big reactions,” Katlyn said.

The girls were told they’d be called back in October if they were needed. When the month came and went without a call, they were crestfallen. But there’s an old saying that a watched kettle never boils. In early November, after the friends had moved on, the call came.

Katlyn, 18, a water polo player, was participating in a match when she found out.

“I ran over to my coaches and started telling everyone,” she said. “I was so happy.”

Later that month, they made the half-hour commute to Sony Studios in Culver City for the taping. The girls were stunned by the lasting good looks of the show’s mainstay personalities, Pat Sajak and Vanna White, both of whom began their stints with “Wheel of Fortune” in the early 1980s.

“He looks great – even up close,” Ariel said, adding that White gave them a victory hug after the match. “He makes sure you’re really calm about it. That you’re not tense.”

Of course, that’s easy for him to say.

During the bonus round, with thousands of dollars on the line, Team Torrance struggled with a two-word phrase.

Katlyn wrongly guessed “baking pan.” Ariel knew she had to come up with something, but blanked out. Finally, she uttered a Hail Mary answer: “waxing man.” Alas, the answer was “moving van.” The answer would have netted them $30,000 more.

On Thursday, classmates were congratulatory, but they razzed Ariel about that one. Even her first-period teacher joined in. “He came up to me and gave me this little note, and it said, `Congratulations, waxing man,”‘ she said with a laugh.

The girls will split the winnings, which won’t arrive until June. Included in the $52,000 prize is a $10,000 trip for four to the Turks and Caicos Islands near the Bahamas. That leaves about $20,000 each for spending cash.

Perhaps as a sign of these lean times, both girls have practical plans for their earnings. Both intend to save much of it for college.

“Most people probably think every girl just wants a shopping spree, but I really want to save a majority for later in life,” Ariel said. “Of course, I’ll treat myself and, of course I’m going to give money to my parents and family.”

As for Katlyn, her 2001 Nissan Sentra is in need of some repair work.

Their only regret about appearing on the show is that they can’t ever do it again.

“I want to do more game shows,” Katlyn said. “It was so fun. It felt cool to be on TV. We got our little 15 minutes of fame.”

rob.kuznia@dailybreeze.com

Gay Lennox teacher blasts school bullying

Stories are everywhere about kids getting bullied by other kids on the playground. But what is the best course of action when the target of the taunting is a teacher?

Lennox Middle School history teacher Robert Collins is openly gay and says he is fed up with years of anti-gay slurs.

Usually, he says, it happens as he’s walking past a group of boys, only to hear a voice in the pack calling him a “fag,” or worse. On at least one occasion, he says, the incident felt to him like a physical threat.

Last Tuesday, Collins and a contingent of teachers brought their concerns to the Lennox school board. They charge that the district – which has historically been an early adopter of anti-bullying curriculum – has been largely silent when it comes to harassment of gay students and teachers.

Specifically, they are asking for more teacher training on how to address anti- gay bullying at not just the middle school, but also the five elementary schools and the charter high school. They say that students, too, have been the targets of torment.

“I venture to say that if the complainant were a different protected class — perhaps a woman being sexually harassed, an African-American being racially targeted or a disabled person being mocked — the district would take on the issue more seriously,” said Tamara Premsriath, co- human rights chair of the Lennox teachers union, speaking to the board on Collins’ behalf.

Lennox officials say they are constrained by confidentiality laws from publicly discussing the specific case. They say that Tuesday night’s meeting triggered an internal investigation to examine the most recent claims made by Collins, who has filed 20 complaints against the district over the years.

On a broader note, the Lennox controversy raises the question of how middle schools — which cater to an impressionable age group — should address matters pertaining to gay rights. It also brings into focus a challenging question for gay teachers of younger students: Is it a good idea to “come out” to them?

Situated beneath the flight path of the Los Angeles International Airport, the K-8 Lennox school system is considered an inner-city district. The vast majority of the students at its seven schools are Latino and qualify for free or reduced- price lunch. Schools within the district have long been the target of break-ins, and the mile- by-mile unincorporated area has a history of gang violence.

For all of the hardships of its students, though, the Lennox district has a reputation for taking a proactive approach to confronting issues of discipline and bullying.

In the early 2000s, it was a pioneer in adopting the “character counts” curriculum that stresses a handful of ethical values such as trustworthiness, respect, responsibility and fairness. To this day, Lennox is widely considered a model “character counts” district.

In 2008-09, it purchased an anti-bullying curriculum, called Olweus, meant to permeate every classroom of the school. The district also celebrates a “no name calling” week, which is advertised in newsletters and on school marquees.

“I’d like to think that we’re very forward-thinking in investing time towards the anti-bullying efforts,” said Cesar Morales, the district’s director of personnel.

But on the matter of gay harassment, the teachers union charges that it wasn’t until Collins filed multiple complaints that the district got around to addressing the issue. This month, for the first time, the school brought the gay-rights organization GLIDE (Gays and Lesbians Initiating Dialogue for Equity) to give presentations to students about anti-gay bullying. GLIDE also has provided training sessions for the school’s teachers.

Judy Chiasson, a founder of GLIDE who participated in the Lennox training, praised the district.

“Lennox was wonderful,” she said. “They wanted to promote a school environment where people felt safe and respected. This really reflects the leadership. … The way to judge the school is not what happened, but how they respond to it.”

Collins and the teachers union say that while the presentations were a good start, they’re not enough.

“We haven’t done any training at the elementary or high schools,” Collins said. “That’s really what we’re asking for, is training for all teachers.”

At the meeting, he told the board that he may file a civil rights lawsuit. Collins charges that the district is not complying with Assembly Bill 537, which protects California’s public students and school employees against discrimination and harassment. In 2000, sexual orientation and gender identity were added to the existing nondiscrimination policy.

“I believe our complaint system is a complete – I will use the word – joke,” he told the board.

Collins, a man of slightly above average height and thinning gray hair, has been a teacher at Lennox Middle School for more than 20 years. He’s been out of the closet for 10 or 15 years. He typically tells his students about his sexual orientation on the first day of school.

“I say, `In our classroom, we are going to respect everybody, regardless of race, gender, religion or sexual orientation. I want you to know that I’m gay, and we need to respect gay people at our school, too.”‘

Collins, who is on medical leave, said that in a typical year he is the recipient of 15 gay slurs from students. He added that in only one case has the harassment been from one of his own students.

Although Collins and the union are making specific demands of the district, the nature of his complaint centers every bit as much on a general feeling that his superiors don’t take him seriously.

In the early years, he said, administrators were genuinely puzzled by his complaints, saying “boys will be boys,” or that they themselves used to play games like “smear the queer.” Now, he said, even though the school has adopted some programs in response to his complaints, he believes school officials treat him like a nuisance, or even an enemy.

“My principal (Debra Johnson), she’ll talk over me, roll her eyes at me, or just stare at me,” he said. “Sometimes she just stops talking completely.”

Collins went even further in his comments to the Lennox school board, describing her response to his complaints as “hostile.”

Johnson did not return a call requesting a comment for this story.

Collins said that the harassment usually comes in the form of insults hurled in the halls as he walks past. But occasionally, a student will start a rumor, or say vile things about what Collins does with his husband. (Collins has had a domestic partner for 13 years. They are raising a 3-year-old boy.)

Once, Collins said, an incident had him feeling concerned for his own safety. A few years ago, he said, after working late, Collins was walking back to his car at night in the parking lot when he heard a group of middle- and high- school teens behind him, yelling slurs.

“I thought, `If I turn around and confront them, I’m not sure what’s going to happen,”‘ he said. “I walked to my car and drove off. That’s when I realized, `Wow, this could be more than just words.”‘

Collins said anti-gay slurs are also aimed at students. He said an elementary school teacher told him of a fourth- or fifth-grade student who is a frequent target.

“He’s perceived as being gay,” he said.

Collins said such teasing recently prompted a gay high school student to quit attending the Lennox Math, Science and Technology Academy.

Cindy Freeman, a member of the state’s Middle School Education Council – a subdivision of the Association of California School Administrators – said gay slurs are especially common in middle schools.

“They get such a charge out of saying `fag’ or `that’s so gay,”‘ said Freeman, herself a principal at Mira Loma Middle School in Riverside.

The flip side, she said, is that middle school students are extremely teachable; by high school, it’s more difficult to change their behavior. This underscores the urgency of nipping the problem in the bud, she said.

“This is the year they do that – yell out `faggot’ and think it’s funny,” she said. “And then, boom, they are in the principal’s office, where they are told, `Whoa, you can’t say that.”‘

At Mira Loma, Freeman conducts three fireside chats a year with her students to address bullying.

Freeman said she, too, has a gay teacher who, even though he is discreet about it, has been harassed by students.

She said she treats these incidents pretty much the same way she does those in which a student is bullied. After an investigation, the student and his or her parents are called in. The student is often asked to write a letter of apology and is usually suspended.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the Lennox teachers union adopted a tone that at times was provocative.

Premsriath, the union’s co-human rights chair, opened her remarks by calling Lennox school board member Marisol Cruz a “wetback,” saying Morales “sells oranges by the freeway,” that Assistant Superintendent Brian Johnson is the “white devil” and that new Superintendent Fred Navarro is a “coconut.”

“Pretty uncomfortable, huh? Extremely offensive, right? Horrible and disgusting, no?” she said. “Did any of you in this room want to stop me? I truly hope so. …

“My friend and colleague Robert Collins is a victim of hurtful slurs very much like these. He is not a child, and he can speak up for himself. And he has spoken up. Yet very little has changed as a result of his complaints.”

There is some disagreement among experts about how gay teachers should “come out” to middle school students.

Freeman said she wouldn’t recommend doing so on the first day of school, as Collins does.

“You want to build a relationship,” she said. “It kind of opens the door (for teasing) – not that it excuses anything.”

But Carolyn Laub, executive director of the national Gay- Straight Alliance Network, disagreed.

“I applaud the teacher for coming out at the beginning of the school year to his students,” she said. “We shouldn’t teach young people that someone’s difference is something they should hide.”

Chiasson of GLIDE said the rules for gay teachers can’t be different from the rules for straight teachers.

“You can’t tell a straight teacher `never ever tell your students that you’re married or have children,”‘ she said. “But I think the knee-jerk (reaction) people have is they sexualize homosexuality, and they romanticize heterosexuality.”

A fence is more than just a physical barrier – it can also be a symbol, and, let’s face it, a bit of a downer.

As such, the removal this summer of the wrought-iron fences in front of Leuzinger , Hawthorne and Lawndale high schools in the Centinela Valley school district seems to signify a more peaceful era.

And, school officials are hoping, a new day for Centinela Valley’s struggling schools.

“When students ask where the fencing went, I say, ‘Do you go to a school or a prison?”‘ said Ryan Smith, the new principal at Leuzinger High School. “Symbolically, we’re saying we want to be more inviting to students and the city of Lawndale.”

Erected during the racially tense and violent era of the mid-1990s, the fencing has come down during what district officials are hoping is a period of transition.

The district is struggling to boost chronically abysmal test scores that have purportedly left one school – Leuzinger – under threat of a state takeover.

Meanwhile, tension has been simmering between the teachers union and administration over an inter-school shuffling of teachers. A formal grievance process is under way.

But the district seems to be making modest progress.

Earlier this month, test scores released by the state showed Leuzinger making significant gains, though the school’s scores remain quite low.

The 8-foot fences went up during a turbulent period for Los Angeles County, around the time of the 1992 riots in the wake of the acquittal of officers in the Rodney King beating. Crime rates were soaring, race riots were all too frequent and gang violence had a way of spilling onto campuses.

On at least two occasions during that era, Centinela Valley students were wounded by gunfire on or near their school grounds.

Superintendent Jose Fernandez says that’s all ancient history.

“We have very peaceful schools,” he said. “Many years ago, in the 1990s, things were rough. Unfortunately, sometimes perception and reality take a while to catch up to each other.”

To be sure, not all the fencing has been removed. Much of it has been relocated to inside campuses.

Other portions along the perimeter have been left in place for the same purpose. But in the most prominently viewed areas of the schools – the front of Leuzinger High School on Rosecrans Avenue, for instance – the barriers are no more.

The first to go was the one in front of Leuzinger High. Crews removed part of it in the spring and the rest of it over the summer. The walls in front of Hawthorne and Lawndale schools came down just before the first day of school.

The security presence on the campuses is unusually robust.

In 2009-10, the school district went so far as to create its own security division, hiring a director who trains and oversees some 30 officers and seven substitutes. On any given day at each campus, five to nine officers are on-site, zooming about on stand-up motorized scooters. In addition, each campus is assigned an armed police officer or sheriff’s deputy.

The unarmed security officers patrol the campuses all night, with a night shift stretching from 7 p.m. until 5 a.m.. In addition, at least a dozen hidden cameras are embedded on every campus.

The entire security operation is expensive. Last year, Centinela Valley spent more than $2.3 million on the department, which amounts to about 3.3 percent of the school district’s entire budget.

But Fernandez says it’s worth the expense.

“We’ve captured people trying to do bad things,” he said, noting several incidents in which overnight burglars – including a man posing as a custodian – have been apprehended.

As for on-campus troublemaking, suspensions last school year were down by about a third from 2005-06, but expulsions doubled in that time, to nearly 140.

Top school officials attribute this to heightened vigilance.

“When students know there is going to be a uniform policy within the district, and they know the consequences will be severe, they begin to avoid behaviors that would get them in trouble,” said Jim Tarouilly, the district’s new director of pupil services.

Though teachers and administrators seem to be at constant loggerheads, the fence removal is one topic on which they agree – for the most part.

“I never was a big fan of the fencing,” said teachers union President Betty Setterlund. “On the other hand, I recognize children are not victims when they are inside the fences . … But we’re not seeing as many gangs anymore.”

Back in the early to mid-1990s, the area served by Centinela Valley schools seemed to be a much rougher place.

Tensions between black and Latino gangs ran high.

In 1993, Leuzinger senior Justin Sagato was shot in the shoulder on campus after a lunchtime argument with reputed gang members.

In 1995, a plan to let students out early due to rumors of an impending riot backfired, and a massive fight broke out that led to 30 arrests and left a 15-year-old student with a bullet in the leg. (The shooting happened a few blocks away.) Back then, school officials used to grease the wrought-iron fences to keep students from scaling them.

Current Leuzinger senior Jamila Johnson said she gives the campus an “A” grade for safety.

“We have cameras everywhere,” said Jamila, a student in the multimedia career academy and a football cheerleader.

She added that she noticed the absence of the fencing right away.

“When the fences were here it kind of looked like we were locked in,” she said. “It looks less like a prison and more welcoming.”

rob. kuznia @dailybreeze.com