Aliso Viejo Parents Assail Race-Bias Investigation : Inquiry: Group says middle school probe failed to look into the ‘real problems,’ such as ‘hostile environment,’ ‘bullying techniques’ of educators.

ALISO VIEJO —  An investigation into complaints of racial discrimination at Aliso Viejo Middle School failed to look seriously at the school’s “hostile environment” and the “bullying techniques” used by administrators, a group of parents alleged Monday.

“The issues addressed by the investigation do not begin to scratch the surface of the real problems on the AVMS campus,” said parent Leslie Harris.

Harris’ statement was included in a letter she made public Monday in announcing that a group of parents of African American, Asian and Latino students would be submitting 10 to 20 letters of protest to school board President Paul Haseman today.

After a two-month investigation, officials of the Capistrano Unified School District released a report last week that said 21 charges of racism and discrimination toward the school’s minority students could not be substantiated. The charges had been lodged by minority parents at a December meeting of trustees and in news reports.

District Supt. James A. Fleming, however, conceded in the report that miscommunication and insensitivity led to the perception of racial bias. The school’s problems were exacerbated, Fleming said, by the fact that the school opened only last fall and 800 students and 35 teachers were just getting to know each other.

Fleming said mediators and counselors would be brought in to settle tensions among some of the school’s staff, students and parents. He also announced that the school had initiated a number of programs to educate students on cultural diversity.

But Harris, mother of a seventh-grader, complained Monday that a panel of district administrators who investigated the charges did not look into other complaints from parents that were not tied to race. Harris said the school’s principal, Cheryl Lampe, and other staff members have been too tough in controlling students and trying to keep the campus safe from gangs and crime.

“Their actions have created a hostile environment for the children that is counterproductive to the supposed goal of education,” Harris states in the letter to Haseman. “The investigation team did not address this issue other than to praise the bullying techniques used by the school administrators.”

Fleming could not be reached for comment Monday.

Although Haseman had not yet received the letters, he said Monday he expected to meet with the parents behind them.

“We will certainly want to respond after seeing the letters,” Haseman said. “We want to do the right thing. If they have some misgivings, we want to talk with them.”

Haseman acknowledged that the school district has installed a strict dress code and anti-gang policy that has been carried out at Aliso Viejo. He also said he has received “a lot of favorable response to the Aliso Viejo faculty.”

Another letter to be delivered to Haseman is from Jenny Bayless, whose African American grandson is an Aliso Viejo seventh-grader. Bayless criticized the district for not using an outside group to conduct the investigation.

“I feel the administrators at Aliso Viejo Middle School and Capistrano Unified School District are unable to see or deal with the real problems because of their haste to protect their image,” Bayless said.

Both Bayless and Harris contended district investigators contacted only nine minority parents, contrary to Supt. Fleming’s report that most of the school’s 100 minority parents were consulted.

Harris, who was not among the parents contacted, is white. She is married to a Panamanian and their daughter is considered black, Harris said.

They also objected to the district’s method of informing parents about the report. Only a few parents were able to attend an information session before Fleming released it to the news media.

“The biggest complaint that parents have is that there is no parental contact before action is taken,” Harris said. “This is a community of parents who care and need to be apprised of what’s going on.”