Charges Filed, but Teacher Sticks to Story

A Compton teacher who claims that four students doused her with human excrement this summer was charged Thursday with one misdemeanor count of filing a false police report.

Shannan Barron, a 28-year-old teacher at Dominguez High School, could face six months in jail and a $1,000 fine if found guilty. Her arraignment is set for Sept. 17.

Responding to the charge, Barron’s lawyer said she would sue state education officials if her client is found not guilty. Attorney L’Tanya Butler said the state, which took over the troubled Compton school district in 1993, is ultimately responsible for pursuing the claim against Barron.

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Barron has been unable to identify which students may have splashed her with two wastebaskets of excrement after her second-period class July 16. But she said she believes they were friends or relatives of a student she had failed earlier.

On Wednesday, Compton police concluded that Barron lied about the July 16 incident and that excrement found on her clothes was her own--the result of a “personal accident.”

“The crime lab says all the feces are on the inside [of her clothes],” Compton Police Capt. Steven Roller said Thursday, adding that Barron resisted turning over the clothing she wore the day of the incident.

But during a news conference at her lawyer’s office Thursday afternoon, Barron announced results from an independent polygraph test taken Wednesday that she said indicates she is telling the truth about the incident.

“I did not lie,” Barron said. She added that she holds no grudge against school administrators despite their contention that she was not attacked.

Barron, supported during the news conference by a group including her mother and Compton school board member Basil Kimbrew, said that although parts of her original story may have been inaccurate, she is sure that four unidentified students splashed her with two buckets of excrement after second period.

“When I say I was drenched, I was drenched,” she said. “My pants were soaked on me to the skin.”

Though she denies police investigators’ claims that she made inconsistent statements, Barron acknowledged that she may have erred in stating that some excrement landed on her face.

“Something was dripping off my face,” she said. “Whether it was my tears . . . or feces, I don’t know.”