Parent threatens TeWinkle teacher

Deepa Bharath and Marisa O’Neil

A TeWinkle Middle School parent has been banned from campus for seven

days after he threatened his daughter’s teacher.

The father called his daughter’s math teacher out of class at

about 10 a.m. Tuesday and threatened him after a misunderstanding,

Costa Mesa Police Lt. John FitzPatrick said.

Police and school officials would not provide details about what

led to the altercation.

“The parent told the teacher, ‘I’m gonna [expletive] you up,’”

FitzPatrick said, reading from a police report about the incident.

The parent reportedly held up a clenched fist in front of the

teacher and looked at him face to face, he said.

“The teacher said he was scared and he thought the parent was

going to hit him,” FitzPatrick said.

But the parent did not hit him and walked away, FitzPatrick said.

The teacher approached the authorities, and Costa Mesa police school

resource officers were called.

“The teacher did not want the parent arrested,” he said.

Instead, the teacher suggested that he, the parent and the

principal meet and clear up the misunderstanding, FitzPatrick said.

Costa Mesa police are “letting the school handle the situation,” he

said.

The “situation was not an assault, but was a verbal assault,” said

Newport-Mesa Unified School District spokeswoman Jane Garland, who

initially said no police report was filed.

“The teacher is not pressing charges,” she said. “We’ve handled it

internally, and we’ve imposed the district’s Civility Code by not

allowing [the parent] to be on campus for seven days.”

The code defines what is acceptable conduct for teachers, parents

and students when they are on campus, Garland said. The father will

be allowed back on campus after the seven days, she said.

Garland also said it was a misunderstanding, that the parent was

upset over something that “was not correct.”

“We consider it an unfortunate incident with the parent getting

overly excited,” she said.

Such incidents are uncommon in the Costa Mesa schools, FitzPatrick

said.

“This is a rare incident,” he said. “Most parents want to hear

both sides of the story before they jump into something like this.”

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at deepa.bharath@latimes.com.

MARISA O’NEIL covers education. She may be reached at (949) 574-4268

or by e-mail at marisa.oneil@latimes.com.