Parents protest district move

Michael Miller

More than 300 TeWinkle Middle School parents and students are

demanding the retention of an assistant principal whose job they

believe is in jeopardy.

At Tuesday’s Newport-Mesa Unified School District board of

trustees meeting, a group of parent representatives delivered a

petition signed by more than 200 asking the district to retain the

services of Tony Valenzuela, one of the two assistant principals at

TeWinkle. The parents claimed that the district was planning to

discontinue Valenzuela’s position after this school year. The numbers

of signers has since grown to more than 300.

District officials denied the charges, saying that Valenzuela

would work elsewhere on the staff and that another official would

fill his current job.

“We haven’t received any reason,” said Mirna Burciaga, a TeWinkle

parent who led the petition drive, about Valenzuela’s reassignment.

“What bothers me is that they didn’t talk to the parents. Parents

have been asking the district, and the district says they can’t talk

about that issue because it’s a personnel thing.”

Burciaga, who has served on Costa Mesa’s parks and recreation and

human relations commissions and ran for the City Council, filed a

formal complaint in 2000 with the state Department of Education

alleging, among other things, that many Latino children attending

Newport-Mesa schools were given less opportunity than required by

law.

The district was then required to create a systematic program to

address the needs of English-language learners or risk losing federal

funding.

In the latest case, Burciaga and other parents are upset that

Valenzuela, who has worked at TeWinkle since 2001 and in the district

since 1978, would no longer serve as assistant principal at the

predominantly Latino middle school. They say Valenzuela, who is

bilingual, offers solid support to students and parents who have poor

English-speaking skills.

However, a number of district officials said Valenzuela’s position

would not be “discontinued,” as the petition’s cover letter claimed,

and that he would remain at TeWinkle in a different post next year.

“We will continue the services that Tony is providing, one way or

another,” said Jaime Castellanos, assistant superintendent of

secondary education for Newport-Mesa.

He said he planned to meet with Valenzuela next Monday to discuss

ideas for the following school year. As assistant principal,

Valenzuela works both as an administrator and as a part-time teacher,

and Castellanos said his job next year would involve most or all of

the same duties.

Valenzuela confirmed that he had received a letter from the

district office in March saying that he would no longer work as a

TeWinkle administrator next year. However, he said he did not

interpret the letter as a dismissal and expected to fill a teaching

job in the fall.

“I wasn’t being fired, like fired out of the district,” Valenzuela

said. “I’d imagine I would go back and teach, either at the

elementary or high school level.”

He added that he did not know why the district was moving him out

of administration, but said he thought the reason was “maybe

funding.”

Regardless of the district’s true intentions, the rumors of

Valenzuela’s dismissal sparked the ire of hundreds in the TeWinkle

community. A number of parents at the Tuesday meeting spoke in praise

of Valenzuela after handing in the petition, and Burciaga said she

had accumulated dozens more names since then.

“When parents are having concerns with their children about

discipline, if something’s going wrong, Tony is there to provide

support,” she said. “With parents, they identify themselves with Tony

because he speaks their language.”

Burciaga, a member of TeWinkle’s English Learners Advisory

Committee, said she started the movement after Valenzuela told her

about the letter he received in March. Valenzuela said he did not

hear about the petition until Wednesday, the day after the board

meeting. He declined comment on the parents’ campaign.

Jane Garland, the spokeswoman for Newport-Mesa, said she

sympathized with the petitioners but believed their information was

inaccurate.

“I seriously feel that this is just part of a concern that gets

out of control,” Garland stated. “People are very passionate and very

caring, and the concern isn’t as warranted as they thought it was. He

was never being fired.”

Garland noted that during the comments at the Tuesday meeting, the

word “fired” often came up. She said a more accurate description of

the district’s action was “lateral change.”

“What [Valenzuela] is doing now might not fit under the title of

‘assistant principal,’ so what he’s doing may not change even though

the title may change,” Garland explained.

Castellanos said that the district would decide Valenzuela’s

official job title in the future, but that his work next year would

likely be full-time teaching, full-time parent coordination, or a

combination of both. As assistant principal, Valenzuela currently

handles discipline, campus supervision and community outreach, and

also teaches at the school part-time.

“I love teaching,” Valenzuela said about his possible job for next

year. “It’s my passion, and so is helping kids and their families.”

* MICHAEL MILLER covers education and may be reached at (714)

966-4617 or by e-mail at michael.miller@latimes.com.