A protest was held Feb. 20 in front of Cameron Elementary School in West Covina after school officials announced last week that a substitute teacher was removed from the school for allegedly viewing inappropriate material on a cellphone during class.
The parents who attended said they were protesting the handling of the incident and the delay in being notified of it.
“I’m doing this for my daughter. She didn’t even go to school today because she’s like, ‘Mom, I’m scared,’” Meghan Randall, one of the protesting parents told KCAL News.
The incident occurred Feb. 16, Supt. Emy Flores of the West Covina Unified School District said.
“As soon as we found out, we took immediate action,” Ms. Flores, told the news station. “Keeping the safety of our students is a top priority and the principal alerted us [and] the district office and I immediately dispatched my staff to come out here and provide support.”
According to Ms. Flores, a parent of one of the students in the substitute’s class called the school on Friday at noon to notify them that his son had called him crying. The school’s principal, Sylvia Fullerton, then went to the boy’s class and found several of the students were also crying.
“Ms. Fullerton took over the class and directed the substitute teacher to leave the classroom,” Ms. Flores said in a statement, adding that the school’s principal later met with the substitute teacher and removed him from the school.
The identity of the teacher has not been disclosed.
Ms. Flores said school officials were working with the West Covina Police Department and the Los Angeles County Department of Child Protective Services to investigate the matter, and that further action could be taken based on the findings of the investigation, according to KCAL.
“We want to reassure the community that the police department is treating these allegations with the utmost seriousness. An investigation is currently underway to thoroughly examine the situation and gather all the necessary information,” West Covina Police Chief Richard Bell said Feb. 18.
District officials said parents of all the pupils in the class were notified of the incident.
The West Covina Police Department is asking anyone with more information to contact investigators at (626) 939-8688.
