Vol. 47, Issue 7, 24 pages
Friday, April 29, 2022
TPHSmusicdept. plagued by repeated vandalism
A District Divided
Naomi Ciel Schneider STAFF WRITER
PHOTO BY ANNA OPALSKY/FALCONER
PUSHING FOR A RESIGNATION: Members of the Asian American community call for Ward’s resignation at an April 20 board meeting. To counter Ward’s claim that Asian students in SDUHSD perform well because their families are rich, parents shared personal struggles as
Supt. Ward will sue SDUHSD after being placed on leave for remarks about Asians Amy Ge
ASSISTANT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
SDUHSD Superintendent Dr. Cheryl James-Ward will file a lawsuit against SDUHSD after being placed on administrative leave on April 20 following her statements attributing Asian students’ academic success to their wealthy families who come from China. The leave decision was made in a 3-1 vote on April 20 that was supported by SDUHSD president Maureen “Mo” Muir, vice president Michael Allman and clerk Julie Bronstein and opposed by Trustee Katrina Young. SDUHSD Associate Superintendent for Business Services Tina Douglas was named Interim Superintendent by the Board of Trustees on April 23.
Ward said in an interview with NBC San Diego that the real reason she was placed on leave is because she is being retaliated against for filing a complaint on March 10 against board vice president Michael Allman. “I’m not going to take this sitting down,” Ward said. “I’ve been publicly lynched.” During a district Board Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Training Program on April 11, Allman asked Ward, “Do we know why Asian students do so well in school?” They were discussing district data that indicated groups of Asian students in the district receive fewer D and F grades than other racial groups. Ward replied that part of the reason is due to the wealthy families that have moved into SDUHSD from
China. “We have an influx of Asians from China, and the people who are able to make that journey are wealthy. You cannot come to America and buy a house for $2 million unless you have money,” Ward said. Ward then agreed in part with Muir, who said Asian students are successful because they live in multigenerational households where students are strongly supported by extended family. “The whole family comes, parents, grandparents, they are there to support kids at home, whereas in some of our Latinx communities, they don’t have that type of money. Parents are working two jobs, they’re working sun up to sundown,” Ward said.
Students in the music department have been hit by three incidents of vandalism since August 2021, with a violin and a viola scratched and a flute broken and left in a toilet. The most recent incident, the broken flute, involved both vandalism and theft. Custodians found the flute in the B building boys’ restroom, urinated on with its keys ripped out on March 16, according to a number of students familiar with the matter. The music department was notified a day later, and a picture of the flute in the toilet surfaced. “We did find a photo that was circulating during the day,” music teacher Amy Gelb said. “So it happened sometime Wednesday morning and someone had taken a picture around 11:30 a.m. on that Wednesday during fourth period [but] apparently nobody said anything.” The first two incidents, involving a violin and viola, occurred late in first semester. While no one is sure as to the motive behind the recent flute incident, student musicians suspect the scratched violin and viola were victims of a TikTok challenge. “We thought it might have something to do with the ‘devious licks’ vandalism challenges … in order to post it on social media and get attention,” violinist and victim of vandalism Sarah Wu (12) said. TPHS administrators are aware of the incidents and have made attempts to find the people responsible for the damage, without success. “Unless we can see clearly on a camera, which is, again, more rare than people think … it’s almost impossible to say this person did it. We would have to speculate and that gets really dicey,” Principal Rob Coppo said. “We’re working on it right now, but again, it’s reactive.” Some preventative measures do exist in the form of lockers in the music building, as well as locked storage rooms for larger instruments;. However, some students have taken to carrying their instruments with them around school. Some music students borrow instruments from TPHS, however, the majority of students’ families, like Wu’s, pay out of pocket for their instruments in order to participate in the music program. In cases of vandalism, students are responsible for paying to repurchase or repair the instruments. “[Personal items are] damaged at school [but] we’re not responsible technically,” Continued on A3