Barely one week after a 20-year-old after-school worker was arrested at Everett Middle School for allegedly sexually abusing a child, the San Francisco Unified School District put the school’s principal and assistant principal on leave, according to a letter sent by the school district yesterday.
The email, sent to the entire Everett community from Han Phung, the San Francisco Unified School District’s assistant superintendent of middle schools, did not detail the reason for the leave. Laura Dudnick, the school district’s spokesperson, also declined to name the reason, citing “personnel matters.” Dudnick said the two were “on leave,” but not “suspended.”
Mission Local has learned, however, that the move is a reaction to the sexual assault allegations and subsequent arrest. While school principals do not oversee after-school programs, an investigation may turn up information that reveals Everett’s leadership could have acted sooner.
Some parents and others who work at the school defended Everett principal Alicia Blacknell and assistant principal Dinora Castro. “To have her not there when she is most needed does not make sense,” said a source close to the school, in reference to the principal. The source did not know that the assistant principal had also been put on leave.
The after-school program has not been suspended at Everett, according to an Everett parent.
The parent, whose child attended the after-school program, said she found the two suspended principals very “responsive” to parents after the incident. “Those two women, Miss Castro and Miss Blacknell, are on it,” said the parent. “They’re very responsive … as soon as they found out, they had him hauled off in handcuffs.”
Jeremy Rene Reyes was arrested last Tuesday at the school for allegedly sexually assaulting a minor in the after-school program. Reyes was a worker with Mission Graduates, which runs the program and has said it is cooperating with the criminal investigation.
Yesterday, he pleaded not guilty in court to eight charges, including sexual intercourse with a minor. He is being held without bond.
Soon after Reyes was arrested last Tuesday, Everett principal Blacknell sent an email titled “Incident at Everett Today” to staff and teachers, describing the alleged assault and directing children who might need support to the school’s head counselor, according to a copy of the email.
With Blacknell and Castro on leave, the school district has appointed Ruby Nee, the district’s executive director of middle schools, supervisor Christopher Maldonado and Everett’s other assistant principal, Heidi Avelina-Smith, to oversee the school, according to the email from Phung. The school district is also working with its substitute office to assign a new administrator.
“We appreciate the ways that our Everett students and staff have demonstrated care, support and resilience with one another in the last week,” Phung wrote in the email to parents and staff.
“The staff continues to be amazing in their efforts to be supportive in addressing both the students’ social and academic needs,” Phung added. “I want to assure you that your child’s well-being at all times is our priority.”
In an email sent to San Francisco public school parents, teachers and others on Wednesday afternoon, the school district superintendent, Matt Wayne, said that any staff dealing with students directly, including those hired by a nonprofit like Mission Graduates, “are required to clear a criminal background check prior to any contact with students.”
The Everett parent also said that the after-school program is a “refuge” for many Everett families, because it is low-cost and keeps children busy who would otherwise idle away on the streets.
“If they do not have after-school care, they’re going to run amok in the streets,” she said. The parent said that the program is open late, until 6 p.m., and she worries that it would be removed from the school following the incident. “Good luck finding any daycare that’s open that late. It really bums me out that that program might be taken away.”
The San Francisco Police Department is still investigating the alleged assault.
Anyone with information is asked to call the San Francisco Police Department Tip Line at 1-415-575-4444 or Text a Tip to TIP411 and begin the text message with SFPD. You may remain anonymous.
Additional reporting by Joe Rivano Barros, Joe Eskenazi and Lydia Chávez.
Unless there’s a specific reason for this, it seems unfair to scapegoat the principal and assistant principal. Yes, it was a terrible thing. But could they have stopped it?
Perhaps that is what the district is trying to find out.
Why would the principal be put on leave when she has no supervisory role with the Afterschool Program. This just doens’t make sense,.
Campers,
This has echoes of Marshall a couple of years ago when the District dumped a 20 year teacher the community loved.
The District seems to have a genetic suck.
The Head of the School Board when I was there (Keith Jackson) ended up in prison in the Nuru scandal for working with Supervisor Leland Yee to arrange contract murders.
Had a principal in South Carolina who went to prison for gun play.
I’m sitting on edge of my seat waiting for parents to weigh in on suspensions.
Go Niners !!
h.