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by SouthPole/Youth in the media contributor
"All the Superintendent was trying to do was insure that the students had a second
chance"-Staff to Superintendent Ackerman.
Dr. Ackerman is in dire need of Politics 101. A
word of advice for any aspiring politicians: A politician or their staff should never make
a subjective statement about themselves or their boss. The fact is you cannot sign away
your rights, especially, without legal council present.
His Honor the Mayor Willie L.
Brown, Jr., Superintendent of Schools Dr. Arlene Ackerman, and several San Francisco
Unified School District lawyers met with students and parents of students facing
disciplinary action by the school district, in result of the October Eleventh riot, without
legal council representing the students, and offered them a deal. If the students promised
not to sue, they would have all charges removed from their record. Keep in mind "All the
Superintendent was trying to do was insure that the students had a second chance". It is
not likely that public officials would intimidate high school students, using titles,
numbers, and law degrees, to "insure that the students had a second chance". Not being
there, it is not right to say that this is a rat, but it smells like one, looks like one,
and certainly tastes like one.
__________
You may contact me at 'SouthPole@journalist.com'.
Is there deal over school brawl?
BY NICK DRIVER Of The Examiner Staff (originally printed on 12/09/2002)
Three of The City's most prominent political leaders intervened after October's cathartic Thurgood Marshall
High School police-student clash, offering to drop charges against four teenagers if they agreed not to sue the
Police Department, sources say.
Mayor Willie Brown, school Superintendent Arlene Ackerman and Police Chief Earl Sanders and their
representatives met with the four students and their parents at least twice.
"At one closed meeting, hosted by Mayor Willie Brown, possible agreement options were discussed," said
district spokesperson Lorna Ho.
"Dr. Ackerman felt compelled to find a compromise which would hopefully allow for the students, who were
facing possible charges, to get a second chance, since based on her inquiries, none of the students had any prior
offenses before Oct. 11," said Ho.
More than 200 students were involved in the fracas.
That morning, 70 police, many in riot gear, stormed the campus after a fight broke out and school
administrators panicked.
The resulting clash sent dozens of students to the hospital and caused the principal to resign.
"The Police Department, along with the African American Community Relations Board, is working with the
students' parents and the Board of Education to come up with a plan to benefit the students," Sanders said in a
statement Friday.
The meetings were held in a bid to convince the four students to avoid further public allegations of police
brutality concerning the melee at the heavily black high school in Silver Terrace.
One parent, a Spanish-only speaker with little knowledge of the law, may have already signed on to an
informal plan to sign the deal, defense attorneys said.
But the school district bristled at suggestions The City was trying to muscle through a deal to get the police off
the hook, with spokespersons saying everyone present knew this was no secret deal and was strongly in the
interest of students.
"It was the superintendent's goal for the students to move forward with their futures without blemishes on
their records," Ho said in a statement.
"It was made clear by verbal instruction that families should consult legal counsel before making any
decisions."
But early drafts of the Memorandum of Understanding, which were labeled drafts, not final agreements,
contained no legal warnings.
Ackerman and her legal staff are drawing up the final version "as we speak," Ho said.
The students' defense lawyers say whatever happened in the meetings should not have happened without them
present. Brown, a lawyer, should have known better, one said.
Another accused the police of arresting students to strengthen the department's position should the threat of
lawsuits arise.
"There is a lot we still don't know, but it certainly appears that the mayor, the superintendent and the Police
Department met with these students and their parents without their attorneys," said Whitney Leigh, an attorney
for the law firm of Keker and Van Nest, which is defending one student.
"They attempted to persuade them to waive their rights to sue in return for a dropping of charges, and that is
inappropriate on so many levels," Leigh said.
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