LYNWOOD — It was business as usual this week at Firebaugh High School, as students, teachers and parents continued to prepare for the school’s first graduation ceremony — set to take place June 19 — despite their principal being placed on administrative leave two weeks ago amid an investigation by the Sheriff’s Department's Special Victims Bureau.
“It’s quiet over here,” a Firebaugh teacher, who asked not to be named, said. “Kids are excited that school is over, that testing is over. … I think [the principal topic] is just something they don’t want to talk about, because I haven’t heard anything. In a way, it’s a good thing.”
Jonas Silverio, principal at Firebaugh, was placed on administrative leave with pay at the May 11 school board meeting.
“People want to know as little as possible,” one school district official told a reporter this week. “No one is going to say anything to you, and rightfully so. Being under investigation by the Special Victims Unit comes with a lot of questions. Even though people want to know the what, the who, the why, etc. … even though this guy is innocent until proven guilty, around the school district offices, this topic is so hush-hush it’s scary.”
Because it is an ongoing investigation, the Sheriff’s Department has advised district officials, including school board members, to disclose nothing, warning them they could be cited for interfering with an ongoing investigation.
Before going into closed session at Tuesday’s regularly scheduled meeting, school board President Jose Solache was asked if he had been briefed on “what’s next” by the superintendent, the Sheriff’s Department detectives, or anyone else.
“No comment,” he said. In response to question after question, Solache simply shook his head, without saying a word.
Calls to Superintendent Dhyan Lal were not returned. Calls to the school board’s legal counsel Louis T. Lozano of the Lozano Smith law firm also were not returned.
In an interview late last week, Lt. Michael Rosson of the Century Sheriff’s Station said that there were no new developments in the case that he knew of, only that it was still an ongoing investigation and that he could not comment further on the matter. After confirming that there was an investigation taking place within the Lynwood Unified School District regarding “a principal” earlier this month — in which he said he could not link the investigation to Silverio — Rosson had said that the Century Station was not handling the case, and directed The Wave to the Sheriff’s Detectives Bureau. In last week’s telephone call, however, Rosson, did say that Century Station was now involved in the investigation.
Reached via telephone, Sgt. Peter Hahn of the Special Victims Bureau said that he was familiar with the LUSD investigation could not comment on an active investigation.
“Anything more than that, I can’t really comment on,” Hahn said. “But it is our investigation.” There are however, no new developments, he said.
Asked if he could comment on whether or not he knew if the case would be handed over to the district attorney’s office, Hahn said: “We will have to wait to see where the investigation leads us. If it warrants charges being filed, then we will present the case to the district attorney’s office, and they will make the determination whether to file charges.”
Hahn said he could “not comment on what the allegations are, or where they stem from.”
But allegations and rumors about the principal are running amok.
Former City Councilman Armando Rea said he knows firsthand what it feels like to be falsely accused, but in this case, he said, “as parents, we have a right to know what is going on with Jonas Silverio.”
“The safety and welfare of our children outweighs the secrecy of private, personnel issues of any school employee,” Rea said. “We have a right to know what is going on. The way I see things, the school district is failing to safeguard the health and safety of our children by leaving us in the dark. We have the right to know. … We should not have to worry about this kind of stuff when we drop our children off at school.”
Rea added that while these are alleged crimes and Silverio is innocent until proven guilty — which is up to the courts to decide — the superintendent and his subordinate staff “get an F on this issue.”
In a brief interview earlier this month, school board member Maria Lopez said she knew nothing of Silverio’s alleged resignation. Asked about the investigation, she said she simply knew that the Sheriff’s Department was handling it. “Our hands are tied,” she said.
Even though it is alleged that Silverio has already submitted his resignation, effective June 30, that has not been confirmed. Board members have refused to confirm it and when asked about the alleged resignation in an interview May 7, Lal said he could not confirm it, either. The first to see such a resignation would be school board members, Lal said.
Detectives were reported to be at the school district headquarters on Friday. “I think it had something to do with the computers,” said a district employee. “But I didn’t see them take any.”
School board member Rachel Chavez, in a telephone call this week, also said she could not comment on the matter. “We’re still waiting for answers ourselves,” she said.
Resident Joaquin Mesinas said that board members should not be questioned about the matter. “It’s gotten this far because people don’t question the person in charge,” Mesinas said, referring to the superintendent. Mesinas said he commended the school board for putting the principal on administrative leave pending the investigation. “That shows that you guys are doing your job,” he told four board members on Tuesday night. Vice President Alfonso Morales was absent. “That shows that accountability is important here.”
“Friends protect friends too much around here,” Mesinas said. “Remember last year, when Jonas Silverio was found to be hand-picking students for the [International Baccaulreate] program at Firebaugh, you guys told him to stop. … You guys allowed him 50 spaces, he sent out 100 letters. … Nothing happened to him, he wasn’t written up. But this is what we’re talking about, friends protecting friends. … To me it sounds like no one is listening to you guys,” Mesinas told the board members.
Whether Silverio is innocent or not, that is not the question, Mesinas said. “That’s up to the Sheriff’s Department,” he said. “The questions are about Silverio’s administrative leave. People aren’t put on administrative leave for nothing.”
Last year, another teacher was placed on administrative leave for alleged inappropriate conduct with students, Mesinas said in a telephone call this week. “His leave was immediate, and there was no sheriff’s investigation,” he said. “And that teacher is still out on administrative leave.”
Julio Carrasco, a parent at Firebaugh High School, in a telephone call to The Wave offices nearly two weeks ago, said he and other parents at Firebaugh were “indignant” over Silverio’s administrative leave.
“We are very upset that you would write something like this, something that is totally not true,” Carrasco said about a story that ran in The Wave on May 14. “How can you humiliate someone who has only done good things for our students? If this school is where it is, it is because of this principal that you are lying about. Your story is full of lies.”
Carrasco, who was invited to submit his complaints via a letter to the editor, also said that Silverio had nothing to do with Firebaugh’s Falcon Pride Parent Booster Club, and that the club’s parents were separate from Silverio. “He never told us what to do,” Carrasco said. The parent also protested about reports that Firebaugh students were allegedly drinking on a field trip to Sacramento last year.
“I was there the whole time and there was no drinking,” he said. “If you have proof about everything you wrote, then [the parents] want to see it. Otherwise you’re attacking a good person.”
When told about Carrasco’s claim regarding underage drinking, a high-ranking school district official said that Carrasco was in denial.
“There was drinking, and no one was held accountable for that,” the official said. “Mr. Carrasco needs to wake up, because the underage drinking is not what is being investigated here.”
The school board’s next meeting is scheduled for June 9, but according to Solache, the meeting might be moved to June 10. The date is not certain yet, but it will be posted in a timely manner, Solache assured the audience at Tuesday night’s meeting.
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