Two brothers at Live Oak High School admitted to fighting on
campus during school hours earlier this year and were initially
expelled by Morgan Hill Unified, however, their permanent record
will no longer reflect the brawl and the expulsion.
Two brothers at Live Oak High School admitted to fighting on campus during school hours earlier this year and were initially expelled by Morgan Hill Unified, however, their permanent record will no longer reflect the brawl and the expulsion.
The decision came from the Santa Clara County Board of Education Wednesday night. The board who acts as an appellate board to local school districts. On March 8, the MHUSD school board voted 5-2, trustees Claudia Rossi and Bob Benevento voted no, to expel the Live Oak junior and senior for fighting, disruption of school activity and willful defiance of school authority.
The county board decided that because the audio recording of the routine expulsion hearing by Morgan Hill Unified employees with the boys’ parents Beatriz and Raul Martinez was inaudible, they voted 4-1 in separate hearings for each boy to “set aside and expunge” the expulsion on their records. After the district discovered the recording was inaudible, Superintendent Wes Smith said the district “suspended the expulsion” of Christian, 17, and Raul, 18.
The Martinez family was represented by local lawyer Armando Benavides and former candidate for MHUSD school board. Benavides said he was pleased with the outcome after several months of waiting for the appeal hearing.
“The board failed to meet protocol and the safeguards that are in place,” he said Thursday. The Martinez parents, who do not speak English, addressed the MHUSD board at the March 8 board meeting when MHUSD trustees voted. Beatriz spoke first, entirely in Spanish with no translation (Claudia Rossi and Smith were able to take notes), while Raul Sr. was given a translation by Roberto Aguirre, a member of the education advocate group Padres Unidos, who was in the audience and also spoke in support of the Martinez family that night. Rossi and Trustee Kathy Sullivan said at the end of the meeting that a translator needs to be available during similar public comment situations.
Because the expulsion hearing was not properly recorded, the MHUSD school board did not receive a transcript of the hearing and lacked information about the fight and the boys’ their histories, Benavides said. The Martinez’s say they were acting in self-defense after relentless harassing and bullying that escalated to a fight involving six students.
Smith said he stands by the district’s decision to expel six students for fighting that day – evidence which apparently was captured on video and posted on YouTube.com but has since been removed. He said there is no history of faulty audio recordings during past expulsion hearings; “We went out and bought a new recorder, so it doesn’t ever happen again. It was a technical error. We followed all procedures,” Smith said.
According to testimony from principal Lloyd Webb and the campus resource officer, the Martinez brothers had a gang affiliation and had associated with known gang members. Benavides argued that the brothers fought because they were being harassed as gang members, when they are not. “Their reasons were too vague. They have no gang tattoos. They’re not trouble makers,” Benavides said.
“Kids were targeting them and labeling them as gang members (and the LOHS administration). It continued on and on and led to a fight. How do you handle this kind of issue when kids are being harassed and bullied? They have kids that can’t rely on the system and have to rely on self-defense,” Benavides said.
Since their expulsion in March, the Martinez brothers were offered alternative assignments by the district, but their parents wanted their sons back at Live Oak to finish the school year, which was not allowed.
“It was not punitive, but a placement to help the student be successful,” Smith said. “The placement was by far the best for each of them.” The students were recommended by the district to attend Gilroy High School, though transportation was an issue for the family, Benavides said.
MHUSD and the Martinez family awaits a letter from the county board on the next steps for their education and senior Raul’s expected high school graduation.
“They did offer alternatives short of returning them to regular schools,” Benavides said, “but the kids got a better deal in the appeal process.”
Benavides added that’s he’s concerned with the alternative options for expelled students beyond Central Continuation High School. “It needs to be looked at. Are they really helping the kids who are getting expelled? They have an obligation that they don’t lose these kids, because once they get expelled it’s hard to get back on track.”
