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Parents oppose administrator reassignment to teaching job
Cecilia Lee-Hiraoka helped immigrant families adjust
By Gretchen Knaup
The reassignment of Fremont High School assistant principal Cecilia Lee-Hiraoka to a teaching position has stirred up charges of racism and politics. A group of parents, including a former PTSA president, is protesting, and the school administration, as is the custom in personnel matters, isn't saying much.
Lee-Hiraoka, who started in the district at Lynbrook High School in 1997, has been assigned to Monta Vista High School to teach Spanish beginning in the fall. Lee-Hiraoka said she went to Lynbrook as an assistant principal.
After two years at Lynbrook, she went to Homestead in 1999 before being transferred to Fremont in 2000, serving as an assistant principal at both schools..
One of her staunch defenders in the parent community is Karin Costa, a one-time PTSA president at Lynbrook. "The district is always pushing diversity," Costa said in a recent interview. "She was diversity. She was the first Chinese-American woman in her position. Cecilia didn't look at your ethnic background; she saw the students for who they were."
Costa is one of a group of parents who circulated a petition among parents of students at Homestead, Lynbrook and Fremont High schools. She also wrote a letter to the district on behalf of parents asking the board to reconsider the reassignment.
Parents first learned of the reassignment about four weeks ago. Fred Chow, who has a son at Lynbrook, attempted to find out what was behind the board's decision. According to Chow, he was told that Lee-Hiraoka was not a team player, and that she possibly had disclosed confidential information. There was also a charge that she had called a student a liar.
"We are pretty upset because we don't see the real justification for their decision," Chow said.
Lee-Hiraoka, in an interview, said of the charge that she had called a student a liar, "For the second time, I was told by a student that a certain student had given her alcohol, and when we went to get that student, he was not in school because he was ill. All I said to the student was that it was very hard to believe his story, given the circumstances." She said the student's father got upset and told the principal that Lee-Hiraoka had called the student a liar. She added, "No one told me the parent complained, so I couldn't meet with the principal or the father."
Lee-Hiraoka said the next time she heard about it was in the evaluation, which was, according to her, her first negative evaluation after several very positive ones. "The assumption was that I didn't get along with the parent."
Chow took the letter written by Costa and the petition to the board meeting on April 10. Later, Chow said of the presentation: "Lots of people were out of town because of Easter. I was the only one there, and they didn't tell us anything afterwards ... all we asked the board to do was compromise."
Chow added. "We weren't listened to, and that's what we're concerned about. It was workable."
But Superintendent Joe Hamilton told The Sun, "The parents who spoke were listened to by the board and their concerns were taken into consideration. Just because parents disagree with the board's decision doesn't mean the board wasn't listening."
Both parents and Lee-Hiraoka agree that Lee-Hiraoka's strength was in her ability to work with students and parents. "It was an excellent year for me, but there were problems with colleagues," she said. "I thought I got along with the superintendent and I got along well with the principal, but I still felt like I was being marginalized. I didn't feel a part of things. I assumed that if you worked hard, eventually you would become a part of it, but that's not the case."
Parents argue that even if there were problems that needed correcting, Lee-Hiraoka should have been given the opportunity to improve. One parent, Hyoung Young, said, "In my company, when employees are performing badly, they are evaluated and given a warning."
Young also pointed out that Lee-Hiraoka was an asset with first-generation immigrant parents, helping them understand the system. She co-chaired the bilingual advisory committee at Lynbrook where she held back-to-school orientations for these parents.
Fremont parent Laura Cardenas said she worked with Lee-Hiraoka in a group at Fremont called Los Padres, and that Lee-Hiraoka helped parents understand the language of grading, and also helped them communicate with their children's teachers.
While parents are still pushing the board to reconsider, Superintendent Hamilton said: "When the board makes a decision like this, they are very careful, and they make decisions based on my recommendations. We make decisions that are in the best interest of the students." He added: "I can assure you that the board spent many hours in deliberation over this." He refused to release details of the case because it is against policy to disclose personnel information.
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
