For students at Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez High School, the school year began on Monday without any transparency from the Los Angeles Unified School District regarding the firing of their principal and assistant principal last spring.
An interim principal and assistant principal are now leading the school after a turbulent end to last school year in which students staged several sit-ins and walkouts and led a march to Los Angeles City Hall to demand answers from the silent school district. The change in administration came after former principal Mauro Bautista and assistant principal John Cerezo were quietly removed from their positions without notice.
The situation this school year leaves students, teachers and parents feeling disappointed and uncertain.
“After leaving with uncertainty, we return with uncertainty,” said English teacher Lizette Toribio. She said she looks for someone in a leader who is both community-minded and “someone who understands the needs of our school, our families and our teachers.”
According to LAUSD, Fred Simmons and Alexander Contreras will temporarily assume the roles of the school’s new principal and assistant principal, respectively.
Simmons is no stranger to the Mendez campus. He served as assistant principal at Mendez for 10 years, according to an LAUSD spokesperson.
Simmons said in a phone call with Boyle Heights Beat that he is excited for the start of the school year, but declined to comment when asked about his mission to support the school and its students. Simmons said he and Contreras have been instructed by LAUSD not to speak to the media.
Axel Berganza, a Mendez student, said he was looking forward to returning to school and being productive after a long summer break and was confident the interim principal would do a good job.
“I think people are happy with it because he is better known. I don’t think there is that much opposition to his position as principal,” Berganza said.
The 15-year-old said he remembers Simmons working on the Mendez campus during his freshman and part of his sophomore year at Mendez.
However, Mendez Jr. said that “everyone wants Bautista back.”
In the spring, rumors about Bautista spread quickly throughout the Mendez community, creating tension throughout the Eastside school as teachers, parents and students felt left in the dark by LAUSD and refused to provide insight into the reasons for the firing.
“I firmly believe that Mendez would not be Mendez without him,” said Berganza, who took part in several protests last spring demanding the principal’s return.
“He really motivated students in the right way. He gave that extra attention and motivation to students who needed it to really succeed in school.”
Berganza said he and his classmates appreciated their former principal’s commitment to listening to students and fighting for things like after-school programs that were in jeopardy due to budget cuts.
“I think that’s one of the most supportive qualities a principal can have. To value the students’ wishes and do your best to fight for them,” Berganza said.
A LAUSD spokesperson declined a request for an interview with the new administrators and, when asked for an update on Bautista, said that “all personnel matters are confidential.”
Since the spring, the district has not disclosed the reason for Bautista’s removal, but his brother, Israel Bautista, spoke at a community meeting at Proyecto Pastoral in June to dispel any rumors that his brother was incarcerated.
“I can tell you with certainty that my brother is not in prison. He is not under investigation for any criminal activity,” Israel Bautista said during the meeting in June.
Toribio said that while she appreciated the good relationship with Simmons, the students had a very special relationship with their former principal.
“I think the challenge is that sometimes it doesn’t always meet the needs of the district and that makes it complicated, but we need someone who is willing to advocate for them,” Toribio said.
In a statement, LAUSD District 2 Board Member Rocio Rivas told Boyle Heights Beat that student health and safety is their top priority and reiterated that Mr. Simmons’ relationship with the community makes him a good choice for the interim role.
“We look forward to the start of the new school year and are confident that the East Region leadership and operations will continue to support us so that Mendez High School can continue to fulfill its educational mission for the community,” Rivas said.
Maricela Velázquez, mother of a reporter at Boyle Heights Beat High School and a 12th-grader at Mendez, wants clearer communication from school administration and more parental involvement in supporting students.
“I’m worried because I don’t know how this will affect my student since it’s his last year and I want him to enjoy it as much as he can in his last year,” she said. “I don’t know what the administration is going to be like.”
Velázquez expressed uncertainty when asked if she had hope for the climate at the school after the loss of Bautista.
“I would like to have hope, but since I have seen in the last few months how they ignore us and do not give us even the slightest hope that they will take into account the opinions and what we have fought for so far, I do not know what will happen,” she said.
