A senior Villa Park teacher was allegedly removed from office and threw away a student memorial to kill a student memorial from the front of the Orange County campus.
SUPT. Rachel H. Monárrez confirmed the memorial had been removed, but said the rules of personnel prevented her from discussing any charges involving employees. She confirmed that the Orange Unified School District is investigating the incident.
“We have an obligation to investigate,” Monares said. “This does not mean that the person is guilty or innocent. We are investigating.”
Moenres added that the school did not notify in advance that the memorial would be established, but “want to support the children in the sad process.”
The episode is in a national string music that is accused of publicly applauding Kirk’s death, who was assassinated on the Utah University campus last week. Public and private employees use rough, celebratory or vulgar language (usually on social media) to deal with Kirk’s death. Kirk, 31, appreciates a series of debates, including through different views from his own, whose own polarization statement has long evoked sharp criticism.
Two of the three student organizers agreed to be interviewed but asked to be anonymous. Both sides are worried that online is notorious, which may be related to the political situation. One student was concerned about the impact on future athletic scholarships and the impact of participating in team sports. Another student is considering a career in public services and does not want the incident to appear in background checks.
The idea of assembling the memorial came together soon Sunday night.
A 16-year-old junior said he thought the idea was “really cool… because I felt like I had something to do with this person. I wouldn’t even say it was political. I said I had something to do with him because I’m also a very religious person”, especially “in the past year or two.”
In his notes, he said, “I wrote ideas and prayers for the Kirks.”
“I felt so sad after Charlie passed away and I wanted to hold something in school,” said a 17-year-old senior.
The next morning, before school, three students brought bouquets and notes and added them to unrelated memorials of the victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack. The 9/11 Memorial Hall was set up in an outdoor amphitheater on campus.
An administrator suggested moving the Kirk Memorial to the public sidewalk in front of the school, noting that the 9/11 memorial will be demolished soon. The students said that because their commemoration of Kirk will be more obvious in the front.
The school clock rang at 8:30 a.m. and the students were in class.
But later that morning, around 10 a.m., they received the words that the memorial was knocked down. They said the parents took a photo of a woman removing the material and saw the woman put the material in her car.
Students provided the Times with a photo showing a woman in a car near her, showing her. The students identified the woman as a teacher and said the teacher did not complete the entire day’s work.
The district refuses to identify the individual or ask teachers to leave campus. Monares said it was common for an employee to be given paid administrative leave during the investigation, but she did not say whether it was part of the investigation.
As the Alert Memorial evacuation was heard, administrators tried to find out what was going on, including recruiting school resource officials.
The materials were found in off-campus trash bins and also found Alex Tran, a leading student government at Villa Park High School who graduated in June, said the parents of one of the students.
“I believe this is sabotageism” and violates students’ right to freedom of speech, said Tran, who is about to attend UC Davis.
The principal confirmed that the memorial artifacts were located “outside the campus” and brought them back so that the memorial could be built again.
Mornres said that when employees do improper things, but without putting their children at risk, there is often “gradual discipline”, which takes into account the seriousness of the crime and a person’s employment history. For example, if an employee receives a warning letter, this level of discipline will remain confidential. The school board will have to approve more serious consequences, which will affect wages or employment.
“Deleting a memorial is not an act of forgiveness,” Moenres said. “It’s about behavior. We are really working to be a region that goes beyond these cultural wars and really focus on children and educational outcomes.”
