{"id":440340,"date":"2010-03-17T18:06:43","date_gmt":"2010-03-17T22:06:43","guid":{"rendered":"tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c630a53ef01310fb21051970c"},"modified":"2010-03-17T19:18:17","modified_gmt":"2010-03-17T23:18:17","slug":"l-a-county-official-calls-for-accountability-in-alleged-fight-club-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/440340","title":{"rendered":"L.A. County official calls for accountability in alleged fight club case"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Stephen<\/img><\/a> Expressing deep concern over allegations that a teacher arranged fights between students in a classroom at a Los Angeles County juvenile probation camp, Supervisor Mike Antonovich said Wednesday that he wants the education agency responsible for hiring and supervising the teacher held accountable.<\/p>\n

Antonovich said he planned to submit a motion at next week\u2019s board meeting demanding Los Angeles County Office of Education Supt. Darline Robles report back April 6 with details on the hiring and screening of Stephen Wesley, 43.<\/p>\n

Sheriff\u2019s investigators arrested Wesley on Tuesday for allegedly allowing and refereeing five boxing-style bouts \u2014 recorded by a security camera \u2014 during his class at Camp Karl Holton in San Fernando on Aug. 8, 2008. He’s been charged with six counts of child endangerment.<\/p>\n

Antonovich said he wanted school officials to explain to the Board of Supervisors any breaches in their hiring procedures, as well as corrective actions taken as a result of Wesley\u2019s case. School officials said they began investigating Wesley five days after the report of the fights and that he had not been assigned to teach in the interim. He resigned Sept. 29, 2008, before he could be disciplined, said education agency spokeswoman Margo Minecki.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the safety and security of probation youth is a county responsibility, the screening, hiring and disciplining of teachers is the responsibility of" the education agency, Antonovich wrote in the proposed motion. \u201cThis incident raises serious concerns over that entire process, including what, if any, discipline would have been imposed had the teacher not resigned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robles released a statement Wednesday saying, \u201cThe safety and well-being of our students are always a top priority for" the education agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel sure the incident at Camp Holton was promptly investigated and properly handled to protect the safety of students,\u201d Robles wrote. \u201cFortunately, each classroom had a surveillance camera in place to promote safety of students and staff. The recording from the video surveillance system helped us to take swift action in this case.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her statement, Robles referred to Wesley\u2019s case as \u201can isolated occurrence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steve Whitmore, spokesman for the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, said Tuesday that the fights apparently took place after students from rival gangs argued in Wesley\u2019s class. Over the course of the day, Wesley allegedly permitted six youths from rival gangs to face off in his class, instructing them on rules for the fights and telling them not to bloody each other, Whitmore said.<\/p>\n

A probation official who has seen the tape said Wesley stood inside the classroom door as students \u2014 who apparently told him that the security camera was broken \u2014 cheered on shirtless fighters. Wesley appeared to be on the lookout for passing probation staff or fellow teachers and can be heard urging the students not to tell anyone about the fights, the source said.<\/p>\n

Probation staff monitoring video feeds saw students fighting in Wesley\u2019s classroom late in the day, broke up the fight and then realized some of the youths had minor injuries, according to interim Probation Chief Cal Remington. At that point, they reviewed the day\u2019s footage and notified sheriff\u2019s investigators, Remington said.<\/p>\n

Wesley worked for less than two years for the education agency, which employs about 200 teachers in the juvenile camps and halls.<\/p>\n

Robles expressed confidence that the agency has \u201ceffective procedures in place to screen, hire, supervise and discipline all employees. Many of these procedures are mandated by state and federal laws, including criminal background checks for all public school employees.\u201d<\/p>\n

— Molly Hennessy-Fiske<\/p>\n

Read more about the case: Former probation camp teacher held in fight probe<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo: Stephen Wesley, 43. Credit: Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Expressing deep concern over allegations that a teacher arranged fights between students in a classroom at a Los Angeles County juvenile probation camp, Supervisor Mike Antonovich said Wednesday that he wants the education agency responsible for hiring and supervising the teacher held accountable. Antonovich said he planned to submit a motion at next week\u2019s board […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4765,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-440340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4765"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440340\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}