Monday, April 14, 2014

Bret Harte Admin comes under fire



On Friday April 4, 2014 , approximately 30 Bret Harte students participated in a ‘walkout’ to bring attention to the grievances allegedly filed against Dalila Hernandez.

According to Senior, Ally (last name withheld), she and her younger sister Laura had followed school policy three weeks prior to the walk out, but had not seen any proof the school had addressed the issue.  The issue at hand was the active bullying of Laura. 

When the girls went to the office of Ms Hernandez, Hernandez had purportedly told Ally she did not like her  and questioned the validity of their problem in contrast with the value of her time. The bullying in question came in the form of classroom bullying and campus bullying, students allegedly telling the young girl to “drink bleach” and “kill herself.” All areas that Ally felt should have fallen under Hernandez’s official capacity to deal with.

After the picture of Superintendent Michael Chimente talking with the crowd of students hit the social media out let, there was a firestorm of allegations by current and previous Bret Harte students. Many students support MS Hernandez, yet others were quick to condemn. The accusations ranged from bullying and demeaning insults, to discrimination and scholarship tampering.

Bret Harte Superintendent Mike Chimente has not responded to questions leveled by the Copper Gazette.