Board affirms decision on 2 students

The principal's ruling to bar two Palm Harbor High baseball players from school graduation rites stands.

By DEBORAH O'NEIL

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 9, 2001

LARGO -- The Pinellas County School Board affirmed a decision by the Palm Harbor University High School principal that bars two baseball players from participating in the school graduation ceremony.

The decision came at the end of an emotional discussion that ran more than four hours and included stinging criticism of principal Alec Liem by students and an unsuccessful move by one School Board member to overturn Liem's decision by declaring an emergency.

There were angry words and tears by friends and family of seniors Brian Pafundi and Chris Pachik when the meeting ended. The students were suspended for 10 days and reassigned to an alternative school after holding down a teammate during a rough-housing incident on a team trip to Fort Lauderdale.

"I hope you're all really happy," a teary Barbara Pafundi, Brian's mother, said to Liem and other school administrators as she left the meeting. Pafundi is a teacher at Palm Harbor University High and her husband, Ted Pafundi, is director of risk management and insurance for Pinellas County Schools.

"I think it's a travesty," Mr. Pafundi said. "I am disillusioned. I believe the system has failed my child and failed the community."

The issue was not on the board's agenda but was debated after more than a dozen students and parents told the board of their outrage over the decision during audience comments. They all made emotional pleas, asking the board to reconsider Liem's decision. The principal sat quietly in the last row in the audience surrounded by other school administrators.

"A terrible injustice has occurred and I'm here to ask for your help," said Elliot Satinoff, a friend of the Pafundi family. "The punishment, which in this case far exceeds what the students are alleged to have done, demonstrates a lack of fairness."

Several student leaders from the Palm Harbor's graduating class also spoke up.

"His pride has gotten in the way of doing the right thing," class vice president Valerie Pilson said of Liem. "A lot of us don't really want to shake his hand at graduation. He's hurt us. He's not a good role model."

School Board members came to Liem's defense, praising his leadership at the high school. Superintendent Howard Hinesley cautioned the board against second-guessing the disciplinary actions of one of its principals.

"To administer discipline whether as a parent or principal or assistant principal is one of the most difficult things we have to do," Hinesley said. "Every day you have to make judgments, and not a day goes by you don't have those judgments questioned."

Still, School Board chairman Thomas Todd offered a motion to allow the students to participate in graduation, despite a policy that dictates students who have been reassigned for disciplinary reasons cannot take part in the ceremony.

"My heart tells me we should support Mr. Liem, but we should let these students walk down the aisle," Todd said. "I consider this an emergency in the welfare of the students. I consider it will be irreparable harm to the students."

Board attorney John Bowen told the board that to declare an emergency, they would have to find there is an immediate danger to the public health, safety and welfare. And, Bowen warned, "You will be bound by that in the future. . . . I urge you to consider the precedent you would be setting."

The motion was amended by School Board member Linda Lerner, who proposed that they deem the discussion a first airing of the issue and take a final vote at a meeting in two weeks. The change would have affected every student who was reassigned for disciplinary reasons during the second semester of their senior year.

"The emergency nature is that if we wait any longer, kids can't graduate," Lerner said.

But other board members halted the effort, saying the board should review the policy in a systematic way. The vote was 4-3 with Nancy Bostock, Lee Benjamin, Carol Cook and Max Gessner voting against the measure.

"It's not quality decisionmaking to make it on the spur of the moment," Benjamin said. "Talk about the credibility of our School Board. We might win credibility with the people in the audience, but with the total system, we'd certainly be suspect."

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