Teacher removed for ‘egregious’ actions
A fourth grade teacher at Alta Vista Elementary School has been placed on leave after an incident in which she allegedly told students she would harm their families if they did not behave better.
Parents say that the teacher, Amanda Steinacher, was involved in at least two troubling incidents – one in which she allegedly turned over a student’s desk in anger, and another in which she made threats to students’ families. The second incident occurred last week. According to school parents, Steinacher gave the students a count of five to “get on the carpet” between their desks. When the students were unable to do so, she allegedly said, “Okay, I am going to kill your families.”
The incident came to light when one student filled out a form meant to help resolve problems in the classroom.. On the part of the form that asked what the student would like to see changed, the little girl wrote, “I don’t want you to kill my family.”
Allegedly, when Steinacher saw the comment, she told the student she had only been joking and asked her not to tell her parents.
“She came to this girl and she said, ‘Look, I was just kidding when I said that,’” said one parent, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “‘I don’t want you to go home and tell your parents I said that because I will get in trouble and it was just a joke. I was trying to model what a bad teacher is to you, because you were being such bad students, so you know how I feel.’”
But word of the incident eventually did reach parents, who contacted Principal Anthony Taranto. Police were eventually called to the school to investigate.
Denis Richardson, whose partner has a fourth grader at the school, asked the school board to investigate the matter as well.
“Control with fear is not right,” Richardson said. “The kids need to know the school and parents are on their side and a show of support in a public way is what needs to be done…In the darkness that has come to southland schools recently [the school shootings this month in Gardena and El Camino] we cannot be tolerating teachers suggesting anger and violence is the answer to solving problems.”
District officials, bound by confidentially requirements regarding personnel matters, had little comment on the matter other than to say the situation is being addressed. They did not confirm the identity of the teacher.
“All I can say is that I assure you we are taking appropriate steps to insure that the educational needs of the student are met,” Billinger said. “Beyond that we will respect the privacy of the individual involved, and have no further comment.”
Board member Carl Clark confirmed that the teacher had been put on leave.
“Obviously this is a personnel matter and some elements are confidential,” Clark said. “I believe I can say that the actions of the teacher were egregious and certainly not acceptable. The teacher has been removed from the classroom and Principal Taranto is meeting with the students to ease their concerns and fears. A long term substitute will be in place shortly, and I expect the class will quickly return to normal.”
“Our District has an active anti-bullying campaign at all sites, and our teachers are expected to model appropriate behavior,” Clark added.
Redondo Beach Police Department Sgt. Phil Keenan said an officer had responded to the incident and determined that at this point it was not a criminal matter.
“Police were made aware of this and our school resource officer looked into it,” Keenan said. “It appears not to have been a criminal act on the teacher’s part – it’s an angry teacher thing, not a criminal thing. They are handling it at the school administration level and the teacher is no longer in control of children. If anything comes up in the course of their investigation, we will re-involve ourselves.”
Steinacher has taught at Alta Vista for four years and has been a teacher for eleven years. Last year, she made a passionate defense before the school board on behalf of two of her probationary colleagues who were being let go due to budget cuts.
“My personal request is you work this summer to do anything possible to save them,” Steinacher said. “They are absolutely the very best of RBUSD. I am fabulous, but they are way better.”
Steinacher could not be reached for comment.
A mother of a student who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution – she said some parents are angry at what they describe as a “witch hunt” – said that fourth grade class sizes have increased to as many as 36 students after budget cuts last year, increasing both the workload and stress on teachers. She said the most troubling aspect was the teacher allegedly telling the students not to tell their parents what had happened.
“The more the school became aware of this the more aware they became that it just wasn’t one thing – that somebody had a bad day and said something wrong,” she said. “That would be kind of understandable – everybody has a bad day once in a while and slips up and you don’t really know what happened. But when it comes on the heels of multiple other things, and on top of it she tells a kid not to tell her parents –that is what people say who are molesters. ‘Don’t tell your parents.’ That is the scary part, and that so many kids didn’t say anything.” ER