Incident between San Bruno middle school administrator, student

In Duffy’s email, he describes a video showing images of a dean of students confronting a student, a physical struggle and the dean and student falling to the ground, which resulted in minor injuries to both involved.

At the meeting, however, students and community members recounted their experiences with the administrator, Peter Clifford, and current Principal Monica Nagy. 

The student, Emmanuel Alegria Mendoza, his sister, and his father all spoke at the meeting. His father, Orsay Alegria Simuta, said he was disheartened by what had happened and felt there was no reason for his son to be handled the way he was. 

“Are you going to do something or what is going to happen,” Orsay said. “Because if I handled my son this way, they would arrest me immediately. I don’t know why you allowed this to happen and I want justice.”

Footage of the incident circulated around social media showing Clifford holding Algeria Mendoza by the neck and carrying him for a few paces before tripping over his legs, resulting in Algeria Mendoza on the pavement. The administrator is heard saying, “If you keep trying to step up on someone I’m going to try to break it up,” in the video suggesting he was breaking up an altercation between students.

Campus Supervisor Onosa’i Tafilele said that as a staff member, she has witnessed Clifford speak inappropriately about students, consistently calling a particular group “thugs” and accusing them of being in gangs, influencing how he treats them. She also said that she “truly believed what happened was premeditated.”

“He told, the day before, to me and my colleague, that [Alegria Mendoza] was upset with him and shoulder checked him on Monday, and that when the time was right, and he had his opportunity, he would get his revenge,” Tafilele said at the board meeting. 

Epi Aumavae, a teacher at the school, said that the footage she has seen accurately depicts what she witnessed in person. She said she has received de-escalation training at other schools but nothing of the sort at Parkside Intermediate.

“It was reckless and dangerous for both himself and for the student,” Aumavae said. “I can sympathize if that was not the intent of the staff member, but that was not the impact on the student.”

Superintendent warns of misinformation

Duffy, however, said that images and videos circulating of the incident are understood to be “heavily edited to share only a portion of a broader situation.” 

“I hope that you will join us in reminding students that while capturing and sharing facts with a mobile device can be a powerful way to share truth, it can be an equally powerful way to spread misinformation and do harm,” Duffy said in the email. 

He also said students sharing images and recording may be in violation of their peers’ privacy rights and “should be mindful that their actions can also have consequences.”

At the meeting, Marco Durazo, a San Bruno resident and professor at the University of San Francisco, said it was audacious of the superintendent to suggest that the footage of the incident was in any way altered. 

“I don’t know what you think of these kids, I don’t know why you would accuse those kids of having some kind of ulterior motive other than to capture what happened,” Durazo said. “You should be ashamed of yourself.”

Tafilele said that the physical altercation is just one of the many incidents that suggest an unsafe learning environment for students and workplace for staff.

“My job is to keep these children safe but how am I supposed to keep them safe when the person that is causing them the most harm, is their leader, the person that is supposed to be keeping them protected and that is Dr. Nagy, who has made working at Parkside very hard to do.”

School protest

Kamy Salazar, an eighth grader who organized students to show up to the school board meeting to share their experiences, said that she has witnessed a shift in culture at school since Clifford and Nagy were instated. 

More than 50 students participated in a protest in front of school Monday, March 18, missing class and gathering to call for the removal of the administrators. Students chanted “keep your hands off our students” and “no justice, no peace.”

“We have observed that they have been targeting Latino students and certain members of our staff,” Salazar said at the school board meeting. “[Nagy] has created a toxic learning and working environment. Parkside has not been a safe environment since they’ve arrived.”

Salazar said that she has felt taunted by the principal and has noticed her peers with increased anxiety levels and a desire to not come to school. 

“No student should ever have to feel unsafe or uncomfortable eight hours a day every day a week,” Salazar said.