The teacher accused of slapping or pushing three Gilroy High
School students will not have to go to court.
The teacher accused of slapping or pushing three Gilroy High School students will not have to go to court.
Jan Dietzgen, an English teacher at GHS, has been on paid administrative leave since police began investigating the allegations of three students who claimed she slapped or pushed them last month. The investigation was handed off to the Santa Clara County District Attorney for review. However, the district attorney will not be filing a criminal complaint, said office spokesman Nick Muyo.
“At this point, we don’t have enough information or evidence that would convince 12 impartial jurors,” he said. “It has nothing to do with the validity of the reports.”
GHS Principal James Maxwell would not say whether Dietzgen would be returning to the classroom, but the mother of a 14-year-old girl who said Dietzgen pushed her by the neck doesn’t want her daughter in the same classroom as the teacher either way.
Dietzgen “admitted that she did it,” said the mother, who didn’t want her name printed for fear of retribution. “If they want to let people get away with that, that’s their problem, but I’m going to make sure my daughter’s not with her. I don’t want my kid to learn any more violence.”
A substitute teacher took over Dietzgen’s English classes after police determined that the teacher either pushed or slapped three students. On Oct. 13, the mother of the 14-year-old girl reported the teacher to the Gilroy Police Department after she was dissatisfied with how the school district handled the incident. During the week-long investigation that followed, School Resource Officer Cherie Somavia interviewed three victims – the 14-year-old female, a 15-year-old male and a 16-year-old female – and many witnesses, according to police. She learned that one of the three students was slapped across the face and the other two were pushed, all during school hours, Sgt. Jim Gillio said. He refused to say whether or not physical evidence was available. The incidents occurred Oct. 9, Oct. 13 and Oct. 16, according to police.
The 14-year-old girl said she was talking loudly during her first period class with Dietzgen Oct. 9 when the teacher sent her, along with several other students, outside for a “time out.” The student said she repeatedly asked Dietzgen for her belongings, which were inside the locked classroom. When Dietzgen returned, the student asked her again, prompting Dietzgen to put her hand on the student’s throat and push, the student said.
“I lost my balance,” the girl said. “She went back inside real fast. I was standing there in shock.”
The girl said she and Dietzgen had never run into any trouble before and that they usually got along.
“I liked her,” the student said of Dietzgen. “I don’t know what got into her. She just snapped.”
When a conference between the mother, the daughter, Dietzgen and Maxwell left the mother and daughter feeling as if nothing had been resolved, the mother went to the police, she said.
“I’m just trying to get an answer,” the mother said. “If my daughter was acting up, why didn’t the teacher give her a detention or send her to the office? It’s very unusual for me not to have any notice of my daughter’s behavior. It’s my daughter – of course I want to be involved.”
Although Maxwell refused to comment on the specific case, he said it’s not typical for a teacher to send a student out of the classroom without sending him or her to the office.
“It’s generally not a good idea,” Maxwell said. “They need to be supervised.”
When a referral is written, a copy is sent to a parent, he said. But the mother said she was not notified of the incident, other than her daughter calling her, until Dietzgen called later that day. Even then, Dietzgen didn’t cite the specific incident, the mother said.
“Whatever she did, call me,” the mother said of her daughter’s misbehavior. “That’s the right thing to do.”
Police have closed their investigation into the incidents, Gillio said.
“Our investigation is concluded,” he said. “We will be taking no further action.”
The criminal case may be closed, but board members still don’t know the full story, said Trustee Denise Apuzzo. She expected the board to learn more at the next closed session board meeting this Thursday. With so few details, she did not know how the board would be handling the case. During her two years on the board, Apuzzo said trustees have never had to fire a teacher.
Superintendent Deborah Flores did not return phone messages Monday.
