Former San Antonio Independant School District employee claims false arrest

Updated 11:43 p.m.,


Several local civil rights organizations banded together Wednesday to support a former San Antonio Independent School District teacher's aide, Leticia Rivera, who said she was falsely arrested and injured last year by campus police at Smith Elementary School.

Members of the League of United Latin American Citizens, Mothers Against Discrimination, Racism in Education and Society, and the César Chávez Legacy and Education Foundation pointed to the aide's allegations to claim discrimination against Mexican Americans in SAISD.

Sam Alvarado, a certified arbitrator representing Rivera, alleged that the district dealt with personnel issues unequally and said that preferential treatment had been given to black employees.

Alvarado cited the case of a Burbank High School boys basketball coach to support his claims. He said it was unfair that basketball coach Herb Jackson was reassigned to another school after he allegedly pulled on the ear of a disruptive student.

“Here is this guy who touches a student and he gets reassigned,” Alvarado said. “This woman (Rivera) has worked for the district for 26 years, won an award from a national organization for her work with pre-kindergarten students, and we were told she was arrested because there were concerns about the safety of these kids?”

SAISD spokeswoman Leslie Price said an appeals process is available to employees who seek to challenge terminations and that Rivera went only through the first level of the appeal, where her termination was upheld. Jackson went through several steps in a grievance process, where his case was eventually heard by the school board and he was reinstated.

Alvarado said Rivera, 59, was arrested April 21 and charged with criminal trespassing after a disagreement with the school principal, Liliana Cano, escalated and she was asked to leave the East Side school.

Rivera said that after insisting she wanted to get her belongings before she left, a police officer grabbed her by both arms and pushed her against the desk. She said the push left her bruised and that she later was arrested and taken to the magistrate.

Price said school documents and the magistrate's report tell a different story.

“I can tell you that she did resist arrest and (was) put in handcuffs and escorted out by police,” Price said. “Not only did our report state that she was not injured but the magistrate's intake form also states that she was not injured.”

Alvarado said discrimination charges were filed last week with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of Rivera and that a civil rights violation allegation will be filed with the Department of Justice.

Price said six discrimination complaints were filed last year against the district with the EEOC. One was dropped by the filer while the other five were dismissed by the commission, Price said.
mcesar@express-news.net


Former SAISD employee claims false arrest