Suit by Dismissed Drum Major Voided
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Northview High School had the right to dismiss a drum major in 1987, a judge ruled in throwing out the student’s suit against the Covina-Valley Unified School District.
Pomona Superior Court Judge Burton Bach ruled against the family of Lisa Ortiz, a senior drum major of the school band who lost her position in September, 1987.
Ortiz, a sophomore at USC, alleged that she was dismissed after she sold only one box of chocolate bars for a fund-raising campaign and that the move was capricious and unwarranted.
“The suit involved one basic thing--the right of a teacher to discipline a student or remove a student from a position,” District Supt. Jack Rankin said Wednesday. Rankin characterized the suit as frivolous and said it had cost the district more than $10,000 in legal fees.
“She got the shaft,” Lisa’s father, Dennis Ortiz, said, adding the family had not decided on an appeal.
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