School Board Race Heats Up with Accusations of False Statements

With some residents already casting their votes by mail, the temperature in the School Board race is beginning to rise as the accuracy of certain campaign statements is being questioned.

Last Thursday the Rick Marshall campaign sponsored a robo call featuring the mom of a former Torrance High student suggesting that incumbents Don Lee (a Republican) and Terry Ragins (a Democrat) did nothing in response to the Torrance High School wrestling coach that will stand trial for molesting a reported 27 boys resulting in 37 pending lawsuits against the District.

The incumbents, despite hailing from opposing ends of the political spectrum, combined efforts and enlisted the help of former Republican Mayor Scotto (now a candidate for the LA County Board of Supervisors) to send out a robo call on their behalf.  Scotto’s robo call, paid for by the two campaigns, claimed Marshall’s robo call was false and misleading and that Lee and Ragins had done everything possible to ensure our students are safe.

Marshall responded by sending Scotto a lengthy e-mail in which he provided formal claims for damages against the District submitted by the attorneys for the victims of the coach.  Those claims were recently made available through a public records request.  One of those claims makes the following allegations:

“Claimant’s minor child,[redacted] was physically, sexually and emotionally abused by teacher, Thomas Joseph Snider while on the wrestling team at Torrance High School. The abuse took [place] (sic) on the Torrance High School Campus, including without limitation, the locker room, gym, and wrestling room. The TUSD, Torrance High School, its agents and employees had knowledge that Snider posed a danger to children in his care and a duty to disclose such information, but failed to disclose such information … Claimant’s severe emotional distress occurred as a direct result of the actions, or rather, inactions, of the TUSD, Torrance High School, and their employees, administrators and agents, in failing to warn claimant of the danger posed by Snider despite knowledge of the risk Snider posed to claimant’s child and a duty to disclose said risk.”

Another claim filed on behalf of another victim asserts that, “Respondent’s [TUSD] were specifically made aware that a former student of Thomas Snider had accused him of sexual molestation, prior to the 2013-2014 school year.”

Don Lee’s campaign has also come under fire for false and misleading statements due to a recent mailer sent by his campaign.

One line in that mailer claimed that, “Don Lee ensured District capital expenditures were on time and under budget.” No mention was made of the capital expenditure at Magruder Middle School that according to one article surpassed the budget, and the initially guaranteed maximum price of $6.6 Million, by $870K.

Another line in the mailer states that, “Don Lee implemented new technologies to fingerprint all campus visitors and keep our campuses safe.”  This would appear to be a categorically false statement as all campus visitors, even those that volunteer in the classroom, are not fingerprinted by the District.

A final line in the mailer asks voters to “Re-elect [Don Lee] the only officially endorsed Republican School Board candidate.”  Rick Marshall is also a Republican and has also garnered the support of that party.

This fact was confirmed in an e-mail by former Torrance Councilmember and party leader Paul Nowatka who was pictured in the mailer as a Don Lee supporter.  That e-mail written to Lee with Marshall on copy stated, “Don, The 66th and the Los Angeles County Republican Party have also endorsed Rick Marshall for School Board.”

In an e-mail to Marshall about the situation, Don Lee explained that the mailer was accurate because as an incumbent he is “the only candidate endorsed for re-election,” while Marshall is only endorsed for election.

The candidates will hold a final forum this evening sponsored by the League of Women Voters starting at 6:30 pm at the Toyota Auto Museum.

Author’s note:  Readers please be advised that I am a candidate in this race and for that reason am not an impartial observer.  As no formal media have provided any coverage whatsoever of this important race, I am trying to get some information out there to the general public that I found interesting.  I take great care to ensure my postings contain accurate information and would welcome any corrections in that regard.