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1/26/11 MY RESPONSE TO AN ISR ISSUED BY PRINCIPAL EDWARD

COLACION AT YOUNG OAK KIM MIDDLE SCHOOL ON MAY 28, 2010
2 and ALLEGEDLY ISSUED to ME ON JUNE 8, 2010
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4 I am responding in writing to an ISR written in regards to an incident that occurred on

5 May 26, 2010 at Young Oak Kim School, and which was written (or signed) by the
6 principal Edward Colacion on May 28, 2010, and which says the “employee was issued a
7 copy of the report on 6/8/10, over ten days after the incident; and a copy of which I NEVER
8 received and therefore notified the employee organization, UTLA, as soon as I did see it on
9 January 25, 2011. They have informed me that they will file a grievance because I did not
10 receive it, and even though there is a certified mail number on the bottom of the page. They
11 have not mentioned, nor have we discussed, the fact that it was issued beyond the ten day
12 limit. I also sent a letter to the principal requesting to meet informally with him.
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14 I am quoting the top/middle where the principal describes what he contends was
15 “inadequate service.” It says, in handwriting, verbatim: “Substitute of Sp Ed. (SDP) class.
16 Student requested use of restroom, repeatedly denied. Student urinated on self, sent to nurse,
17 parent contacted and requested principal to report incident. After investigation with sub. Paid
18 for full day, but left at 12 noon.” At the bottom it says “Principal had conversation with sub
19 @ 11:45 am in 3rd floor girl academy conf. room. Employee abruptly left after and left campus
20 12 noon. Paid for the full day.”
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22 First of all, I will leave out any discussion of whether this was timely served within the ten
23 day limit, regardless of the fact that I did not see it or receive it. I will leave that up to the
24 union or others who may assist or advise me.
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26 Second, this is the FIRST time I have been told that this was a “special education” class. I
27 do not recall there ever being any mention to me in the lesson plan left by the teacher
28 Karen Grant that this was a special education class or of any special needs students. I did

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 1 NOT notice any particular obvious issues or disabilities, and also I am not trained as a
2 special education teacher, nor is it listed on my card as one of my “subjects.” If there is
3 something unique about special education students in regards to requests they make, or
4 something unique about their needs regarding the restroom I am not aware of it. I am
5 slightly aware of some of the unique needs of SOME special education students, but there
6 are many different levels of “special education” and I do NOT always immediately
7 recognize a special education student as such, nor did I read anything that informed me of
8 any special needs or extra sensitivity about anything. Occassionally, I have been in
9 classrooms where a note tells me that a certain student has “special” restroom allowances
10 and if I see something like that I abide by it.
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12 I was trained to teach English, but also have made myself available to teach Spanish and
13 music, based on my experiences in Spanish-speaking cultures and on a little bit of exposure
14 to music education in school as well as from my mother (a piano teacher), albeit I do not
15 profess to be a musician nor have any particular talents in music, apart from having played
16 piano (three years of lessons & periodic recitals ) and cornet in junior high band (including
17 participation in various “festivals.” This was the second day of a three day assignment.
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19 Third, I wrote a letter to Karen Grant after the incident (perhaps she still has a copy of it)
20 explaining what happened and which contradicts what Mr. Colacion says in the ISR. At the
21 time this incident occurred I had been a substitute teacher for twelve years, having begun
22 in 1998 when I was still studying at Fuller Seminary, working on a masters degree, and
23 after having taught school as a regular teacher for two years in Coachella Valley.
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25 There are some M.O.’s (modes of operation) that I follow as a substitute in regard to
26 predictable situations. One of these predictable situations is that students will ask to use the
27 restroom, sometimes MORE than they normally do when the regular teacher is present.
28 Why they ask the substitute to use the restroom more than the regular teacher is probably

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 1 because sometimes they think there will be LESS to do when a substitute is in the
2 classroom, and/or that there is LESS accountability, and they can enjoy a little “break” in
3 the hallway by going to the restroom. Honestly, if the administration indicates that they are
4 not concerned about too many students in the hallway or going to the restroom I would be
5 happy to let them ALL go to the restroom as often as they wish. However, every school sets
6 a different “tone” as to what is expected from the substitute and the students. I sensed that
7 Young Oak Kim is a little more “strict” about restroom passes and so I tried to abide by
8 the norm at this particular school. Namely, this meant that I would not always immediately
9 grant their first request to use the restroom, especially if one student asks immediately
10 after another, as if it reminded them to go to the restroom.
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12 On this particular day I remember that I said YES to the first student who asked to use
13 the restroom. I remember another student (whom I will call John Doe because I do not
14 remember his name) subsequently immediately asking if he could “go to the restroom
15 too…” . I began to resort to my M.O. for restroom requests. I asked him if he “could wait a
16 moment” , or to “ask me again in a few moments if you still have to go” or something to that
17 effect. My experience is that sometimes if you ask them to wait they will “FORGET” that
18 they had to “go” and therefore it tells me that either they did not really need to use the
19 restroom at all, or that they could wait. On this particular day in this particular period I
20 recall that the students were doing group presentations in front of the classroom. I
21 remember there was one group before John Doe’s group who did their presentation and
22 then John Doe came up in front of the class with two other junior high boys. John Doe did
23 NOT request again to go to the restroom at that point or any other point after the first
24 request. He did NOT indicate by body language nor verbally that he was uncomfortable or
25 that he needed to go until suddenly he wet his pants as he stood in front of the class.
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27 I was very surprised, to say the least, and sympathetic, and I believe I said, “Why didn’t
28 you ask me again?” and/or “You know that if you have an emergency you can just WALK

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 1 OUT without permission. The door is not locked from the inside and I do not block the
2 door. ALL students know, or should know, that in the event of a restroom emergency, they
3 must simply walk out even if the teacher does not give permission (which was not the case
4 other than the first response to “wait, if you can”) . The other kids in the classroom did not
5 ridicule him nor even laugh to my relief, and one of the students offered to take the young
6 man to the student center to get a pair of dry pants.
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8 They left the classroom and returned shortly later. John Doe had dry pants on and did not
9 seem to be overly upset nor were any of the students ridiculing him. I remember one
10 student, in particular, saying, “Don’t laugh, it could happen to anybody.” Furthermore,
11 neither John Doe nor any of the other students blamed me nor seemed angry at me as if it
12 was my fault for not allowing him to go on the first request. If he or somebody else
13 communicated to the principal or a parent that I “repeatedly” denied his request to use
14 the restroom I was UNAWARE of it, and would want to hear him tell me as well (or hear it
15 from the person or persons he allegedly told).
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17 I thought that the incident was over and was glad that he did not seem traumatized by the
18 event and that the other students were being so nice about it. I believe we tried to get back
19 to doing something instructional in the classroom when suddenly I noticed an adult female
20 who I believe was/is an assistant principal peek into the classroom with a strange look on
21 her face. She did not say anything, but a few moments later a man whom I had seen in the
22 main office upon arrival in the morning and whom I gathered to be the principal asked to
23 speak with me and identified himself as “the principal.” He did NOT say that this was a
24 “disciplinary” meeting or if I wished to have the employee representative present. I thought
25 he was simply concerned about what happened and wanted to make sure everything was
26 okay. Therefore, I agreed to talk to him in a nearby empty office on the same floor across
27 from the classroom.
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 1 As we say down he immediately said in a stern manner, “You can’t do that…” He did not
2 say what it was I could not do. I was not sure what impression he had been given by
3 somebody else. He did NOT ask me what happened or engage in a true conversation but
4 simply, “You can’t do that.” I was taken aback and immediately realized I was being
5 UNFAIRLY BLAMED for what had happened, and realized that any response would be
6 futile at the moment because the principal seemed very agitated and seemed to have
7 already concluded I was to blame before even asking me my account. He added, “We will
8 work with you…” I was NOT exactly sure what he meant by that, but I take it he was
9 defending the tone set by the school concerning how liberal or conservative they expected
10 teachers to be about students in the hallway with restroom passes.
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12 Let me further explain: I have been to some schools where I have been asked (or even
13 somewhat “scolded by hall monitors ) about why so many students are going to the
14 restroom, or in some cases going to the restroom without a pass. I have also been in
15 classrooms where a teacher leaves a note saying, “The students know they are absolutely not
16 allowed to use the restroom.” Then they ask to use the restroom anyways and start
17 “dancing” around and saying “I really got to go…” and I get “stuck between a rock and a
18 hard place” as they say, or “damned if I do, damned if I don’t.”
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20 I even recall subsequent to this incident at Young Oak Kim when I was in a music
21 classroom at Crenshaw High that the adult assistants kept telling me “They are absolutely
22 NOT allowed to go to the restroom” and kept insisting that I cannot allow them to go. I
23 really feel/felt a dilemma and much cognitive dissonance in such cases, especially after this
24 incident at Young Oak Kim. I remember finally deciding at Crenshaw High that I would
25 ALLOW them to go regardless of what the assistants were telling me and regardless of
26 their wrath. I decided after this incident to almost NEVER say no to a restroom request,
27 nor even “Can you wait?” Ever since the Young Oak Kim incident I have immediately
28 responded “Yes” to almost every restroom request. I wonder if I was more traumatized by

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 1 this incident than John Doe, who honestly did not seem upset at all after he returned to the
2 classroom.
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4 Anyways, back to the very brief meeting with Mr. Edward Colacion, the principal at
5 Young Oak Kim. As soon as I realized I was being blamed before I even explained my
6 account I decided I should leave the school. I told the principal that I was leaving and he
7 immediately said, “I will get somebody to cover for you.” He did NOT say, “You will be
8 written up for this” nor “You can’t leave” nor anything other than “I will get somebody to
9 cover for you” and actually seemed relieved. I packed up my bag and checked out at the
10 main office. Shortly later I sent a letter to Karen Grant about the incident and did not hear
11 anything further from the school about it. I received no further assignment requests from
12 this school, nor would I have accepted any if asked.
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14 Under Penalty of Perjury

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(John) Philip A. (Vander) Kok
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Former Employee #704195
17 BA/BA/M.Div

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Some people ask me why I include “John” and “Vander” and it is because I began
19 changing my name “by usage” some time ago, and in the classroom after several years I
began going by “Mr. Vander” rather than “Mr. Kok.” Kids seemed to have a little too
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much fun (or even ridicule) with the name “Kok” while Mr. Vander seemed to resonate
21 better with the students. I also added “Vander” to reflect my Dutch ethnicity. More than
once people assumed I was Asian based upon my name, on paper, before meeting me and I
22 simply wanted to be known according to my ethnicity and heritage, i.e. Dutch-American.
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And I simply grew to dislike my given first name, partly because of the way people
intentionally mispronounced it and also because I wanted to establish a new identity
24 according to my closer walk with Christ and in Christ later in life.
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