San Bruno Park parents rally behind reprimanded Portola Elementary principal Dr Krotz

“This is not easy but it is essential. Thirty-eight years in the service of children, I never thought it would come to this,” Krotz said during the Dec. 13 meeting. “You were correct in your assertions. I am an at-will employee and you can terminate me at any time but the Portola community needs to understand the facts about what is happening and transpiring behind the scenes while I try to be forward-facing for the children of Portola.”

During her comments to the board, Krotz, who did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication, accused district leadership of violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act by seeking out Krotz’s personal medical information from her physician.

She also asserted she was being reprimanded for holding a physical education teacher accountable for not taking action during an incident involving a male student who allegedly touched the chest of a female student during a game of tag. Krotz took specific issue with the teacher still being employed in the district along with two others who have made grievance complaints against her.

In an email, Duffy confirmed the incident with the PE teacher and said the matter “was fully investigated with appropriate action taken for the parties involved.” Aside from asserting the touch was inadvertent, Duffy said he could not comment further on the incident, or on the issue of Krotz’s employment, given that both are confidential personnel matters.

Parents speak out

Meanwhile, Tiffany Banh, the mother of the child who reported being inappropriately touched and a staunch supporter of Krotz, discussed the issue further with the Daily Journal. Banh said her daughter felt violated after being touched on her chest by a classmate and complained about the incident to her PE teacher who, according to Banh, allegedly brushed off the incident that occurred in early September.

Banh said her daughter continued to advocate for herself by discussing the issue with her homeroom teacher who then contacted Krotz. According to Banh, Krotz called the student’s mother to assure her the issue would be properly handled and the educator would be recommended for removal from the campus.

“I feel Dr. Krotz has done so much for our school and our kids and we just love her,” Banh said. Everything put against her that I’ve heard was all for the safety of our kids.”

Banh said she also received a call from the district office and was promised an update on remediation efforts. Two months later, Banh said she still has not heard back from the district but learned, through another educator, that the PE teacher was sent to a different campus.

Parents also cited a separate issue involving a student running off of campus as possibly related to the disciplinary actions taken against Krotz. Specifically, parents assert Krotz attempted to institute a safe foot-ware policy after a teacher in high heels was unable to catch a student who’d fled from campus.

Duffy, in an email, acknowledged the incident occurred but said it “has nothing to do with the situation with the Principal.” He noted the district does not have a faculty dress code and while there is a very general board policy, no clothing recommendations go out to staff annually.

Regardless of what may have prompted the investigation into Krotz — which she described during the board meeting as a “disgusting” misallocation of “precious funds” — parents said a key concern is how the district placed Krotz on leave.

Finding a resolution

Dr. Houri Parsi, a family law attorney and clinical psychologist with two children at the school, said having the principal walked off campus with her items in a box without warning and banned from speaking to the school community during the holidays was likely humiliating.

Having spoken with a mutual friend of Krotz, Parsi said the principal needs time to process. Rebuilding trust among parents will require more adequate communication from the district office, she said, noting she’s offered to help mediate the issue to develop a solution. But Parsi also noted she’s not in favor of calls to fire or reprimand Duffy.

“What happened was extraordinarily injurious to her dignity and she’s trying to be meditative and sort of take the time to process it,” Parsi said. “There can be a greater effort to provide more reassurance that [Duffy] is trying to problem solve this than he is providing but then again I’m not in his shoes, want to be sympathetic to that too.”

Duffy said the district has worked collaboratively with parents who have filed formal complaints in the past, noting those complaints are also confidential.

“There are parents from all of our schools who may bring up a leadership concern and we always try to handle those as proactively as possible. I believe we are generally very collaborative in spirit but, in this case, again, there are things we can and cannot share in the public sphere,” Duffy said.

As for how far parents are willing to go to advocate for Krotz’s return, Greg Lok, a parent of a kindergartner at the school, noted hundreds have spoken at board meetings, signed a petition and plan to rally at the board’s next meeting in January.

“For us parents, we will do anything to make sure our kids have the best education possible and that’s with Dr. Krotz as the school leader,” Lok said.

Parsi also praised Krotz as a community hero and irreplaceable school leader. The principal’s impact on students is a motivating factor behind what unified parents to support Krotz, Parsi said.

“What you’re not hearing is that she is extraordinary and we know that, we are educated professional parents, we’re involved and informed. We know what an extraordinary leader is and that’s what we have,” Parsi said. “Sometimes you have a community hero and that’s what we have in Dr Krotz and that’s not being recognized.”