Assignment to kill

Phillips instructed students to write the assignment as a journal entry in conjunction with the reading of Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Pit and the Pendulum."

He told them to choose someone to kill, give reasons why and detail how to keep it secret. According to his students, the only requirement was that the person to be assassinated could not be anyone at Covina High School.

"And the first thing that hit me was Columbine and what if he has a loose end in the classroom that wants to make a name for himself and the teacher is supporting this type of action? It could be (my son) that's shot or bombed or whatever," Jarvis said.

Michael Miller, superintendent of the Covina-Valley Unified School District, said without elaboration Monday: "I can tell you the teacher associated with this assignment is no longer working in the district."

One student who didn't want his name used told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune that the assignment given by Phillips made no sense.

"I don't have anybody I want to assassinate. It just doesn't make sense to me, and I think it's wrong to do it," the student said.

Phillips couldn't be reached.

The student said Phillips offered the class an alternative assignment for those who did not want to plot the assassination: describing eight to 10 motives for killing another human being.

"Why should any child be forced to think about committing a murder?" said the student's mother, who also spoke with the newspaper on condition of anonymity.

Although district officials would not say whether Phillips was fired or quit, district assistant superintendent of personnel Louis Pappas said as far as the district was concerned, the case was closed.

"There's no appeal process in this particular instance for the employee, and it's basically a done issue," he said.