FMHS Parents See Pride in Accomplishments Mixed With Regret, Anger, Questions over Judgment

Matt Koler is the Valedictorian for the Class of 2007, the class that marks one decade of graduates from Frazier Mountain High School. On the evening of Thursday, June 7, Koler looked out over the sea of faces that packed the seats and bleachers of the FMHS gym.

Families and friends were gathered for this rite of passage from childhood to adulthood. But one face Koler wished could be there was not. While preparing to speak to his graduating senior class, Koler could not forget that four days earlier his good friend had received an abrupt validation that in this country, 18 is a magic number when it comes to the law. As he began his speech, Koler knew that at that moment his friend was in jail for serious adult charges with one and a half million dollars in bail separating him from his freedom.

"We take a lot for granted," Koler told his peers, "but it can all be taken away in an instant."

In an interview afterwards, Koler said, "When you see some of your friends get into trouble with the law it makes you realize how lucky you are to be able to participate in our graduation ceremonies, and in school…. You can lose it all because of something that you do without thinking about the consequences…."

The week of June 3 began with a pipe bomb explosion in a bank of lockers at the high school. Two eighteen year olds—Koler’s friend, Class of 2007 senior Alexander Timothy Hancock, 18—and early graduate John Tosh, also 18, were arrested. They said they were surprised at the strength of the explosion.

They were also surprised at the strength of the response of the legal system. But within days they had plenty of company. By June 6, sixteen other seniors would be in trouble with the law.

On June 4, the day after the explosion, oil was sprayed on the windows of  the school, an act that can cost hundreds of dollars to clean up.

On the evening of June 5, Kern County Sheriff’s Deputy Ken Young made extra rounds to check on the high school, as he had the night before. Before midnight, he saw activity and pulled into the parking lot. "Twelve kids took off running," one deputy said. Four of the seniors stood where they were. At least one of them opened his cell phone to call his mother to ask her to come. Most stayed hidden in the bushes in the hills.

Young called a towing company to remove the cars. Additional deputies and members of the high school administration were called out in the middle of the night.

Trent McCracken, 18, was put into a sheriff’s vehicle and taken to Central Receiving in Bakersfield where he was booked on charges of burglary, conspiracy and felony vandalism. He spent the night in jail.

At 12:02 a.m., ComTec Academy teacher Diana Hardesty was startled from a sound sleep by a telephone call from Principal Dan Penner. He requested that she come to the school "immediately."  When she arrived—as she told reporters in a press conference on June 7—she was "read my Miranda rights; I asked ‘Am I being arrested? What for?’"

One of the students had claimed that Hardesty had given the group keys to open the gate to access the campus. Hardesty said she pulled her keys from her pocket to disprove that claim. Lieutenant Dave Barker later said in an interview that the student’s claim was "false." Others said that they had "permission" from the teacher to "play pranks that did not cause permanent damage…that would easily wash away…."

Some parents spent most of that night sitting inside the high school until 3:00 a.m. while their children were interviewed by law enforcement officers.

At 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, Hardesty said she received a call from El Tejon Unified School District Superintendent Shelly Mason telling her not to return to the high school campus, that she was "on administrative leave."

That day, at 5:00 p.m., the group of 15 to 16 students and their parents assembled at the Frazier Park sheriff’s substation for a talk with law enforcement, high school officials and Superintendent Mason.

By 9:30 a.m. Thursday, June 7, Hardesty called a press conference for the afternoon, telling reporters that she feared being made a scapegoat by parents and administration in the matter. Union officials asked her to terminate the press conference.

Separately, three parents spoke with The Mountain Enterprise, asking not to be named because, as one put it, "I am afraid the school will retaliate against my child."

That parent said the families were told in the Wednesday meeting that their children would be suspended from school and would not be allowed to walk in the graduation ceremony June 7.

This parent had known that her child planned to "camp out at the high school overnight," in a senior lark. "Look," she said, "society tells us this is what graduating classes do; this is expected of you…."

According to one parent’s account, before Deputy Young arrived, the graduating seniors had placed a table on the roof of the school and had drawn chalk "penises" on exterior walls and walkways ("Teenagers," the parent said, shrugging, "whoever knows why they do some of the things they do?").

Kern County Sheriff’s Lieutenant Dave Barker wondered out loud how the tradition of "leaving a senior legacy" had eroded into a euphemism for committing felony vandalism.

Ultimately, parents said, by June 6 an agreement had been reached that 15 hours of restitution work would be required of each of the students in order to be able to rescind the suspension and obtain their diploma. They were all allowed to "walk the stage" in the graduation ceremony.

"These are really good honor-roll kids who have never been in any kind of trouble…," a parent said. Valedictorian Koler (not one of the youth involved) said, "your friends get in trouble with the law because of something they do without thinking about the consequences…You have to put yourself in a good group of friends and be sure that they really do care about you. When friends urge you to do something stupid, you can ruin your whole life…."

Lt. Barker said all these cases are still under investigation. Final charges had not yet been decided at press time.

This is part of the June 15, 2007 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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