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Friday, May 16, 2008

Tragic Ending to a Young Life

By Andrea Schoellkopf
Journal Staff Writer
    Highland High School's principal and two counselors were put on paid leave this week after the suicide of a senior who was told he was not going to graduate.
    Angel Najar, 17, came home from Highland in tears Monday morning after he had been told he had failed five classes and would not graduate that night with his 268 classmates, according to a relative and a police report.
    He locked himself in his room and shot himself, according to police.
    His parents had gone to the school to find out what was going on. When they returned, the father used a key to open the door to his son's room and found Angel bleeding on the bed, the report said.
    Angel died after being removed from life-support Tuesday, three weeks shy of his 18th birthday.
    Questions of the school's responsibility were at the forefront for the family, according to a cousin.
    "I do think teachers ... do have profound influence on kids," said Jose Najar of Rialto, Calif. "There's a lot of responsibility to go around. Schools shouldn't take this lightly."
    Angel was active in ROTC and had already enlisted in the Navy, Jose Najar said. Angel was also a young father.
    A suicide note found by police in his bedroom indicated that "he did not want his daughter to have to grow up with a father that was a failure," the police report said.
    Angel Najar's sister, contacted by the Journal on Thursday, said the family needed time to grieve and would not speak to the media at this time.
    It was not immediately clear whether the family met with school officials Monday or whether they had received notification of Angel Najar's possibility of failure.
    APS procedure requires schools to begin notifying parents of any failures that could jeopardize graduation starting at the end of the first grading period in the spring semester, and after that, at any point when the student's name is added to the "Tentative Senior Failure List."
    Under the procedure, "only seniors on the list may be failed" unless a student passing a class at the time significantly drops attendance or fails to complete major assignments or complete the final exam.
    Highland Principal Nikki Dennis and two counselors were placed on leave Tuesday afternoon, Albuquerque Public Schools spokeswoman Monica Armenta said.
    "We will take all the time we need to address the issues that have been raised and get to the truth," Armenta said. "Everyone deserves the truth. We'll take whatever time is necessary."
    Armenta said the family had specifically requested that no information be disclosed by anyone at the school about Angel Najar. Federal privacy laws prohibit release of any information about individual students.
    "There are few things as private or as painful as suicide," Armenta said. "It is not our business. We will be as accommodating to the family as we possibly can. We understand they are in great pain right now."
    Jose Najar said his cousin was a "dedicated student, a young, very good kid." He had spoken to him a few weeks ago at a relative's quinceañera.
    Grief counseling was made available to students and staff this week at Highland, Armenta said.
    Assistant Principals Frank Maestas, Larry D'Anza and Theresa Baca are in charge of the Southeast Heights high school, she said.
    Dennis has headed Highland since 2005 and had previously been principal of Bandelier Elementary, where she was named a National Distinguished Principal by the National Association of Elementary School Principals.
    On Tuesday, interim APS Superintendent Linda Sink said the district would investigate the circumstances at Highland, but did not know— nor was she sure she would be able to disclose— what occurred.
    Sink said that, while she did not know the situation regarding Najar's case, typically students who find out at the last minute that they will not graduate are those who perform poorly on final exams.
    Armenta said that, of the 358 seniors who started at Highland last fall, 40 chose not to participate in graduation and another 50 were listed as "reclassified" or unable to graduate with their class. She said she could not confirm Najar's status.
    Last year, an APS administrator ordered a Rio Grande High senior's failing grade be re-evaluated after officials determined that the school had failed to give adequate notice of potential failure to his parents. The student ended up graduating with his class.
    While a state investigation ultimately sided with the school and the teacher, principals interviewed this spring said they were determined to make sure parents were being made aware of a potential failure before the ceremony occurred.
    "We're walking on eggshells after what happened last year (at Rio Grande)," West Mesa Principal Blanca Lopez said in a May 6 Journal article.