Crimes and Misdemeanors

[October 24th, 2007]

At a time when Portland Public Schools is struggling to beef up arts enrichment, all one father wants to do is teach an after-school printmaking class at Buckman Elementary.

He’s willing to do so for $15 an hour. But he can’t for a reason that’s both obscure and decades old.

In 1985, Grey Byrd-Diabougi accepted $160 in food stamps in California when he was no longer eligible for them. And though police were never involved, Byrd-Diabougi says he pleaded guilty to the felony and later repaid the $160.

The conviction has resurfaced to haunt the 60-year-old stay-at-home dad and artist, who’s now restricted by the district in the help he can provide Buckman, where his son attends fourth grade.

PPS’s safety policy requires criminal background checks and fingerprinting of adults who run after-school programs for children and teenagers. Coaches must submit to the same procedure.

Where the school district draws the line as to what makes an adult a suitable classroom leader is not entirely clear, because the district can, in rare cases, make exceptions, and not all crimes are grounds for termination. (And, as The Oregonian reported Sunday, the line can also be fuzzy for teachers; those teachers who have been disciplined for sexual offenses can return to the classroom if they haven’t been convicted.)

Byrd-Diabougi’s troubles began last year, when he agreed to teach an after-school art class at Buckman. He filled out a form in September 2006 and checked a box that said he’d never been convicted of any crime.

The following February, after Byrd-Diabougi had been teaching in the classroom for several months, the Oregon Department of Education sent Byrd-Diabougi a letter saying his statement was false: FBI records had revealed the food-stamp fraud. Byrd-Diabougi says today he had forgotten about the 1985 incident when he filled out the paperwork. He also says he’s not dangerous.

But when the February letter arrived, he had to immediately stop teaching his class at Buckman, the arts magnet school in Southeast where he’d worked under the umbrella of the nonprofit group Portland Impact, earning $15 an hour.

His supervisor was dismayed, according to a letter provided by Byrd-Diabougi. “I totally understand and wholeheartedly support background screening to keep our kids safe from harm,” wrote Diane Meisenhelter, a coordinator for Portland Impact, in a letter to district officials. “However, I feel in this case that far greater harm and injustice to kids would be committed by not letting Grey teach….”

Other crimes, perhaps more serious, don’t necessarily result in termination. One case in point: Stanley Rodrigues, the 33-year-old coach of the Franklin High School girls’ soccer team. In 2002, he pleaded guilty in Oregon and was convicted of fourth-degree assault, a misdemeanor, for an incident that resulted in a 20-day jail sentence.

Rodrigues, who police say struck a 56-year-old man at the Dollar Store in Redmond, completed his sentence on work release. He says he was protecting his mother, who had dated the victim but was not at the scene, according to the police report. Fourth-degree assault is not cause for dismissal in Portland Public Schools.

“I work for several school districts,” Rodrigues says. “They all know about it.”

PPS spokesman Matt Shelby confirmed the district knew about the assault charges. And that’s the crux, say district officials. They say Rodrigues was honest and Byrd-Diabougi was not.

Meanwhile, Byrd-Diabougi’s 22-year-old conviction for food-stamp fraud has had fresh repercussions. Last week, when he accompanied his fourth-grade son, Isaac, on a field trip to the Bonneville Dam, the father required a chaperone of his own: his son’s teacher.

Buckman’s principal last year, Melissa Dragich, agreed to let Byrd-Diabougi be a parent volunteer, despite the felony. But Byrd-Diabougi was once again banned this year when Dragich left Buckman and a new principal took over. The district has since apologized and cleared him to volunteer again. But the decision to bar him from teaching art still stands.

“They’re always talking at Portland Public Schools about how they want parent volunteers,” Byrd-Diabougi says. “You couldn’t prove it by me.”