STORY CORRECTION - UPDATE

MADERA - The former football player behind the attendance scandal that rocked Madera High School last month avoids expulsion. Thursday evening, at a special emergency meeting,  the Madera Unified Board of Trustees decided that "attendance fixing" was not an expellable offense and allowed MHS senior Anthony Martinez to stay in school.

Tuesday evening  Madera Unified staff recommended to give Martinez a "Slap on the Wrist" by expelling the student from school but to suspend that expulsion. In other words Martinez would have an expulsion on his record but would still be allowed to attend Madera High School. Board president Ricardo Arredondo was the lone dissenter to give Martinez a complete pass on his offenses on a five to one vote.

However Thursday night everything changed for Martinez as Arredondo got his way in giving the student a complete pass on the "attendance fixing" and unauthorized access to the schools attendance database, which according to the California Penal Code is a felony.

While there was a public comment section for the community to speak on this expulsion, no one approached the microphone. With no comments from the board, a vote was taken. Trustee Robert Garibay was the only vote to expel the former Madera High football player in school as the five other board members gave Martinez a pass for his "attendance fixing".

Director of Special Services, Paul Van Loon, followed Martinez and his mother out of the board room following the vote and kept the two from talking to the media by taking them to his private office.

This reporter asked Mr. Martinez one question, "Did Madera High Athletic Director Shane Riddle give you access to the computer?" Van Loon and Martinez's mother would not let him answer. The senior and his mother left the district office through a side door away from the public without speaking to the media.

Had the board of trustees read the California Education Code §48900 enacted by the California Assembly Bill 86 effective January 1, 2009, they would have known that the willful distruction of school property is an expellable offense and school property does include, but is not limited to, electronic files and databases (see below for citations).

Had someone on the board explained the seriousness of this crime against the school to the district they would have understood that the unauthorized alteration of a database on a state computer comes with the penalty of 16 months in state prison and up to a $10,000 fine. But in this case it's just a football player and the district can turn their backs on that crime (see below for citations).

Back in October, twenty-eight students at Madera High School were under investigation for "attendance fixing". Many of the students were athletes from various high school sports. Martinez was suspended from school and from the team when the offense was uncovered.

While the district led people to believe Martinez was a teacher's assistant in the attendance office, he was actually a TA working in the athletic department under Athletic Director Shane Riddle. Martinez gained access to the school's attendance database with a computer in Riddle's office.

He was able to access the attendance database and make changes to student's absences so that they could attend the school's Sadie Hawkins Dance. In doing so, students who were on the "LOP List" (Loss of Privileges) could participate in extra-curricular actives. Some students had as many as 70 absences each and the teacher's assistant is said to have charged between $5 and $25 per student.

The fraud was uncovered before the Sanger Football game on October 12. Martinez was then removed from the football team. The following week the high school's administration learned that the "attendance fixing" involved as many as 28 kids, friends of the suspected student and members of the football, baseball and softball teams, as well as members of the student government.

According to our source within the school district, school principal Kent Albertson and athletic director Shane Riddle had tried to keep a lid on the scandal. However, Albertson did contact Madera Unified Superintendent Gustavo Balderas before the Sanger High/Madera High football game about the first discovery and again the next week regarding the expansion of the investigation on the 28 other students involved.

Mr. Albertson did not return our call for a comment but did text us via cellular phone saying he would not comment on student discipline or on an on-going investigation.

The four seniors and two juniors that paid the fellow football player sat out the Edison High School football game and were suspended from school for one day. However, they were back on the team and played in their overwhelming loss to Bullard High School (48-0).

"The discipline is based on board policy. Students were given consequences for their actions as the school deemed appropriate", said Madera Unified Superintendent Gustavo Balderas. Balderas' son plays on the Madera High varsity football team and while he was not involved in the scandal, he is friends with all seven football players involved.

These students athletes have served less time in punishment for conspiring to illegally access a school computer and manipulate records than a student who is caught with a cigarette. According to the Madera Unified School District's Code of Conduct, each student involved should have received a minimum of four weeks of extra-curricular and co-curricular actives ineligibility. These football players received less than one week.

Madera High's 2012 Homecoming Queen Samantha Tiscareno said in a Facebook posting, "Apparently you get special treatment if you're a starter on the football team."

----------

CALIFORNIA EDUCATION CODE: Suspension and Expulsion

EC §48900 - Grounds for suspension or expulsion; jurisdiction; legislative intent (Amended by Assembly Bill 86 effective January 1, 2009)
A pupil shall not be suspended from school or recommended for expulsion, unless the superintendent or the principal of the school in which the pupil is enrolled determines that the pupil has committed an act as defined pursuant to any of subdivisions (a) to (r), inclusive:

(f) Caused or attempted to cause damage to school property or private property.
(u) As used in this section, "school property" includes, but is not limited to,electronic files and databases.

CALIFORNIA PENAL CODE:
PC§ 502. Unauthorized access to computers, computer systems and computer data (effective January 01, 2001)

(1) Knowingly accesses and without permission alters, damages, deletes, destroys, or otherwise uses any data, computer, computer system, or computer network in order to either (A) devise or execute any scheme or artifice to defraud, deceive, or extort, or (B) wrongfully control or obtain money, property, or data.
(4) Knowingly accesses and without permission adds, alters, damages, deletes, or destroys any data, computer software, or computer programs which reside or exist internal or external to a computer, computer system, or computer network.

(d)(1) Any person who violates any of the provisions of paragraph (1), (2), (4), or (5) of subdivision (c) is punishable by a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months, or two or three years, or by both that fine and imprisonment, or by a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars ($5,000), or by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment.