> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Uncertainty hangs over ‘stepchild’ school - URL: https://www.smdp.com/uncertainty-hangs-over-stepchild-school/ - Published: 2004-05-03T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T04:16:20.000Z - Author: Carolyn Sackariason - Tags: Education, Malibu, #archive-import *Superintendent denies allegations of closing troubled school* OLYMPIC HIGH — Despite assurances from the school district’s top official that it’s business as usual at Olympic High School, students and staff here fear the continuation school will close. But it will be far from business as usual after June 30, when the school’s principal, Dr. Suzanne Toyryla, will leave her post after seven years. She was “reassigned” by the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School Board in March — two months after she confronted Superintendent John Deasy in a public meeting over the future of Olympic. Toyryla said she wasn’t told why she was reassigned and does-n’t know where she’ll go yet. But she and her staffers say the reassignment is nothing more than a political term for being fired. Toyryla last month spoke candidly about her recent turmoil while she organized her office to prepare for her departure. Her comments in the past four months have put Deasy on the defensive. He wouldn’t comment to the Daily Press on any discussions he’s had with Toyryla or with the school board. He says it’s a personnel matter and it can’t be aired in public because state law prevents him. What’s more, he believes it’s unprofessional and inappropriate to discuss the issue in the press. “I’m not going to debate Sue in the newspaper,” Deasy said. He declined to answer several questions about why Toyryla was relieved of her job at Olympic and chose not to respond to many allegations levied by Toyryla and her staff about the future of the school. But he did say that Toyryla was not reassigned because of the allegations she levied at the school board meeting. PRINCIPAL CALLED INTO OFFICE Toyryla maintains that she was summoned to Deasy’s office in January when he allegedly told her that he was going to close Olympic and he would have the school board’s support. She was told to look for a new job. “I was concerned,” she said. “It was only the second time in two and a half years that the man called me into his office. The first thing he said to me was ‘I’m going to close Olympic High School.’ The meeting was less than 30 minutes. I walked out stunned.” That prompted Toyryla, as well as the school’s faculty, staff and students, to confront Deasy and the school board two weeks later at a public meeting. Toyryla insisted she was on hand to not only protect her job, but also the educational opportunities of the 130 students who attend the school, located at Lincoln and Ocean Park boulevards. Rumors have been rampant within the community that Deasy plans to turn Olympic into a charter school. However, Deasy said Toyryla’s interpretation of his plans are wrong, adding he has no intentions to close the school. “Olympic will open as usual,” Deasy told the Daily Press. “There is no change at Olympic as was written to the faculty.” A letter was sent last month to longtime Olympic teacher Jack Casey from Deasy that said the school will be open next year. But students and their parents are still worried about their educational opportunities at Olympic. And the staff is worried about job security. “I only know what I read in the paper,” said Casey, who has been teaching at Olympic for 25 years. “They fired the one person that can keep it all together, and I’m really concerned about the students because they are so vulnerable.” Teachers at Olympic are urging students to graduate by June if possible because the future is uncertain. “The students are very, very curious,” said Deborah Siemer, who has taught world history and math at Olympic for the past five years. “I’m uncertain what is going to happen. “It’s unnerving,” she added. “I think it’s an error. I think (Toyryla) has brought reforms and positives to the school... The main concern is what will happen.” A few days after Toyryla confronted Deasy at the school board meeting, publicly repeating what he had told her behind closed doors on Jan. 14 — that the school would close and wasn’t meeting the needs of the students — she was summoned back to his office at district headquarters on 16th Street. But what was said in that second meeting remains a mystery because Toyryla said she was ordered to keep her mouth shut. “It was something very hurtful to Olympic, and we aren’t allowed to talk about it,” she said. Deasy again cited personnel issues and was bound by law to keep the discussion confidential. And so it was two months later that Toyryla was removed as principal, effective June 30\. She might get reassigned to the classroom, but given the fallout, she isn’t sure she’ll stay in the district, which has been described by many as “toxic.” “I’m weighing my options,” Toyryla said. “After Jan. 14, I knew in my head that I was gone, and it’s hard because you work so hard all of these years and this isn’t how you are done in this business. John was sweeping me aside, and it’s the first step in sweeping Olympic aside.” Deasy said the job has been advertised and a new principal will be at the school by July 1. TEACHERS QUESTION SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER VISIT Casey too was called in to Deasy’s office on the same day as Toyryla. > “What the heck does ‘reassign’ mean when no one talks to you and you are relieved of your position?” — she said “My meeting with him was specifically about (school board member) Oscar de la Torre coming on campus,” Casey said. “He wanted the facts about that day.” Apparently, de la Torre visited Olympic the day after the infamous school board meeting to talk to students about their teachers. Casey was acting principal that day because Toyryla was off campus. “I saw Oscar and asked him, ‘What’s going on?’He said ‘No hard feelings, it’s all politics,’” Casey said. “I was speechless.” Deasy declined to discuss his meeting with Casey or de la Torre’s campus visit. OLYMPIC LEFT OUT OF THE LOOP? At least four of the seven teachers at Olympic back Toyryla for her accomplishments and dogged determination to make Olympic as good as it can be. “She has their respect and because of that, teachers have respect,” Casey said. “The woman has devoted her life to building this school and helping these kids. She makes this place work.” Until January, there had been little public discussion among school officials about Olympic, which has been described in the past as the district’s “stepchild.” Toyryla and other staffers say Deasy has visited the school a handful of times since he became superintendent in 2001 and school board members haven’t been on campus in about that long, Toyryla said. “They used to come all the time,” she said. “John keeps them cloistered... Why aren’t they asking questions? They blindly do what they are told.” School board president Jose Escarce, who said he’s been on campus once, declined to discuss most issues involving Olympic and Toyryla. However, he did say Olympic will remain open, but it will be improved upon. “There is an interest in making Olympic as good as it can be,” he said. Students at Olympic are not typical — they range in age between 15 and 20 — and have had it rough in their short lives. About 30 percent of the students are on probation. More than 20 percent of the population are special education students. Half of the students work to support their families. Some are pregnant, some of their parents have died, some come from abusive and broken homes, and others are in trouble with the law. Casey, who quit his job as a sales executive to work with at-risk kids, believes the staff and Toyryla have developed a curriculum that provides kids with a decent education, if they are willing to do the work. “I know what full programs we offer here,” he said. “And now, a group of at-risk kids are thrown into chaos.” Olympic teacher Marcia Gheight said she believes the district has a plan for Olympic, but she, her colleagues and her students don’t know what it is. And even though their future remains in limbo, the staff remains positive. “They do have it planned, they want this site,” she said. “Our morale is great. We are totally united.” But Toyryla admits she’s seen the circumstances wearing on the staff and students. “The kids already don’t have direction in their lives,” she said. “It’s like we’re on a boat without any oars in the water.” > “It’s like we’re on a boat without any oars in the water.” — — DR. SUZANNE TOYRYLA Principal Olympic High School Toyryla added that had she known how the district operated and the culture of city politics, she probably would have steered clear. “It’s heartbreaking,” she said. “When I took this job I was told there was work to be done, but I had no idea how ineffective this school was. The district had allowed it be so. “This group has changed and improved this school dramatically, yet we were never brought into the conversation on how it can be improved or changes we’d like to see.” “We haven’t helped all of the kids, we recognize,” she added. “But when he says we are not meeting the needs of the kids here, it’s an outright lie, you can quote me on that. What are they going to do, fire me?” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/050304-01_01.jpg) Olympic High School Principal Dr. (Photo: Carolyn Sackariason/Daily Press) *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 3, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/050304.pdf?ref=smdp.com)