8 students file federal lawsuit against Berkeley school district

Yvette Felarca, a national organizer with By Any Means Necessary, speaks to about one hundred gathered at Sproul Plaza on the UC Berkeley campus for the National Day of Action on Tuesday Mar. 1, 2011, in Berkeley, Ca., protesting budget cuts to California's education system. less Yvette Felarca, a national organizer with By Any Means Necessary, speaks to about one hundred gathered at Sproul Plaza on the UC Berkeley campus for the National Day of Action on Tuesday Mar. 1, 2011, in ... more Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close 8 students file federal lawsuit against Berkeley school district 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Eight Berkeley Unified School District students filed a federal civil rights lawsuit seeking class-action status, alleging district officials racially profiled and intimidated them in an attempt to gather information about a teacher who was caught on video attacking a neo-Nazi at a Sacramento rally.

Naming Superintendent Donald Evans and members of the school board, lawyers representing the students said their clients were taken out of class and “interrogated” for information about their English language development teacher, Yvette Felarca.

Felarca was placed on paid leave for about six weeks by the district after a YouTube video surfaced showing her allegedly attacking a demonstrator at a neo-Nazi rally in Sacramento in June. Felarca also sustained a head injury in the bloody confrontation.

While Felarca was on leave between Sept. 21 and Nov. 2, district staffers interviewed 21 of her students from Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School and Berkeley High School, the lawsuit alleges.

“One of the purposes of the lawsuit is to make sure this never happens again in Berkeley, to defend the rights of immigrant students and families,” said Felarca, a member of the activist group By Any Means Necessary.

The students, many of whom speak English as a second language, were asked by an attorney for the district “about discussions of immigrant rights and slavery in Ms. Felarca’s classroom,” as well as “their own political activities over the previous year,” the lawsuit claims.

Administrators allegedly asked the students, most of them Latino, “prying questions” in an attempt to “ascertain their immigration status and the immigration status of their families.”

A spokesman for the school district declined to comment on the lawsuit Thursday, saying the district had not had “ample opportunity to review the suit.” The spokesman, Charles Burress, also cited personnel confidentiality rules related to the suit.

In an Oct. 5 joint statement related to Felarca’s leave, Beatriz Leyva-Cutler, president of the school board, and Evans emphasized that they could not comment on specific personnel matters, but noted that parental notification is not always required by law before interviewing students.

Noting that Felarca was placed on paid leave — as opposed to being suspended without pay — the administrators wrote that they “do not take this impact lightly” on her students.

“We appreciate the sincere and understandable concerns of students and their families when a teacher is removed from the classroom,” the administrators wrote.

In an interview with a lawyer for the school district, one student left “confused, conflicted, and very afraid,” according to the lawsuit, after he was asked about political protests he had attended and what Felarca was teaching in the classroom.

The suit seeks a series of damages — including punitive measures — in a jury trial.

Michael Bodley is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mbodley@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @michael_bodley