Parents, students and an assistant principal urge Perris board to reconsider removal of Paris Lake administrators

More than a half-dozen students, family members and school staff pleaded with the Perris Union High School District board on April 16 to reconsider the removal of two administrators at Paris Lake High School, saying the decision followed little public explanation and would harm students who rely on the campus’s alternative-support approach.

At the start of public comment, community member Vanessa Vidalas said she had invited trustees to visit campus multiple times and that trustees who attended had not engaged with students. “I invite you all again for a third time to visit our campus and to actually engage with your school,” she said, asking the board to “please reconsider your decision on the removal of Miss Ramos and Mister Alfred.”

Student speaker Amanda Alvarez, who said she graduated early that day, urged trustees to reverse the action. “I feel very devastated to have to speak for high school students about the removal of Principal Alfred and Assistant Principal Romo again,” Alvarez said, adding that she could not have completed school without their support.

Assistant Principal Cindy Ramos spoke directly to the board to set what she called “the record straight.” Ramos said a circulating narrative that she chose to leave administration was false. “No. Absolutely not,” she said. “It is not my choice to leave Perris Lake High School. I love Perris Lake High School, and I love what I’m doing there.” Ramos described the campus’s high graduation rate and low suspensions and said the school’s approach had helped hundreds of students graduate who otherwise would not have.

A former Paris Lake student, Nathan Lloyd, told the board that staff at the campus had been instrumental in helping students who were previously labeled at risk to graduate. “Paris Lake is full of the students the rest of the system told would never graduate,” he said, asking the board to reconsider.

Multiple speakers asked the board to engage more directly with students and staff before finalizing personnel decisions. The board did not announce any immediate change to the personnel action during the meeting; the personnel matter had been the subject of a closed-session discussion earlier in the evening and public comment was limited to expressing concern and requesting explanation.

The meeting record shows the board later returned to a series of personnel action items and approved a range of hires and personnel actions, but no public reversal of the Paris Lake administrator removals was recorded on April 16. The next procedural step for personnel decisions typically depends on closed-session direction and any subsequent public action notices from the district.