What was billed as a walkout by Washington School students became a run-out Wednesday, as approximately 150 to 200 students left campus at lunch to protest the absence of the school’s principal, Mark Lucchetti. When students saw Lucchetti standing at the end of Citrus Fair Drive, they raised their signs and ran toward him, swarming and chanting his name.
Met with the crowd of primarily seventh and eighth graders, Lucchetti, teary-eyed, told them to “stay strong and make me proud,” before students rounded the corner and headed down Cloverdale Boulevard to protest in front of the district office.
The walkout was organized in less than two days, with initial plans taking shape less than 24 hours after the middle school announced Lucchetti’s absence. A letter from the district sent to Washington families on Feb. 28 said that “Principal Lucchetti is currently out of the office,” noting that for the time being, Cloverdale High School principal Rani Goyal would be at the middle school campus to “make sure that things run smoothly.” The announcement said families would be kept apprised of any updates regarding additional changes.
While hundreds of people — students, parents and other community members — have come out in support of the principal, what they’re defending him from is unclear.
In a brief phone call on the evening of March 1, District Superintendent Betha MacClain declined to discuss the nature of Lucchetti’s absence, saying that she can’t comment on personnel matters. When asked separately if she could confirm or deny if Lucchetti was on administrative leave, she declined to comment, again saying that she can’t confirm or say anything about issues relating to personnel.
Wednesday evening, Lucchetti confirmed that he was placed on administrative leave on Feb. 28, effective immediately. During the walkout, he said that he too was unable to discuss his absence but that “the truth will come out.”
Lucchetti said that what he could tell SoCoNews is that, “I’ve never been more proud of a bunch of kids in my life.”
Lucchetti has been the principal of Washington since 2016 when he was promoted from his previous post as a staff member of Cloverdale High School. The decision to bring him on as principal of the middle school instead of vice principal of Cloverdale High School was also met with backlash at the time, with students walking out of the high school in protest.
“I know that this is having a huge impact on the students, staff and community and we are not taking the situation lightly,” school board president Jacque Garrison said in an email Wednesday morning. “I know it’s frustrating not having information and it creates distrust and rumors, but we are following a process and are legally obligated to protect confidentiality.”
When asked prior to the walkout about claims made on social media that Lucchetti had been placed on administrative leave in retaliation for “speaking out against what’s wrong,” Garrison said that she is “unaware and confused as to what people are referring to.”
“Perhaps the people who are stating this can elaborate and be more specific,” she said.
Those attending the lunchtime walkout ranged from current Washington students and their parents to adults who were students at CHS when Lucchetti was there.
“Lucchetti’s going to be so proud of us,” one student said as they filed out of class.
During the cross-Cloverdale march, participants chanted Lucchetti’s name, as well as “No Lucchetti, no school,” “We want Lucchetti,” “You’re making a mistake,” among other things.
After walking from Washington School down Cloverdale Boulevard and to the district office, students found the building empty and headed back to the middle school campus. They gathered in front of Washington, eventually standing in a half-circle around Superintendent MacClain as they continued their refrain.
“All I can say is that I hear you — I know how upset you are,” she said.
MacClain walked away from the group after multiple attempts to talk were cut off by continued chanting and in one instance, screaming, as a group of students thought they saw Lucchetti drive by. As she walked down the street, the chant changed to “Fire Betha” — potentially in reference to at least one sign calling for a vote of “no confidence” in the superintendent.
Cloverdale community member Angela Cordova, who livestreamed the walkout and helped make signs for it, said that seventh and eighth grade students concerned about the announcement reached out to her through the Community of Cloverdale Facebook page, where she’s an administrator.
Cordova said that she told the students that Lucchetti wasn’t gone from the district, but on leave. “They said ‘What can we do? Nobody listens to us because we’re kids,’” she said.
Cordova said that she told the students that they have a voice and explained to the students how a walkout would work if they wanted to hold one.
“They basically made it clear that it was going to happen Wednesday, with or without parents,” she said. “At that point I had a bunch of parents reaching out to me and other community members and we all agreed that we would figure out a way to be there for these kids and so these kids could be heard … They wanted to be heard about how much they care about their principal, how much they love and respect him.”
Seventh grader Priscilla Rodriguez is one of the students who reached out to Cordova after seeing a post she made on the Facebook page about Lucchetti.
“I wanted to do something because I wanted to get Mr. Lucchetti back — he’s someone you can talk to and trust when you need something. When we’re not okay, he makes sure we are, and he’s comforting,” Rodriguez said. She helped spread the word about the walkout on social media, she said, adding that a lot of her peers were interested in “trying their best to get Lucchetti back, too.”
“Lucchetti just knows everything and is really nice,” said eighth grader Reagan Williams when asked why she walked out of school in protest.
One eighth grader likened him to a father figure, while noting that she believed some participants were there because they followed drama. Both students heard about the walkout from their peers and from social media.
“I could use a really good principal,” said Kingston Cavallo, a sixth grader who said that Lucchetti has supported him by giving him second chances when he “messes up.”
