Failed Reconciliation (Part 3)
the summary of events outlining the fernandez family's final efforts to reconcile
Dis-enrollment aftermath:
Tuesday evening, May 24, 2016, just minutes after learning of their dis-enrollment, Jasmine, Randi, and Hailey wasted little time grieving before transitioning their focus to submitting their final assignments for the school year.
The girls frantically ran to their Surface laptops to log in, only to learn their school EMAIL accounts had been locked.
That night, the Fernandez girls were forced to tell their classmates that they were no longer allowed to attend Renton Prep. When their classmates asked why, they refrained from discussing the details of their dis-enrollment, as they were afraid that rumors may be spread.
Little did the girls know that an entirely unforeseen falsity would roam the halls of Renton Prep the next day, slandering their family's name.
That same evening, Fernandez family member, Dede Akamine, sent a text message to the family's close knit community of friends at the Schools. She made clear the text was intended only to inform families that the Fernandez and Akamine-Rogers children would no longer be at the Schools.
Michelle's False statement:
On the morning of Wednesday, May 25, 2016, Michelle walked into the 6th grade homeroom class and noticed children crying. At 8:32 AM, she asked the students what happened.
One of the crying students stated, "This morning I found out that Randi was (inaudible)"
Michelle replied with,
"You know what made me really cry? (inaudible) There were two very clear bullying issues, one with me, and we were not going to (inaudible). [Randi's] father threatened to punch my dad, and then we had a meeting,"
Michelle went on to say,
“And I know none of you would be too happy if your parents were—had someone say, 'I could hit someone.' And because we wouldn’t want anyone here to get hurt, and we wouldn’t want anyone here to get (inaudible) and say, 'I’m going to punch someone else' (inaudible). And I want you to know that we (inaudible), (inaudible) I confirmed today that’s actually what really happened (inaudible).”
These fabricated statements, made in reference to Rod, were the reasons that Michelle provided to students for the Fernandez children’s dis-enrollment.
RUmors spread:
Almost immediately after Michelle made the false and inappropriate statement about Rod to the 6th grade homeroom, members of the Fernandez, Huertas, and Akamine-Rogers families were informed by multiple parents and students that Michelle claimed Rod threatened to punch her dad.
The Fernandez and extended families denied the allegation. Dawn's initial reaction was to ignore the rumor, since she couldn't fathom Michelle would make such inflammatory statements in an attempt to console students who were upset about Randi's dis-enrollment.
However, after hearing the firsthand accounts from 6th grade Renton Prep students and parents on their last day of school, she felt compelled to uncover the truth.
On the morning of May 28, 2016, at 1:14 AM, Dawn sent DPZ an email inquiring about the false allegation.
(Interestingly, when Rod came home from working a swing-shift at 3:00 AM, he noted that DPZ's vehicle was parked outside Amazing Grace Christian School, four houses away from the Fernandez residence.)
After still receiving no response from DPZ, Dawn emailed him again that afternoon on May 28th at 5:20 PM, with a cc: of the email to Michelle and Gloria.
THE TELEPHONE CALL:
Within an hour of Dawn's 2nd email, DPZ called Dawn crying and requesting to pray with her over the phone.
DPZ asked if she and Rod would consider reconciliation. In his words:
"The Road to Reconciliation is: 1) confession, 2) forgiveness and 3) reconciliation."
Dawn advised DPZ that they would consider reconciliation, so long as they cleared up the false statement by Michelle about Rod three days prior.
DPZ claimed multiple times throughout the conversation he had absolutely no idea what his daughter said (though it should be noted that DPZ, Gloria, and Michelle live together in the same house), and promised he would ask Michelle and get back to Dawn so they could clear Rod's name.
Though DPZ never said anything to Dawn about Rod threatening to punch him during their telephone conversation, he asked Dawn if he could send her an email he had planned on sending her prior to their conversation. Dawn agreed.
UNSOLICITED Re-enrollment:
After they hung up the phone, Dawn received an unsolicited re-enrollment email from DPZ at 8:58 PM, informing her that he had (without first consulting with the Fernandez family) re-enrolled the Fernandez children. In this email, she still received no response regarding what Michelle had told the 6th grade homeroom.
DPZ alleges a threat
Less than one hour after receiving the re-enrollment email, DPZ he sent another email to Dawn detailing what he claimed was his interaction with Rod, which just-so-happened to align with Michelle's statement to the 6th grade class on May 25.
DPZ stated, for the first time, that
"Rod's words were a physical threat and bullying."
The fact is, Rod never raised his voice nor lifted a finger at DPZ.
And at no time did DPZ ever state to Dawn or Rod that Rod actually threatened to hit or punch him.
Instead, eight days prior, on May 20, DPZ spent less than 30-seconds of a 16-minute conversation with Dawn, talking about his interaction with Rod. DPZ offhandedly made mention, almost jokingly, that he felt Rod was scary due to his self-acknowledged racist comment that "Filipino men have a certain style."
The bulk of this 16-minute conversation was relaxed, jovial, friendly.
DPZ dominated the conversation making racist statements and ranting about a 'spiritual warfare' going on at the school. He shared gossip about other parents and students, bragged about Michelle, and gloated about his discretionary power at the School.
DPZ offhandedly made a statement to Dawn, almost jokingly, that he felt Rod was scary due to his self-acknowledged racist comment that "Filipino men have a certain style."
Based on his explicit bias of Filipinos, DPZ then thought out loud and remarked to Dawn,
"It's like, if you need to hit me, you go ahead and hit me,"
in which Dawn replied in disbelief,
"Dr. Please."
Rod and Dawn were shocked and confused when they read DPZ’s allegations and detailed fabrications of Rod's physical appearance, mannerisms, and the meeting between the two of them, as they deviated sharply from what actually transpired.
Rod never threatened DPZ in any way, let alone threatened to punch him.
In fact, DPZ had NEVER even accused Rod of threatening to punch him. This conception was solely based on Michelle's false statement.
Given the extravagant description of DPZ's feelings of being threatened, it is very suspicious that the Fernandez family was never given any formal notification of the alleged threat, which came only after Michelle told students that Rod threatened to punch him.
In fact, when Michelle made a reference to the alleged threat out of the blue at the May 24, 2016 meeting, Rod hardly had a chance to process that an allegation had been insinuated against him.
He immediately refuted, saying, as he looked to DPZ for affirmation.
"No, no, no, no, no,"
DPZ stated to Michelle,
"We'll deal with this as adults, not with children."
With the belief that the matter would be discussed separately among the adults, Rod the moved on with his conversation about his concerns regarding the mistreatment of Randi.
DPZ never notified, informed, or showed concern regarding his subsequent allegations toward Rod which, if his later descriptions were remotely true, would seem serious enough to at least warrant a follow-up conversation with Rod or Dawn.
Attempts at reconciliation only ended when DPZ failed to communicate back to Dawn what Michelle said, as he promised. Dawn sent a detailed follow-up email to DPZ on May 29, 2016 at 9:06 PM.
Instead of receiving a response from DPZ, Dawn and Rod were sent an email on May 30, 2016 from Mr. Mike Nichols, President of Amazing Grace Lutheran Church dba Renton Prep, informing her that all communications from the family were to go through him only.
Mr. Nichols' May 30, 2016 letter to Rod and Dawn Fernandez began with,
"I was recently informed of an e-mail sent to Dr. David-Paul Zimmerman, our school administrator wherein Mrs. Fernandez requested certain actions be taken or a lawsuit might be filed."
The Zimmermans falsely claim that our family refused reconciliation, however the turning point was DPZ’s decision to protect his daughter by refusing to respond to Dawn. Dawn made it unequivocally clear on May 28, 2016 that reconciliation was conditioned solely on knowing "Michelle's version of what she told the students at Renton Prep about Rod physically threatening [DPZ] and how Rod was going to punch [DPZ] in the face."
It then became clear that the Zimmermans were trying to silence our family, like they have done to many others.
This disrespect on the part of DPZ, his deliberate choice to ignore Dawn's numerous requests for an explanation about his daughter, and subsequent escalation to the President of the Amazing Grace Lutheran Church dba Renton PreP destroyed the possibility of reconciliation.
On July 8, 2016, President Nichols emailed Rod and Dawn stating: "Please find attached a letter outlining the findings from a review of video and emails regarding the events at AGCS and RPCS by members of the Amazing Grace Lutheran Church council."
Click HERE for July 8, 2016, Amazing Grace Lutheran Church council findings.
On July 18, 2016, Mr. Nichols indicated in his email to Rod and Dawn that they were denying their request for copies of the audio-videos that the Amazing Grace Lutheran Church council based on its findings, and stated: "We now consider this matter closed."
A lawsuit was filed for the sole purpose of obtaining the May 25, 2016 video of Michelle, which the Fernandez were 100% confident would have clearly proven that Rod never raised his voice, lifted a finger at, or threatened DPZ.
It wasn't until well into the discovery phase of the litigation process that the Zimmermans were compelled, by law, to disclose that there was no video of the interaction between DPZ and Rod, where DPZ alledged he felt threatened. It ultimately became the Fernandez family's word against theirs.
Once the Fernandez family obtained the May 25, 2016 audio-video evidence of Michelle, through the Court's discovery process, DPZ’s and Michelle’s narratives and declarations continuously changed with additional details to conform with Michelle’s statement.
The following words and phrases were never used and/or admitted to with the Fernandez family until the filing of the lawsuit:
• “Punched”
• “I [DPZ] told Michelle I had not been that scared of being hit in the face since I had served over 40 years ago in the United States Marine Corps”
• [DPZ testified that he was] “scared of being hit in the face or punched in the nose.”
• “His [DPZ] face looked pale and I vividly remember his eyes wide, staring straight ahead when I came in the house.”
• “He [DPZ] looked like he was in shock. I had never seen my father so shaken in my life.”
• “I have not seen my father [DPZ] this distraught since a gun was pulled on him several years before.”
When considering the progressive nature (i.e. post-disenrollment and post-lawsuit) of DPZ and Michelle's descriptions of DPZ's interaction with Rod on May 20, 2016, together with the degree to which they describe the intensity of Rod's alleged threatening behavior and their supposed reaction to it, a person could come to one of two conclusions:
The Zimmermans have either:
1) Grossly exaggerated or out right fabricated this so-called "threat" by Rod,
or
2) are overwhelmingly incompetent and recklessly risked the safety of staff, parents, and students by allowing Rod to come on campus after this alleged threatening behavior. At minimum, it would have warranted a comprehensive response from the School, including an explicit notification to Rod, or even immediate dis-enrollment of the family.
DPZ testified the safety of the staff, parents, and students is of paramount importance to him, while at the same time giving himself leeway by using his pastoral role to justify why he didn't notify Rod or address the seriousness of his allegations.
If the Zimmermans' accusations against Rod were true, it would be even more disturbing that the Zimmermans would allow Rod to attend a meeting with other families and students only 4 days after this alleged threat, then as Administrators of the school, escalate the situation by walking out of a meeting in defiance, turning out the lights, and leaving a Renton Prep teacher alone in the room with Rod and other families and students.
This just doesn't hold up, an Administrator or Executive Director of a school is expected to act in that role, not use past roles to justify the failings of essential duties.
Any current or former parent of Renton Prep knows, without a doubt, that DPZ is very direct, holds nothing back, and does not 'play games' with parents about his feelings or his expectations. In fact, DPZ has been described by parents to be both tough and intimidating.
again, the zimmermans' narrative does not add up.
Over the Fernandez family's 10+ year tenure at Renton Prep / AGCS, as well as throughout our two-year legal process with the Zimmermans and Renton Prep, the family has observed certain patterns and behaviors that cause great concern.
To learn more about these observed patterns and behaviors, click on the links below.
A Racist System: Exploitation of People of Color, Lack of Cultural Competency, Racial Stereotyping, White Fragility
Toxic Leadership: Abuse of Power, Nepotism, Silencing Voices, Lack of Oversight, and Former Teachers
False Narratives: The Bullying and The Alleged Threat
The Fernandezes also suggest Recommendations for Renton Prep.
