Tustin Parents Condemn Surprise King Appearance : Controversy: School officials vow to find out why beating-case figure was allowed to speak at high school.

TUSTIN — Scores of outraged parents telephoned school district offices Thursday to condemn a surprise on-campus appearance by Rodney G. King, and school officials vowed to find out why the “infamous” King was allowed to speak in a high school classroom Wednesday night.

Tustin Unified School District leaders were quick to distance themselves from King’s speech at Tustin High School, saying they had no idea it was planned and that they never would have approved it because of the “controversy” surrounding King.

“We would not have sponsored it or supported it. My feeling is that individual is too controversial for a school district to deal with. . . . His name is infamous,” said Supt. David Andrews. The appearance should have been held off-campus or not at all, he said.

“I don’t view Rodney King as a role model,” added Tustin High School Principal Duffy Clark. “Role models, in my mind, are heroic characters, and I don’t know that Rodney King has done anything heroic.”

Clark added that he believes King and his lawyer, Milton C. Grimes, had taken advantage of “a captive, young audience. . . . The harm here is the perception that he was somehow deified or glorified.”

The controversy erupted Thursday after Tustin Unified School District officials and local parents read news reports about King’s remarks to about 75 student members of the African-American Student Alliance Club and several adults.

King also fielded questions on education, police, racism, his beating, the Los Angeles riots and a range of other often emotional issues.

King could not be reached for comment, but Grimes, his Santa Ana Heights attorney, said he was “saddened by our so-called educators’ shortsightedness on what’s good for their students.” The talk was intended as the first in a series of school appearances by King in the Southland, but Grimes said he is now rethinking that plan.

The attorney said he was dumbfounded by the response. “I did not bring in a weapon. I did not incite disobedience or riots,” Grimes said, adding that he “would bet” that Tustin school officials wouldn’t have objected if he had brought any of the four officers involved in the beating to speak to students.

King showed up at the school with Grimes, who is representing him in his pending civil lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department. Grimes had been scheduled to speak before the club, as he had done several times before. Students and faculty advisers said they were surprised that he was accompanied by King.

But some of the students and parent advisers appeared Wednesday night to have advance knowledge that King would be arriving, based on interviews conducted at that time. When asked Thursday whether anyone else was aware King was coming, Grimes said: “I don’t know. . . . Let the school investigate and find out.”

Later, he added: “I take full responsibility for bringing Rodney King.”

Grimes, who said he received threatening phone calls because of the incident, acknowledged that “if I had one inkling it would be controversial like this, I wouldn’t have taken him.”

The adviser to the African-American club, Judy Sampson, said she too was “surprised there was such an uproar. . . . I thought it was all very positive.”

Students interviewed after the talk echoed her remarks, saying they appreciated King talking to them bluntly and directly about the difficulties of growing up black in Southern California.

“It was great,” said Lakeesha Cash, vice president of the club and a 10th-grader at Tustin High School, whose 1,800-student body is about 7% black. “It really changed my image of him.”

Grimes said he thought the event “a beautiful experience” that both turned around the image of King as a “monster” and stressed to the mostly black audience the importance of education and hard work.

The strong reactions Thursday following King’s appearance mirrored the controversy that has followed the 27-year-old man since he was beaten by L.A. police in March, 1991, after a chase. The incident was captured on videotape and broadcast worldwide. The April not guilty verdicts for four police officers charged in the beating set off three days of deadly rioting in the city’s streets.

On Thursday, parents inundated the district with more than 70 phone calls by noontime--”all negative,” said Supt. Andrews.

A Tustin parent, Donna Saltarelli, said she called district officials to complain about the talk.

“It appears Mr. King’s attorney was using a public forum to condemn police officers who still have charges pending against them. It was a publicity stunt,” she said.

School board President Joyce Hanson said that she found it “upsetting” that King’s appearance “occurred with no authorization from any employee in the school district. Mr. King apparently just showed up with the attorney. I feel our students were used for publicity purposes and that is just not acceptable.

“I would not think it would be wise to bring anyone that controversial into a school setting,” Hanson said.

But Andrews said the content of King’s talk is less significant to him than the community response the speech generated.

“I really don’t care about his message at this point. I care about what his appearance did to this community,” he said. “Obviously, the ramifications are enormous--and negative.”

Previous visitors who have addressed students include the consul general of China and a political adviser to Russian leader Boris Yeltsin. But never before has the district experienced such a vehement reaction, he said.

The superintendent, who was briefed Thursday about the appearance, said he plans to investigate the matter further to determine whether any students or faculty knew that King was going to appear. But he added that Grimes bears the brunt of the responsibility.

“Obviously, we were taken by surprise,” he said. “And I’m very, very upset that someone took advantage of our students and our parents and our school’s good name to manipulate this situation. . . . This cannot happen again.”