M-A teacher Liane Strub back in the classroom M-A teacher Liane Strub back in the classroom (June 01, 2005)

By David Boyce

Almanac Staff Writer

Liane Strub, an advanced-placement English literature teacher at Menlo-Atherton High School and the chair of the school's English department, is back in the classroom.

Ms. Strub had been placed on leave after a May 11 incident in which she confronted four students minutes after they had assaulted her son on campus and broken his nose, said Atherton police.

The news of her return after about two weeks of paid administrative leave came from a teacher who did not wish to be identified. Her return, the teacher said, indicates a return to normalcy and a ratcheting down of the seriousness of whatever happened between Ms. Strub and her son's assailants.

The assailants -- all boys -- confessed to police to having battered Ms. Strub's son, according to the police, but the details of the confrontation between the boys and Ms. Strub have not been available.

At least seven different stories about the confrontation have been making the rounds through student grapevines and Web logs, the teacher said, adding that no one except the parties involved really knows for certain what happened.

Atherton police Sgt. Mike Guerra, the school resources officer at M-A, said his investigation is continuing and that Ms. Strub is speaking through her lawyer.

A key question is whether physical contact occurred during the confrontation between teacher and students. State law allows teachers to make contact when reasonable, the teacher said, adding that the vexing aspect of the law is in determining what is reasonable.

Ms. Strub was placed on paid administrative leave, but that step is too frequently misinterpreted to imply guilt, the teacher said. Administrative leave is a way to pause while school officials determine what happened, the teacher said.

According to the teacher, Ms. Strub has commented that student protests in support of her, including those in student Web logs, have not been helpful. It would be better to write letters of support to district superintendent Pat Gemma and to the members of the governing board of the Sequoia Union High School District, the teacher said.

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