FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – A Vice principal of Sunnyside High School has been put on paid administrative leave after a TikTok video of him calling suspected Fresno Unified students “Ghetto girls” or “Section 8 girls”.
Both students and the vice principal denied our requests for an interview because the investigation is ongoing.
One community member says the video is disturbing to watch.
“This is your vice principal who thinks that these young girls are ghetto, they’re section 8. He has dismissed them and put them in a category. How do you think he’s handling situations at school that come up,” said Stacy Williams.
Williams is a community organizer in Fresno. She has seen the video and is disgusted by it.
“This is just something he said out whatever, it’s not affecting his job. It is affecting his job because it is affecting our students and it is affecting our district,” she said.
The man in the video is Fred Veenendaal, a vice principal for Sunnyside High School. It’s unknown what led up to the argument in the video.
We spoke with Mr. Veenendaal, he told YourCentralValley.com that after this whole investigation is over, he plans to release a statement from his legal team.
As for the person who recorded the video, they gave us permission to show the video but did not want to speak on it.
We are working to confirm whether the girls who were speaking with Veenendaal were students of F.U.S.D.
The school district sent this statement on the matter saying in part quote, “We are aware of the video circulating, and the district started an investigation into the matter early Monday. The labels used in the video do not align with the high standards we have for our Fresno Unified leaders and staff.”
Veenendaal has been placed on paid administrative leave for the entirety of this investigation.
Williams doesn’t think this kind of behavior should be tolerated.
“He should be fired, he should be fired. We shouldn’t be debating this anymore. If we’re going to have zero tolerance for students, we should have zero tolerance for adults. Period,” said Williams.
It’s unknown how long this investigation will take.
