california school

It’s been decades since “Faces of Death” stirred panic among parents of teens trading the 1978 pseudo-snuff VHS. The “video nasty” spawned a number of sequels, spinoffs and now a remake starring Barbie Ferreira and Dacre Montgomery that hit theaters this month.

But back in the 1980s, the original film caused an uproar at Southern California schools.

Days before school was out for summer in 1985, Escondido High School math teacher Bart Schwartz, then 28, used a spare two hours during finals week to squeeze in a film screening with his class. Schwartz wanted to show the film because it was “interesting.”

According to the Times coverage of the incident and subsequent lawsuit, the scenes shown in the classroom included autopsies, decaying cadavers and live animals being butchered, mutilated and tortured. The original “Faces of Death” also includes scenes of a man being electrocuted, a decapitation and an orgy during which a man is gutted by a flesh-eating cult.

Although today’s audiences might be more desensitized to such gruesome scenes thanks to hyperrealistic special effects in modern horror movies, and the commonplace spread of graphic clips online, audiences of the ‘80s were reportedly traumatized and scandalized. Not only was the film considered macabre, but it also was widely believed to be composed entirely of real footage.

“The ultimate taboo,” “100% real” and “banned in 46 countries!” were taglines for the original film. It wasn’t until decades after the film’s release that director John Alan Schwartz publicly confirmed that while some footage was real and pulled from news and autopsy archives, much of the movie was staged and the shockumentary’s host pathologist, Dr. Gröss, was an actor.

“Each new generation discovers it,” Schwartz told New York Public Radio in 2012. “And even though things look hokey now, there are still segments that people actually believe are real that aren’t.”

The 2026 remake, by comparison, is clear about its fictional plot, but also includes real clips of death that were “carefully trimmed,” according to director Daniel Goldhaber.

Back to 1985 — Escondido High’s Schwartz, who had previously been named “teacher of the year,” reportedly would not allow students to leave the classroom while the film played. One student, then 16-year-old Diane Feese, said the teacher fast-forwarded through the dialogue and forced students to watch the film’s most gruesome scenes. She covered her eyes, according to reports from the time, but was still subjected to other students’ commentary and the audio of the deaths depicted on-screen.

That fall — when school was back in session — Feese sued the teacher and the school principal for $3 million. Schwartz was suspended with pay for 30 days, then an additional 15 days without pay.

In 1986, another student in Schwartz’s math class, Sherry Forget, followed suit and took the math teacher to court for being subjected to the film. In 1987, the lawsuits were settled with Feese receiving $57,500 and Forget, who asked for $1 million, netting $42,500.

Less than a decade later, a Los Angeles high school teacher was also sued by his students for showing “Faces of Death.”

Verdugo Hills High School social sciences teacher Roger Haycock showed his cultural awareness class the film in December 1993. Students Jesse Smith and Darby Hughes alleged in their lawsuit that they were required to watch the film and write a paper on it. The teen boys said they suffered nightmares, emotional problems and were harassed by other students for their reaction to the film.

According to The Times, Haycock showed excerpts from “Faces of Death” to five classes that day and gave students the option to write a paper for extra credit or go to the library if they didn’t want to see the film. Haycock said he showed only parts of the film depicting animals being killed and did not show portions of the film that depict human death.

“Basically it had to do with the treatment of animals and the way we get our food, which was the lesson,” Haycock said at the time. “We go to the supermarket and get our meat, and we think it sanitizes us because it’s wrapped in plastic. But it has to be slaughtered for us by someone else. I was trying to show how other cultures provide food for themselves versus the way we do, living in the city.”

The judge dismissed the lawsuit, siding with the district’s argument that students shouldn’t be able to sue based on what they are taught in class.

A deaf 6-year-old boy snatched by immigration agents from Northern California and deported to Colombia this month needs to be returned to the U.S. immediately or he could die, a lawyer representing the child said Wednesday.

Attorney Nikolas De Bremaeker said the boy, Joseph Lodano Rodriguez, was “at risk every day that he is not getting his treatments.” The child has a cochlear implant that requires the same routine maintenance and cleaning he was receiving stateside but may not get in Colombia.

“Joseph is at immense risk for his life if he does not continue the treatment that he was receiving in the United States,” De Bremaeker said at a virtual news conference hosted by California Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate.

“He is at risk of infection, he is at risk of meningitis, he is at risk of death if he is not given the proper care for his surgical implants.”

Joseph, his 28-year-old mother, Lesly Rodriguez Gutierrez, and another son, 5, were detained by federal agents on March 3 while attending an immigration meeting and deported shortly after.

Rodriguez Gutierrez traveled to the United States in 2022 seeking asylum from domestic violence and lived in Hayward. She was told in the run up to the March 3 meeting that she needed to bring her two children for a routine check-in to update the photos Immigration and Customs Enforcement had of them.

Shortly after arriving, ICE agents “tried to force her to sign a document without explanation, and then pushed the family into a vehicle to be put on a flight to a faraway detention facility, “ De Bremaeker told The Times earlier.

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to questions sent Wednesday after office hours but has consistently said that Rodriguez Gutierrez was “an illegal alien from Colombia” who “illegally entered the United States in 2022.”

She was issued a removal order on Nov. 25, 2024, according to DHS.

Thurmond, the superintendent, called on the public to lobby Congress and the Trump administration “to return Joseph so he can continue his studies.”

Thurmond showed a 40-second clip of Joseph and his family at a Colombian facility for the deaf.

The child appeared to struggle communicating with his sibling and mother, while his brother repeatedly tried to give directions to him in Spanish with little avail.

Joseph’s only language is American Sign Language, Thurmond said. Joseph was studying at the state-funded Fremont’s California School for the Deaf.

“Joseph is struggling,” Thurmond said. “He does not have the ability to communicate with anyone and in many ways, he can barely communicate with his mom. Like Joseph’s mom, Lesly was just beginning to learn American Sign Language.”

Both California senators — Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff — along with state Democratic congressional members Eric Swalwell, Nanette Barragán, Zoe Lofgren, Kevin Mullin and Lateefah Simon called on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the State Department to investigate the deportation.

The group is also calling on both government agencies to return the family to the U.S. through the process of humanitarian parole. That move would allow Joseph to re-enroll in school and receive specialized care.

Celena Ponce, founder of Hands United, a nonprofit organization dedicated to aiding deaf immigrant children and families, said her group was trying to connect the family with the deaf community and services, like interpreters, in Colombia.

She said, however, that Joseph and his family face several challenges. The first hurdle if he ends up staying in Colombia, is that he and his mother will have to learn Colombian sign language, which differs from American sign language.

Ponce added that Joseph also suffered language deprivation, meaning he is delayed in comparison to other 6-year-olds who are hearing.

“Because Colombia does not have residential schools similar to what California has, the ability to be fully immersed in language is not present,” she said.

Whatever gains he made at the California School for the Deaf would likely end, she said.

Times staff writers Clara Harter and Christopher Buchanan contributed to this report.