Popular yearbook teacher fired and re-hired amid charges of administration censorship.

It''s one of those rare warm and sunny afternoons in Monterey, and Cynthia Hess is sitting on the patio at the Culinary Center. She''s holding a manila file folder stuffed with what she says is evidence of transgressions by the Salinas Union High School District and Principal Joseph Pawlick.

Hess says that what started out as a "vendetta" against her by Superintendent Fernando Elizando has become a battle for teachers'' and students'' rights at Salinas High. Hess never volunteered for the job, but she''s become the point-person in a fight against Pawlick that includes several Salinas High School teachers'' ongoing struggle against the administration.

She''s been labeled an outspoken critic, a squeaky wheel, a troublemaker and worse. Earlier this morning, Hess called me in tears to tell me that she would not be reinstated to teach yearbook and philosophy at Salinas. Her blue eyes are still clouded over.

A convertible white Mustang drives by below, blasting Madonna from its sound system. "Music makes the people come together," sings the 43-year-old Material Girl.

Hess, a 12-year veteran of Salinas High, lifts up her blond head, shoots straight up in her seat, and her eyes open wider. "Do you hear it? That''s the line," she says.

The line is the refrain of the hit single from Madonna''s latest album, the song "Music." It was also a headline on a page in the 2000-2001 El Gabilan, Salinas High''s yearbook, and one of the many points of contention between the yearbook''s student-editors and Principal Joseph Pawlick.

Hess, and student yearbook editors Ashley Guzman and Minerva Herrera say Pawlick objected to the line because he said the word "come" was sexually explicit. The headline ran, and Pawlick settled for quotation marks and attributing the quote to Madonna.

But Guzman, Herrera and several other student editors allege that in several other incidents, Pawlick exerted undue control over what went into the yearbook, an action they see as censorship.

Both students say they want to see Hess reinstated as yearbook advisor. Hess says the "vendetta" that cost her her job started before Pawlick arrived, sparked by some features in the 1998 yearbook. She says Elizando started targeting her as a result of the 1998 yearbook, which contained photos of married teens, teen moms with their babies, and body-piercing.

In a written statement filed by Nina Russo, who was then the principal of Salinas High, Elizando told Russo after the book was released that he wanted her to "take control" of El Gabilan.

"In spite of Fernando Elizando''s insistence that I censor El Gabilan, I was careful to follow legal guidelines. It was clear that through Cynthia Hess'' effort the yearbook class was growing in numbers and that the book was increasing in both quality and quantity of pages each year."

Elizando did not return numerous calls from the Weekly.

In June 1998, Elizando allegedly told Russo to change Hess'' schedule, taking away either yearbook or journalism, and suggested she teach biology, a class Hess had never taught.

Russo pointed out that Hess had the teachers union, parents, students and school site counsel on her side as vocal advocates of her yearbook and journalism classes. Elizando backed off temporarily.

"This was the first of a number of occasions on which I was directed to take steps targeting Cynthia Hess and directing measures of punitive nature at her," Russo says.

Elizando also told Russo to cancel Hess'' fully enrolled philosophy class, and said he wanted her removed from various student clubs she advised.

"Fernando Elizando''s attention to Cynthia Hess was peculiar and clearly demonstrated to me that he was carrying out a personal vendetta against this teacher...It was plain to me that Superintendent Fernando Elizando viewed his directive as part of a battle to get Cynthia Hess. He bragged that if she fought him he would win because he knew how to fight dirty."

Russo found herself in a moral quandary: either follow Elizando''s orders--which she saw as unethical at best, and at worst illegal--or lose her job.

So Russo quit and took a position at Pacific Grove High School.

In a phone conversation with the Weekly, Russo described Hess as "innovative" and "child-centered."

"She''s very bright and she doesn''t take any nonsense," Russo said. "She''s a high-maintenance teacher but she''s worth the work. She made me better and she made the kids better.

In the fall of 2000, Pawlick set up shop at Salinas High and the harassment continued, Hess says. In June 2000, Hess was notified that she would no longer teach journalism, yearbook or philosophy.

"Dr. Pawlick has treated me like this since day one, which I find very odd since he didn''t know me," she says. "It was as if he was given orders before he got here to treat me badly."

In a telling first meeting, Hess says, Pawlick made his feelings clear: "He said ''Let''s get something straight. You and I will never be friends''."

Pawlick refuses to comment on this, or any other questions about Cynthia Hess, the yearbook, or the complaints of any of his teachers or students.

In August 2000, after the school board listened to hours of students, parents and other teachers testifying on behalf of the popular teacher, boardmembers decided to reinstate the philosophy class and allow Hess to teach yearbook.

The 1999-2000 El Gabilan won a bronze medal for excellence from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association.