Parents Demand Recall Of Beleaguered Centinela School District Board
TORRANCE (CBSLA.com) — The controversy surrounding the Centinela Valley Union High School District continues as a recall arises to replace the school board that hired its former superintendent.
In 2014, the focus of the issue was on the overcompensation of then-Superintendent Jose Fernandez, whose pay and benefits totaled over $663,000 per year, while teachers in his district suffered layoffs and students went without proper learning tools.
Fernandez, who ran four high schools, made a great deal more in salary than the LAUSD superintendent made for running a far-larger district.
Now that Fernandez is gone, parents still claim that the issues, mismanagement and incompetence he left behind have lingered.
The continued issues have led parents to demand the recall of three members of the Centinela Valley School Board.
Phuong Nguyen, along with two of her sons, spent Monday evening collecting signatures for a petition to recall them.
"As an educator and a taxpayer, they need to go," Nguyen said.
Nguyen charges that the board members approved the pay package for the former superintendent and that they have not shown any sign of improvement.
"Everyone I've met is appalled at the decisions that this board has made," Nguyen said. "Furthermore, they haven't taken any ownership about the choices that they made. You're in charge of a multimillion-dollar budget, and you don't know what the money is used for? You're signing contracts and have no idea what's going on?"
Meanwhile, the school board continues the search for a permanent superintendent to fill the position. However, the head of the local teachers union says that despite promises, the board has demonstrated it will go on alone.
The teachers support the recall movement as well.
"The teachers are extremely upset," teachers union's Jack Foreman said. "Over 250 of our teachers signed letters or wrote emails and communicated with the board, and they completely blew us off."
Other parents are resorting to different methods to solve the problem, including some fighting to have their homes moved off the Centinela district map.
