Weeks before new school board members take their seats, current members of the Placentia-Yorba Linda School District decided require a supermajority vote to fire Superintendent Alex Cherniss.
On Tuesday, board members voted 3-2 to change executive contracts – adding language that now requires four out of five members of the school board to vote in favor of termination before the superintendent can be fired. .
Those changes are expected to sunset in 2026.
The contract changes also apply for Deputy Superintendent Isaaic Gates and Assistant Superintendents Renee Gray and Olivia Yaung.
Board Trustees Marilyn Anderson and Carrie Buck were the dissenting votes on tightening the termination requirements.
During the meeting, Buck pointed out that the contract changes for a supermajority vote were not adopted as a supermajority.
“The role of the board is to ensure that the superintendent holds district personnel accountable. We can’t do that with these contracts,” she said.
[Read: Outgoing Placentia-Yorba Linda School Board Majority Seeks To Lock in Controversial Superintendent]
There was also an unsuccessful court challenge before Tuesday’s meeting.
On Monday, a motion was filed by Placentia resident David Radlauer for a temporary restraining order to the meeting agenda in regard to the changes to employee contracts.
Radlauer’s filing states “These amendments are specifically designed to target only the incoming board, as they expire approximately 30 days after the next election.”
On Tuesday, it was not approved by the judge.
In a phone interview after court, Radlauer said the judge gave both sides time to argue their sides and that if the vote to amend the superintendent’s contract went through there may be other ways to approach the issue.
The California Teachers Association also sent a cease and desist on Tuesday citing amendments to the contracts would violate the state’s education code.
“It was also found, too, that according to our attorney, the cease and desist does not have any merit,” Trustee Leandra Blades said at Tuesday’s meeting.
Anderson argued that Blades was misrepresenting what the school board attorney told them and pushed for the opinion to be publicly read – along with Buck.
“I think you’re misrepresenting what the attorney gave us. He gave us a legal opinion and if we would like to waive a simple majority we can actually read that and the community can be clear on what the attorney said,” Anderson said.
Anderson said it was her understanding that the school board’s attorney said the supermajority requirement was in a legal gray area.
Officials didn’t read aloud the opinion from the school board’s attorney.
Blades also said if the incoming school board fired the superintendent, it could be considered retaliation.
“There’s some stuff that’s going on behind the scenes that this would actually be a move to protect the district because if anybody made moves to fire Dr. Cherniss in December, as social media stating or any of these things, it could be seen as retaliatory,” Blades said.
Blades also brought up similarities to the board’s choice to interview and appoint a new superintendent, James Elsasser, in 2020 just ahead of the election with a supermajority.
According to Blades, he didn’t have a performance evaluation during his 18 month employment, an argument made by some people during public comment.
The board also voted 3-2 to schedule two more meetings in December. Anderson and Buck were the dissenting votes.
Blades said the upcoming meetings were dependent on the outcome of pending litigation discussed in closed session.
A public hearing was also held during the meeting for the Orange County School of Computer Science to manage the district Universal Sports Institute.
No vote was taken, but Anderson asked for a study session to figure out what the budget would be.
Gigi Gradillas is a Voice of OC Tracy Wood Reporting Fellow. Contact her at gigi.gradillas@gmail.com or on Twitter @gigigradillas.
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