Schools leader seeks a hearing | Del Mar chief wants accusations explained

Anna Cearley
The San Diego Union - Tribune
Nov 19, 1997. pg. B.1

DEL MAR -- The school board has finally told Superintendent Robert Harriman why it put him on paid administrative leave a month ago, but Harriman is not saying what those reasons are.

Instead, he is demanding a public hearing to explain the quarter- inch-thick list of documents he received Monday by certified mail.

"I am going to ask for a public hearing and I want every accusation answered for," said Harriman, who is resting at home after being hospitalized Friday with chest pains.

Harriman said the documents appear to indicate that the school board "doesn't want me as their superintendent." He said they are not a dismissal notice but suggest that the board is evaluating his fitness to remain at his job.

"They seem to have to do with personality, management and personnel issues over the past 10 years," he said.

Harriman declined further comment yesterday, partly because he had not examined the entire packet, he said.

Harriman, 59, was put on paid leave Oct. 18, one month after a meeting in which he angered critics who contended that the Del Mar Union School District wasn't doing enough to ease overcrowding in the fourth and fifth grades.

No one is commenting on whether his statements at that September meeting or his handling of overcrowding is connected to Harriman's leave.

But ever since he was put on leave, Harriman and his attorneys have been demanding an explanation from the district.

School district attorney Woody Merrill would not confirm or deny that the superintendent had been sent the documents.

"It is the district's responsibility to maintain confidentiality, and that is different from his (Harriman's) because we are the employer, so I'm not in a position to say anything," Merrill said yesterday. "I can't comment on whether they've given him anything or whether it entitles him to a public hearing."

The school board reported no actions taken at two closed-door meetings last week, but Merrill said the only personnel actions that the board can talk about are those related to appointments, hirings or dismissals.

School board president Jeanne Waite said requesting a public hearing is one option available to Harriman. Though she declined further comment on any school board actions, she said last week that board members "are working very hard to get a resolution to the situation."

During Harriman's absence, three principals and other administrators have assumed his duties in the 1,860-student district. Trustees placed Harriman on leave one month after a school board meeting in which Del Mar Hills School Principal Gary Wilson said a parent made derogatory and demeaning comments about the district's efforts to deal with overcrowding.

"We have been called incompetent and many other different things that we highly resent and we aren't going to put up with it," Harriman said during the meeting. "This may be the first time a school district sues a parent, or parents, as you will, for actual defamation of character and libel."

No such lawsuit has been filed, school district officials said. Harriman has defended his statements but acknowledged that his language was perhaps too strong.

Julie Dubick, an attorney for Harriman, said the school board recently renewed Harriman's four-year contract, effective July 1997, and there was no hint of problems in previous job reviews.

The fourth and fifth grades at Carmel Del Mar, Del Mar Heights and Del Mar Hills schools averaged from 26.3 to 29.33 pupils per class in September, compared with the desired average of 27 pupils, according to Del Mar Union enrollment figures.

During the September school board meeting, the superintendent referred to a Sept. 4 letter that he sent out to parents addressing class sizes. In it, he suggested creating a combination fourth- and fifth-grade class at Del Mar Hills School, providing additional teacher aides for the students in those grades.

Shortly after that meeting, a half-time teacher was hired at Del Mar Hills to work with small groups of students. A teacher's aide has also been hired at Del Mar Heights.

Credit: STAFF WRITER

School chief wants leave status explained

Anna Cearley
The San Diego Union - Tribune
Nov 15, 1997. pg. B.1

DEL MAR -- Attorneys for Superintendent Robert Harriman are continuing to demand that school trustees explain why they placed him on administrative paid leave nearly a month ago.

"The board has not provided any explanation," said a Harriman attorney, Julie Dubick. "The board only reiterated that the investigation involves matters related to Dr. Harriman's performance."

This week, in two closed sessions totaling about five hours, trustees met to discuss the superintendent's job performance, but board members reported no action.

"We are working very hard to get a resolution to the situation," said Del Mar Union School Board President Jeanne Waite.

Trustees placed Harriman on leave Oct. 18, a month after a school board meeting in which the superintendent angered critics who contend that the district isn't doing enough to ease overcrowding in the fourth and fifth grades.

Neither side will comment on whether the superintendent's behavior or his handling of the district's overcrowding is connected to Harriman's leave.

Dubick said the board had recently renewed Harriman's four-year contract, effective July 1997, and there was no hint of problems in previous job reviews.

"There are only complimentary, praiseworthy materials in the file," she said.

During the controversial September meeting, Del Mar Hills School Principal Gary Wilson said a parent made derogatory and demeaning comments about the district's efforts to deal with overcrowding.

"We have been called incompetent and many other different things that we highly resent and we aren't going to put up with it," Harriman said during the meeting, which was routinely tape- recorded.

"This may be the first time a school district sues a parent, or parents, as you will, for actual defamation of character and libel."

No such lawsuit has been filed, school district officials said. This week Harriman defended his actions, but said that his language was perhaps too strong.

In hindsight, "I would have brought the message across in another way," he said.

Harriman said that he does not know if that one incident prompted trustees to place him on administrative paid leave.

According to Del Mar Union enrollment numbers, as of September, the class sizes for the fourth and fifth grades at Carmel Del Mar, Del Mar Heights and Del Mar Hills schools range from an average of 26.3 to 29.33. The desired average for the 1,860-student district in fourth and fifth grades is 27.

"The class sizes are not where we would want them to be," Harriman conceded during the September meeting.

During the meeting, the superintendent for the past 13 years referred to a Sept. 4 letter that he had sent out to parents addressing class sizes.

In it, he suggested the possible creation of a combination fourth- and fifth-grade class at Del Mar Hills School, and providing additional teacher aides for the students in those grades.

Shortly after the September meeting, a half-time teacher was hired at Del Mar Hills to work with small groups of students. A teacher's aide has also been hired at Del Mar Heights.

Harriman was placed on administrative leave following a closed school-board meeting in October. Trustees then held a follow-up meeting soon after to discuss the superintendent's evaluation, according to Virginia Pearson, another Harriman attorney. During Harriman's absence, school board president Waite said, the district's three school principals and other administrators have assumed the superintendent's duties.

Credit: STAFF WRITER

Del Mar school head placed on paid leave

Anna Cearley
The San Diego Union - Tribune
Nov 1, 1997. pg. B.1

DEL MAR -- Robert Harriman, superintendent of the Del Mar Union District, has been put on administrative paid leave, while other district officials are juggling the duties of the district's top administrative job.

Trustees ordered the leave Oct. 18 following a closed school- board meeting, board president Jeanne Waite confirmed yesterday. Trustees held a follow-up meeting Tuesday to discuss the superintendent's evaluation, according to Virginia Pearson, Harriman's attorney.

Pearson said she had been asking the school board, through its attorney, for information this week and was promised a written response, which had not arrived by late yesterday.

"We are in the dark about as much as you are," said Pearson. Harriman, who has headed the district for the past 13 years, was unavailable for comment last night.

Waite, citing confidentiality for personnel matters, said she could not say what prompted the decision to place Harriman on leave.

She would not comment on how long the paid leave might last, or whether someone will be be named interim superintendent.

"It's an indefinite leave term," she said.

Waite said that board members enacted the leave and then notified the superintendent, who was not present during the vote. "We are making every effort to keep things moving along in the district," she said. "The three principals and the business manager and the woman in charge of special education have all strongly stepped up to the plate to help during this time."

In August, after 20 months of talks, the three-school, 1,600- student district reached an agreement with the city of San Diego to build an elementary school in Carmel Valley. The agreement, which Harriman was active in crafting, ended months of often heated debate between educators and city officials.

The breakthrough came in the form of a $1.8 million loan from the Del Mar school system to the city of San Diego, whose leaders said they lacked sufficient funds for the city's share of the work. Del Mar officials believe the $6.2 million elementary school can open at the start of the 1998-99 academic year. The school will be in a rapidly growing section of Carmel Valley off state Route 56.