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
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