Chris Moran
The San Diego Union - Tribune
Dec 11, 1997. pg. B.1
DEL MAR -- Herb Farrar will serve as superintendent of Del Mar elementary schools until trustees hire a permanent successor to Robert Harriman, board members decided last night.
Farrar, 60, retired in July after 18 years as superintendent of Imperial County schools, a position to which he was elected five times.
He takes over from the three principals and other school administrators who assumed Harriman's duties after he was placed on administrative paid leave Oct. 18.
Farrar said he hopes his stewardship of the district, expected to last through April, "will be a time of healing," following Harriman's departure.
Harriman led the Del Mar Union School District for 13 years before school trustees placed him on leave for reasons that neither he nor trustees have fully disclosed.
Harriman had demanded an explanation for the decision, but then resigned on Dec. 4 under an agreement that will pay him as much as $166,420.
Harriman has said the leave dealt with statements he made in anger during a September school board meeting.
At the meeting, critics contended that school administrators were not doing enough to ease overcrowding in fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms.
"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.
"This may be the first time a school district sues a parent, or parents, as you will, for actual defamation of character and libel."
Farrar said he will not be a candidate for the permanent position. He starts Monday as the top administrator for a district of three schools with an enrollment of 1,852 kindergarten through sixth-grade students.
The district's fourth school is scheduled to open next year.
Farrar moved to San Diego last month after a 38-year career in Imperial County schools. He taught elementary school and served as an assistant principal, principal and assistant superintendent before his election as superintendent.
He is the 1997 Imperial County Educator of the Year.
In other business, board members re-elected Jeanne Waite as president of the board.
Credit: STAFF WRITER
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