Anna Cearley
The San Diego Union - Tribune
Dec 5, 1997. pg. B.1
DEL MAR -- Nearly two months after being put on administrative leave as superintendent of the Del Mar Union School District, Robert Harriman decided his own fate yesterday by submitting a letter of resignation.
Under an agreement worked out by lawyers for both sides, and unanimously approved by the school board last night, Harriman is entitled to receive payments over the next 18 months totaling as much as $166,420, as long as he is unemployed.
He will also get continued health and welfare benefits for up to 18 months, or until he gets his next job. His resignation is effective Dec. 31, and the benefits start in January.
Harriman was put on administrative paid leave Oct. 18 for reasons that neither he nor school trustees would disclose fully. However, Harriman said it had something to do with statements he made in anger at a September school board meeting.
Last night, the superintendent had been scheduled to defend himself against a list of school board concerns presented to him last month. Trustees were then expected to vote on his fate, and possibly reassign him as a teacher in the district.
But Harriman did not attend the special meeting at Del Mar Heights School and trustees announced his resignation to about 30 members of the public there.
In the agreement approved last night, both parties say Harriman always received good job evaluations and that he "successfully served the district as its superintendent for 13 years, and that the employee was a dedicated, hard-working and competent superintendent."
Trustees declined further comment.
Harriman did not return phone calls.
During last night's scheduled meeting, trustees had been expected to vote on three key issues: whether Harriman was in breach of his contract, whether trustees should release him as superintendent, and whether he should be reassigned to a teaching position.
Some members of the public said they attended expecting to get insight as to exactly why the superintendent had been put on administrative leave.
Trustees ordered Harriman, 59, on administrative paid leave after holding a closed-door meeting on his job performance.
The action came following the trustees' earlier renewal of Harriman's four-year contract, effective in July, said Julie Dubick, an attorney for Harriman. She added that there was no hint of problems in previous job reviews.
In late November, after additional closed-door meetings, Harriman received a packet of materials from trustees detailing the reasons he was placed on leave.
Although he did not reveal details, Harriman said then that he would ask for a public hearing so he could provide a counter- argument. He said issues dealt with personality, management and personnel concerns.
He acknowledged, however, that one concern stemmed from remarks he made in a September board meeting in which critics contended that the Del Mar Union School District wasn't doing enough to ease overcrowding in the fourth and fifth grades.
"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 lawsuit was ever filed, according to school officials. But Harriman's statements prompted some parents to express their concerns with trustees, questioning just how free they are to speak out.
During Harriman's absence, three principals and other administrators assumed his duties in the 1,860-student district.
School officials said they expect to hire an interim superintendent immediately as they start a search for a long-term successor to Harriman.
Mary Farrell, one of the people present at last night's meeting, said she supported the board's actions over the past months.
"I'd like to commend the board for their discretion and dignity," she said. "I think that it's important to look forward and continue educating our children in the best way possible."
Credit: STAFF WRITER
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