Source: Orange County Register
A. Woodrow Carter criticized Capistrano Unified trustees Monday, saying their "persistent, malicious actions would have tainted any staff member."
SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO - The recently fired superintendent of the Capistrano Unified School District is painted in a scathing, 54-page termination report as an insubordinate, scheming administrator who tried to sway school board elections and double-bill the district for travel expenses.
Former Superintendent A. Woodrow Carter also is accused of showing "disturbing disregard" for student confidentiality matters, violating school board policies and state laws, and deliberately working to undermine and embarrass the school board, according to the report, a copy of which was obtained by the Orange County Register late Thursday.
The termination report, dated March 17 and signed by board President Ellen Addonizio, lists 25 charges against Carter and examples for each charge - as many as nine per charge. The charges, not all of which are deemed significant or substantiated in the school board's findings, were presented to Carter on Feb. 26.
Carter responded with a 23-page rebuttal to all of the charges on March 9, the day he was fired.
Many of the 25 charges appear to stem from Carter's poor working relationship with Capistrano's seven-member board, including personality clashes that led to heated verbal arguments and untimely roadblocks to progress on key district affairs. But the report also contains more serious charges that Carter violated state laws.
Carter's rebuttals are incorporated into his termination report, although the report dismisses those responses for the most part, noting that "a number of statements in Carter's rebuttal are untrue or grossly misleading."
The report offers no indication that Carter will be paid for any of the 28 months remaining on his employment contract.
Phone calls to Carter and Addonizio were not immediately returned.
INFLUENCING ELECTIONS
In Capistrano's hotly contested June 2008 and November 2008 school board elections, Carter is accused of using his position as superintendent to illegally influence the outcome of the races. E-mails sent from Carter's official district e-mail address show that he worked to help certain candidates get endorsements, including from Capistrano's teachers union and Orange County's schools superintendent, and instructed a secretary to "prepare an agenda" that allowed a school board candidate "to visit 2-3 schools a day."
Carter confirmed engaging in these activities in his 23-page rebuttal, but argued they did not constitute "political activities." The school board, in its report, didn't buy into Carter's defense.
"After stating, 'I deny that I participated in political activities,' Carter admits providing Peggy Lynch (a retired superintendent from San Clemente) and county Superintendent William Habermehl with names of political candidates to support," the report says. "The denial that doing so constitutes 'political activities' is not credible.'"
The report notes that the law prohibits district employees from using school district time and resources "for the purpose of urging the support or defeat of any ballot measure or candidate."
This is the same law that indicted ex-Capistrano Unified Superintendent James Fleming is accused of violating when he purportedly created "enemies" lists of school board opponents during a failed 2005 school board recall attempt. Fleming is scheduled to be tried next month on those charges.
DOUBLE-BILLING
Carter also is accused of attending at least two conferences in which he improperly billed the district for meal expenses.
On March 9, the day he was fired, Carter attempted to correct these "errors" by handing over a personal check for $130, the report says.
For example, at the three-day Northern and Southern California Superintendents Joint Conference in Napa Valley in May 2008, Carter requested $55 per-diem meal reimbursements for a May 8 dinner and a May 9 lunch and dinner, even though the event already included these meals. Saying it was an inadvertent mistake by his secretary, Carter on March 9 refunded the district $120 for those meals.
"I admit to inadvertently not checking these two vouchers as thoroughly as I should have," Carter wrote in his rebuttal.
POOR FINANCIAL CHOICES
The report also notes that Carter "demonstrated a disregard for district funds at a time of increasing fiscal uncertainty."
At the three-day California Superintendents' Health and Wellness Institute in Temecula in October 2007, Carter was reimbursed a $200 registration fee to attend one-hour seminars on topics like "the advantage of being a green district" and participate in activities including "a day of workout sessions and health screenings" and "networking and wine tasting."
"The trustees knew I had been hospitalized for four days the first week of June with a serious health problem," Carter wrote in his rebuttal. "… This conference had excellent suggestions on how to address job pressure."
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The report also says that one of the sponsors of the October 2007 institute was Max Medina of Rancho Cucamonga-based WLC Architects. Four months after attending the institute, Carter recommended that Capistrano Unified use WLC as the sole provider of architectural services to the district; previously, three different architectural firms had been used.
Carter denied any improper conduct, but the report said "his failure to disclose that WLC Architects was a sponsor of the Health and Wellness Institute at the time he recommended WLC … likewise demonstrated, at the very least, poor judgment and a failure to keep the board informed."
CONFIDENTIALITY BREACHES
Carter also is accused of using the blind-copy e-mail function to send copies of at least nine district e-mails to his personal friends and colleagues outside the district. This "fundamental breach of trust," the report says, allowed information about students and employees to be viewed by the wrong eyes.
The report also notes that following the district's June 2008 recall election, Carter failed to update the list of e-mail addresses he was using to correspond with trustees, resulting in communication going to some former trustees and not current trustees. Carter called it an oversight, but the report said it demonstrated his "disturbing disregard" for the proper dissemination of important information.
PREVIOUS ALLEGATIONS
Many of the other charges outlined in the report have been covered by the Register during the course of Carter's tumultuous, 18-month tenure:
Carter attempts in spring 2008 to alter his employment contract by inserting a lucrative termination clause that was never approved by the school board. The school board, in its termination report, characterizes the act as an attempt at "fraud and deceit." In his rebuttal, Carter says former board President Mike Darnold and the school board secretary inserted the clause because it was inadvertently omitted during the contract negotiations and Carter had "wanted" it from the beginning.
Carter pushes forward in winter 2008 with construction of a $3 million outdoor stadium at newly opened San Juan Hills High School in San Juan Capistrano on a plot of land not owned the district. The school board says it demonstrated Carter's "inadequate oversight" over the project. Carter says he relied on improper legal advice; the board says it's no excuse - it was his responsibility.
Carter tells trustees he and his staff "dropped the ball" on installing two much-needed portable classrooms at San Clemente's Benedict Elementary School in summer 2008, forcing classes to be housed in the school library and music room. Carter cites turnover in staff in the district office as responsible for the oversight.
CAUSE OF POLITICAL STRIFE
Many in the Capistrano community have been quick to defend and praise Carter.
His supporters have said he was extraordinarily dedicated to his job and made great strides to repair the politically fractured district.
At a Dec. 18 meeting in which Carter's performance was evaluated, trustees listened to 3-1/2 hours of testimony from dozens of parents, teachers and community members; all but a handful of the speakers implored the school board not to fire Carter, as was widely believed to be his fate.
But the school board's termination report points the finger of blame for many of the district's political problems on Carter.
In one case, he was responsible for a "deliberate attempt to set up public opposition" to a district proposal in January to permanently shutter a Laguna Niguel elementary school, the report says.
ATTACK ON PERSONAL CHARACTER
Carter's personal character is also called into question in the report.
On Jan. 5, the day before the school board put him on paid administrative leave, Carter used a district-owned computer to e-mail a friend during the work day: "There are 5 trustees who are as cowardly as any group I known [sic], and they backed off trying to fire me. I hope the hell they do, then I would get a nice buy-out and go on an extended golfing vacation!"
"While Carter purports to 'love' the district and care for its students and the community, his apparent certainty that he would receive a 'nice buy-out' and 'an extended golfing vacation' at district expense is insulting and offensive to every member of that community," the report says.
Six days after he was put on leave, Carter again used a district-owned computer to e-mail a friend. At the end of the message, he wrote, "I will call you tomorrow. Where are all the white women?"
The context of that e-mail is unclear, but the board noted that Carter, in his rebuttal, did not "attempt to explain the inappropriate, racially charged language."
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