Dino Velez, a San Francisco attorney who is representing the
school district, said officials are attempting to
”
balance the public’s needs with Nancy Polizzi’s due process
rights.
”
Polizzi had been under investigation by the district for her
March testimony in a Santa Clara County murder trial.
San Benito High School District’s attorney told the Free Lance officials have declined to verify the paid or unpaid status of the food service attendant under investigation for her court testimony in a murder trial because they’re concerned she might sue.
District Superintendent Stan Rose this week declined to release that status of Nancy Polizzi, who testified in a March murder trial and divulged she had unknowingly supplied money for the murder weapon and also supplied one of the men with $1,000 to start a marijuana business.
Rose and district officials’ decision to deny releasing her paid or unpaid status comes despite a recent California Supreme Court decision, which denotes all public employee salaries as public information. An attorney for the California Newspaper Publishers Association responded by calling the district’s decision “very short on legal analysis” and saying it shows contempt for the Supreme Court.
Rose has called Polizzi’s pay status “personnel matters” and this week responded to a California Public Records Act request filed by the Free Lance on May 16 with a letter stating: “… there are numerous cases on point where employers investigating the alleged wrongdoing of an employee have withheld production and personnel materials. In addition, the California constitution protects employees’ privacy interests.”
Dino Velez, a San Francisco attorney who is representing the school district, said officials are attempting to “balance the public’s needs with Nancy Polizzi’s due process rights.”
He called Polizzi “someone who has made very bad decisions” but said school officials are concerned that if they divulge her pay status, she could sue the district at a later date – though he asserted “she wouldn’t have much of a case.”
A document provided by the district in response to the records request includes her rate of pay at $14.44 per hour when she started working there in 2001, but it does not specify if she has been receiving that pay over the last eight weeks. Velez declined to specify whether it’s her current pay.
“If you can wait another 10 days, I think we can answer that specific question,” Velez said.
Tom Newton, the CNPA attorney, said school officials’ decision was “simply out of whack with the law” and that the district could be sued to obtain the information.
“This is simply a question of whether or not a public employee is being compensated,” Newton said. “The superintendent’s decision shows contempt for the Supreme Court and contempt for public access.”
Newton said all public employees’ pay status and pay rates are public information since their paychecks come from tax dollars. He cited the 2007 Supreme Court decision in the case of International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers v. Superior Court of Alameda County. The decision states, he said, that “no public employee has a privacy interest with regards to their salary.”
Polizzi was placed on an unspecified “leave” shortly after her March 27 testimony in the Santa Clara County murder trial of 26-year-old Fresno resident Francisco Vega, Rose said at the time.
District Board Member Bill Tiffany refused to comment on the matter, but said the school board has met in closed session multiple times regarding Polizzi and the public records request. He said the issue has “gone to the lawyers” and that the school was “attempting to do what’s right legally.”
Vega, along with 23-year-old Hollister resident Joshua Joseph, were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for waiting outside Owens’ San Jose home then entering the house and shooting him several times with a .22 caliber handgun.
During her sworn testimony, and in a subsequent interview with the Free Lance, Polizzi said she gave the two convicted killers money to buy the handgun used to kill Owens as well as money to start a “marijuana operation.” She told the Free Lance that Joseph told her the money was for CDs, but that she realized he probably wouldn’t spend it on them.
She also said she was involved in a sexual relationship with both Owens and Joseph – who is her stepson – and that Joseph warned her that “David is dead” before the murder.
Polizzi has not been charged in the case, and Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Daniel Carr said he will consider it after he finishes a current murder trial expected to last through this week.
Rose has not returned Free Lance phone calls for further comment.
