Hollister
– The San Benito County Chapter of the League of United Latin
American Citizens has accused the Hollister School District of
violating the Brown Act and intends to take legal action against
the district should it fail to respond by May 26.
Hollister – The San Benito County Chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens has accused the Hollister School District of violating the Brown Act and intends to take legal action against the district should it fail to respond by May 26.
That deadline is three days after it is expected that Interim Superintendent Ron Crates will be awarded a two- year contract to serve as HSD’s permanent superintendent. Two trustees voted against giving Crates a new contract at a February meeting and the terms of the contract have been the subject of closed session negotiations for several weeks.
The Brown Act is a California law mandating that all governing bodies, including city councils and public school boards, conduct their business in the open and allow the public time to express their views.
LULAC alleges that HSD failed to conform to this law on Feb. 28, during a regularly scheduled school board meeting. In a letter dated April 25 obtained by the Free Lance, LULAC states that “The Board violated the Brown Act by failing to (a) have all discussion about any increase of Superintendent Crates’ salary in a board meeting open to the public, and (b) disclose, on the publicly posted agenda, the Board’s intention to discuss the Superintendent’s continued employment in its closed meeting session.”
The agenda from the Feb. 28 meeting does state that “Public employee employment, appointment, performance evaluation, re-assignment, transfer, leave request” was to have been discussed in closed session, but does not specify that Crates is the public employee in question. LULAC believes this catch-all phrase does not satisfy the Brown Act and that any decision reached in that session is invalid.
“We are not happy with them,” said Mickie Luna, president of the local LULAC chapter.
The local chapter of LULAC expects to receive an opinion from the state and national LULAC organizations sometime today, and will discuss the advice at their meeting tomorrow.
“We’ll have our legal counsel look at the agenda that was developed, I’m not sure what else they would want us to do,” said Alice Flores, HSD Trustee. “We want to do what’s best for the entire community, of course.”
Crates was to have received a permanent contract on April 25th during a regular school board meeting, but the item was worded incorrectly on the agenda and, as such, was postponed until the 24th.
The decision to renew Crates’ contract after it expires this year on June 30 has been a controversial one since February, not necessarily on the grounds of his performance at HSD but due to the fact that no public search was conducted for a new candidate. The board never conducted a formal evaluation of Crates’ performance or asked for public input, causing Trustees Dee Brown and Eugenia Sanchez to vote against extending his contract in February. Trustees who supported keeping Crates on board felt that he was so well qualified that a search would be a waste of public funds. San Benito High School recently began a search to replace their retiring superintendent that will cost the district $23,000.
At the time, both LULAC and the Hollister Elementary School Teacher’s Association expressed dismay at the decision, though HESTA refused to comment on LULAC’s latest contention with the district.
“We’re staying out of this one,” said Jan Grist, HESTA President. “We’ll let those two duke it out on their own.”
Currently, Crates earns roughly $139,500 a year in salary and benefits and oversees the education of about 6,000 students enrolled in Hollister elementary and middle schools.
No other board members or Crates were available to respond to LULAC Thursday afternoon.
Danielle Smith covers education for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or ds****@fr***********.com
