Hispanic civil rights group allege Brown Act violations, Supe
says its ‘payback’
A local Latino advocacy group sent a formal letter this week to
the Hollister School District Board and its new superintendent,
Ronald Crates, warning them that the latest board actions
– including the decision to make Crates the full-time head of
the district – violate the state’s Brown Act.
Hispanic civil rights group allege Brown Act violations, Supe says its ‘payback’
A local Latino advocacy group sent a formal letter this week to the Hollister School District Board and its new superintendent, Ronald Crates, warning them that the latest board actions – including the decision to make Crates the full-time head of the district – violate the state’s Brown Act.
The League of United Latin American Citizens (San Benito council) contends the decision to make Crates the permanent Superintendent, approved in a closed session, was improperly listed on the agenda as merely “public employee employment.”
The group said it believes Crates is “arrogant” toward Hispanic parents and teachers, a charge Crates calls “political payback” for an old firing while he was school superintendent in Redwood City.
The group has lawyered up on the matter, and local LULAC President Mickie Luna charges that with every meeting, the school board descends further into the depths of nondisclosure – a policy, she said, that is not just contrary to state law but one that also fosters distrust for the board and the new superintendent from parents and concerned citizens.
“Everyone was at that meeting on Feb. 28, and I called it to [the board’s] attention,” Luna said.
During the public comment portion of the Feb. 28 meeting, Luna lodged a formal complaint against the full-time hiring of Crates (formerly the Interim Superintendent) on behalf of LULAC, in addition to protesting that the meeting hadn’t been properly posted – which if so, could render the board’s actions void.
“But at the following meeting the minutes did not reflect that I commented on it,” Luna added. “It only said I had a concern about the agenda posting, but didn’t mention that I spoke about the contract.”
LULAC members said they are angry that the school board placed Crates at the helm of the district with little or no heed to public outcry on the matter. The group maintains that Crates’ former position as Superintendent of Redwood City School District was not stellar, and that his treatment toward Hispanic parents was arrogant in the northern Peninsula district that has a large population of Hispanic students.
But Crates said the claims are payback for the dismissal of two Redwood School District employees some five or six years ago. One employee, said Crates, happened to have a background as an organizer with LULAC. At first Crates wasn’t involved in the matter, but as LULAC became engaged in the issue, he had to deal with it, he said.
“This is incredibly disturbing,” Crates said. “It’s a payback; that’s all it is. We did a lot of Hispanic outreach during my 15 years as Superintendent in Redwood City.”
Crates points to the fact that shortly after he was made permanent Superintendent of Hollister School District last month, and after San Benito’s LULAC dredged up the brouhaha that occurred in Redwood City, the LULAC Education Commission – a powerful arm of the organization – exonerated Crates.
“It was the opinion of the Commission that the allegations were ambiguous and that the complaints failed to offer any evidence of misconduct or unprofessional behavior,” stated a news bulletin from the Commission.
Crates agrees with LULAC that the wording on the district’s agenda was not substantial – but at the time, he wasn’t superintendent yet of the district. He hopes it won’t happen again, but says that school boards have the power to make such personnel decisions without heeding public input, and that it is not unusual.
“The majority of the board wanted me to stay,” Crates said. Only two voted against the action.
Tim Foley, Superintendent of San Benito County Office of Education, is a big supporter of LULAC, but said they missed on this one.
“I think Ronnie Crates is doing a helluva job over there,” Foley said. “I’m glad they got a veteran.”
Crates has been in the school district business for 25 years.
It is not known yet whether LULAC will continue to pursue the alleged Brown Act violations, or if it is aware that part of its organization is contradicting the other. It could be that, as happened with the San Juan Bautista City Council when they refused to disclose that some of it’s members went on a city business trip to Seattle, the board could “remedy” the actions by redoing them, but they must do so in 30 days, according to the state Brown Act law.
