San Benito High School District Superintendent Stan Rose has
declined to release the pay status of food service attendant Nancy
Polizzi. His decision comes despite a recent California Supreme
Court decision, which denotes all public employee salaries as
public information.
San Benito High School District Superintendent Stan Rose has declined to release the pay status of food service attendant 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 comes despite a recent California Supreme Court decision, which denotes all public employee salaries as public information.
Tom Newton, an attorney with the California Newspaper Publishers Association, said Rose’s 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.”
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.”
Newton called Rose’s response “very short on legal analysis.”
Rose did not return Free Lance phone calls for further comment Wednesday or Thursday before press time.
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 declined to provide details on Polizzi’s status, 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.
