Trustees Still Won’t Reveal Name of One Demoted Principal

Despite an opinion from the state Department of Education that such information must be made public, the Huntington Beach City Elementary School District on Thursday refused to name a demoted principal.

“Under the (state) Public Records Act, if anyone asks about reassigned personnel, the information must be given,” said Patricia McGinnis, a legal assistant with the state Department of Education in Sacramento.

A lawyer for The Times on Wednesday invoked the Public Records Act in requesting the names of two administrators demoted and reassigned late Tuesday night during a closed-door meeting of the Huntington Beach City Elementary School District school board. The request was denied.

School board president Karen O’Bric on Tuesday night told parents that she would disclose only the Social Security numbers of the two reassigned administrators. Federal law, however, prohibits the Social Security Administration from identifying the holder of any specific Social Security number.

The district’s lawyer, Steven Andelson, on Thursday released the name of Hawes School Principal Rita Jorgenson as one of the two demoted administrators. But Andelson’s action came after Jorgenson had confirmed on Wednesday that she was one of the two.

Jorgenson and the other administrator were reassigned to teaching jobs in a closed-door vote of the trustees. About 350 parents at the board meeting earlier had urged the board not to reassign Jorgenson, contending that she was popular with parents, teachers and students at Hawes.

The school board has not revealed why it reassigned her. State law allows a board to keep such information private. But according to McGinnis and other legal experts on the state’s Public Records Law, the school board cannot hide the name of a reassigned employee once it has voted on the action.

District Supt. Diana Peters has said the school board announced only Social Security numbers “to protect the privacy of the affected personnel.”

But McGinnis said that the state Public Records Law makes information available to the public about teacher assignments and teacher pay, whether or not teachers want such disclosures.

Andelson on Thursday said the school district would release the name of the second administrator if that person agrees. He said school officials have not been able to reach the individual.

Meanwhile, angry parents in the Hawes School district met on Thursday morning and agreed to seek information about how to pursue a recall of a school board.

Shirley Carey, who spoke for the group--Concerned Hawes Parents--said that no final decision was made to seek a recall.

“We may start a recall in September,” Carey said. “If the teachers are on strike then, it would certainly facilitate getting signatures for a recall then.”

Carey referred to the fact that teachers in the school district still are without a contract settlement for the current school year. The teachers staged a one-day strike on May 11 and have threatened to resume the strike in September if settlement is not reached by then.