Demoted School Administrator Reveals Her Identity

The lawyer for a demoted administrator in the Huntington Beach City Elementary School District on Friday made public her identity and criticized the school board for disclosing only her Social Security number.

James Harker, a Costa Mesa lawyer, said the demoted administrator is Joan Skinner, who has been assistant principal at Sowers Middle School in Huntington Beach for the past two years. The district school board, meeting behind closed doors Tuesday night, voted to remove Skinner from her job and put her in a teaching position for the next school year.

The school board also voted in closed session Tuesday night to remove Rita Jorgensen as the principal of Hawes School. But after taking both actions, the board refused to identify the two women. Board President Karen O’Bric revealed only their Social Security numbers.

Jorgensen on Wednesday identified herself as one of the two.

Harker said Skinner had no objection to the release of her name. The idea of using Social Security numbers, he said, “was a pretty dumb idea.”

Skinner plans to sue the school district, charging that she was demoted because she is a woman.

Diana Peters, superintendent of the school district, has said the school board did not release the women’s names because it wanted to protect their privacy. The unusual move, however, triggered a controversy over whether the district was violating the state’s public records law by hiding such information.

An official in the state Department of Education in Sacramento on Thursday said the state public records law requires any school district to make public, upon request, the employment status and salary of any teacher or administrator. Huntington Beach district officials, however, refused a request by The Times’ lawyer for the status of the two demoted employees.

Neither Peters nor the school board has said why Skinner and Jorgensen were demoted.

Jorgensen has been principal at Hawes School for the past two years, and about 350 parents urged the board Tuesday night not to remove her.

A group called Concerned Hawes Parents has said it is considering a recall action against the school board.