Ex-Superintendent Settles for $70,000

Jack Price, the former superintendent of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District who resigned under pressure from critics, will be paid $70,000 plus benefits as part of a contract settlement package, school board members announced this week.

The board unanimously voted Monday to pay the money to Price, who stepped down Oct. 6 after a long and bitter battle with district critics who allege he mismanaged district affairs. Price and board members have denied those charges.

School board members Jeffrey Younggren and Marlys Kinnel called the settlement fair, and Price, whose contract with the district ran through next June, said he was satisfied with it.

“I think the board was fair and understood the problems, and that is all I can say,” Price said in a telephone interview.

The settlement amounts to paying Price the balance of his salary and almost all benefits due him had he worked through June 30, 1990, his contract’s final day.

Younggren said Price, who had become a lightning rod for critics, was unwilling to “give up his contractual rights” and wanted to be paid for the time remaining on his contract as a condition of his resignation.

“I don’t think it is fair to say he fell on his sword to end what is happening,” Younggren said.

Until Monday, the district had not disclosed that Price’s resignation contained conditions.

The settlement has been denounced by several district critics, who say Price is not entitled to any money because he voluntarily resigned from the $82,000-a-year post.

“As a taxpayer I am outraged that they would compensate him when he is resigning,” said Barry Hildebrand, who is seeking a seat on the school board in next month’s election. “. . . No other employee in the district is going to get that kind of compensation if he resigns,” he said.

Hildebrand had said that, if elected, he would press for Price’s dismissal.

Price’s two-year fight with district critics stemmed from his recommendation to close Miraleste High School on the Eastside because of declining enrollment--a recommendation backed by board members and denounced by many residents who live on that side of the peninsula.

A group of residents formed the East Peninsula Education Council, which is fighting the planned closing of Miraleste in court and had sponsored an unsuccessful secession effort that would have permitted the eastern portion of the peninsula to form its own school district.

Also, Price and board members have been accused in a lawsuit of mishandling the sale of surplus school property and favoritism in issuing developer-fee exemptions. Price and board members have vehemently denied any wrongdoing.

Younggren, who serves as the board’s president and is seeking reelection in November along with Kinnel, said in an interview that Price in late September offered to resign if the board felt his departure would help quell the controversies that have enveloped the district.

“Things were grinding down, and I think he felt he was a liability,” he said. “. . . He saw the district needed to move on, and he was willing to step aside.”

Under terms of the settlement, Price will receive $30,000 Wednesday and an additional $40,000 in January. He will also be paid for 21 days of unused vacation time, and reimbursed for his medical insurance costs through next June.

Board Atty. Paul Ostroff said the $70,000 represents the gross salary that Price would have earned through next June, as well as the $665-a-month car allowance and $250-a-month expense account money that he also would have received.

However, Price agreed to forfeit compensation for vacation days he had earned from June 30 through his resignation on Oct. 6, as well as money the district would have contributed to the State Teachers Retirement Fund on his behalf, Ostroff said. The district had been paying 8% of Price’s gross salary each month into the fund.

The settlement worked out between the board and Price prohibits the former superintendent from filing any legal claims against the district. It also calls for him to cooperate with the district in legal claims or lawsuits against the district. Price was hired in 1983.

“I think it is fair, and we are asking something of (Price) in return,” Kinnel said of the settlement. “At the same time, we have a district that is going to move ahead.”