Judge Tells Nash to Return School Files

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge this week ordered McKinley Nash, the ousted superintendent of the Centinela Valley Union High School District, to return several boxes of files to the district pending a formal hearing Aug. 24.

The temporary restraining order, which also prohibited Nash from altering or disclosing the contents of the files and from making any copies, was issued Monday at the request of school district attorneys, who alleged that the files contained district documents and property. Nash’s attorney, who was holding the boxes, handed them over to the district Tuesday.

A press release issued by trustees Wednesday said the files were removed “contrary to an order by the Board of Trustees to Dr. Nash specifically directing him NOT to remove any District files, documents or property.”

But Nash’s attorney, Susan Silver, said Nash “took only those things to which he was entitled,” including personal items and his copies of correspondence. She described the district’s seeking of a court order as “a serious case of overkill.”

“It’s very deceptive for them to say he removed seven boxes of vital district material,” Silver said. “That absolutely did not happen.”

Nash said three secretaries were with him when he packed up his belongings July 20 and that one of them made a list of everything he took. He said some of his copies are relevant to a pending investigation of the district by the federal Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights and that he “wanted to make sure those records were not destroyed.”

Nash, who became superintendent in 1984, was fired in July, four months after students staged massive walkouts to protest alleged racism in the district. The trustees have not made public their reason for firing Nash. He has demanded payment for the balance of his contract, which was due to expire in 1993.

Nash, who is black, has said he plans to cooperate with the federal investigation into allegations of racial harassment against black teachers, administrators and students in the racially divided district. The board, which is predominantly Latino, has denied there is any evidence of racism in the district.