HUNTINGTON BEACH : Union Official Denies Peters Plot

A teachers’ union official has denied there was a union “conspiracy” to oust Diana Peters as superintendent of the Huntington Beach City School District earlier this summer.

The official, Jim Harlan, said that only the school board knows why Peters was forced to resign, and he challenged the school board to make the reasons public.

Harlan, executive director of the West Orange County United Teachers, made his remarks in response to a letter sent by residents to the grand jury. The Aug. 31 letter accused Harlan and the teachers’ union of pressuring the board to force Peters to resign.

The authors of the letter--Huntington Beach residents Haydee V. Tillotson, Merle Moshiri and Henry H. Goldman--urged the grand jury to investigate Harlan, the teachers’ union and the school board.

” . . . It appears that (the) school board may have been influenced by the teachers’ union and the union’s director, Jim Harlan, when it suddenly moved to buy out Supt. Diana Peters’ contract,” the letter said.

The school board on July 25 voted to give Peters $126,952 in exchange for her resignation from a contract that was supposed to run until June, 1993.

Harlan on Tuesday noted that the panel has never publicly explained why it decided to buy out Peters’ contract only eight months after praising her and extending her contract to the maximum permitted by law.

“I don’t believe it was the union pressure,” Harlan said. “I think it was something private between her (Peters) and the school board. To get the truth, maybe we should challenge Diana Peters to sign a letter of release and get the school board to release the exact details of why it wanted to dismiss her. Maybe the truth should come out.”

Sherry Barlow, president of the school board, on Tuesday said she and other board members cannot elaborate on Peters’ departure. Barlow noted that the board has said only that Peters resigned because of “philosophical differences.” She refused further comment. Peters has also declined comment.

The signed agreement between Peters and the school board contains a gag order that restricts both sides from saying “disparaging or derogatory remarks, comments or statements regarding each other.”