ORANGE : 5 Targeted School Officials Supported

Parents and residents once again filled the boardroom of the Orange Unified School District this week to support three veteran principals and two administrators who may lose their jobs.

The meeting was the fourth at which parents have protested the Board of Education’s Feb. 27 decision to demote principals Ewell Gunter of Palmyra Elementary, Eddie Salgado of La Veta Elementary and Jerry Uffelman of Richland Continuation High School.

The board has also told Supt. Norman C. Guith and Roger Duthoy, assistant superintendent for secondary education, that their contracts will not be renewed.

Parents angry over the principals’ plight filed recall papers last month, stating that six of the seven board members have “mismanaged the public trust by failing to heed the wishes of many who have publicly supported employees of the district.”

While Thursday’s meeting was less crowded and emotional than past protests, supporters again strongly praised the five officials and requested their reinstatement.

John Lozano, speaking on behalf of the Concerned Citizens of El Modena and the Hispanic Republican Committee of Orange, said the district needs the consistent leadership that Guith and Duthoy provide and praised the administrators’ outreach to the Latino community.

Their dismissal, Lozano said, would mean “a great disservice is being perpetrated on the parents and students of the Hispanic community.”

Board members have refused to comment on any personnel decisions. Lozano accused the board of “hiding behind the cloak of personnel privacy to take out your own personal vendettas and ax-grindings.”

Board members must notify Duthoy by May 15 if he is to be released from his contract. A final decision on the principals must be made by June 30; Guith’s contract expires next year.

Despite nearly the protests and the threat of a recall, parents and residents said they now doubt that their opposition will influence the board’s decisions.

“I feel the board is being even more arrogant,” said Marvella McAllister, mother of a La Veta sixth-grader. “I don’t know if there’s anything we can do.”

“I think their minds are already made up,” Lozano agreed.