BURBANK : Superintendent Ends Group Membership

The Burbank school district superintendent has dropped his membership in a youth group that tried and failed to set up a family planning clinic at an elementary school.

“I served at the direction of the Board of Education and I no longer have that direction,” Supt. Arthur Pierce said Friday. He resigned from the Burbank Corp. for Youth in a letter dated June 28.

The Burbank Corp. For Youth came under fire last month because of its aborted attempt to bring the Valley Community Clinic of North Hollywood into their community outreach center at the McKinley Elementary School. In two school board meetings, members of the public criticized Pierce’s role as a board member of the corporation.

Because of the public controversy, the clinic pulled out of the outreach center at McKinley and the school board later rescinded the center’s operating permit.

While Pierce maintains that his membership was not a conflict of interest, he said Friday that it did create an awkward situation for him.

“I think, quite frankly, my membership on the board in the last year or so has presented problems for both the Burbank Corp. For Youth and the school district that could have been avoided had there not been as high a ranking member of the district administration on the board,” Pierce said.

“I have to make recommendations to the Board of Education as to whether something is right for the school district,” Pierce said, adding that the same problem would occur if he were to join any service club that deals with the district. The question has more to do with perceptions than with an actual conflict, he said.

The Burbank Corp. For Youth started about four years ago as a subcommittee reporting to the school board, Board President Elena Hubbell said. Pierce had been assigned to the group because the board at that time felt he could be helpful with youth issues. It later branched off and became an independent nonprofit group, but retained Pierce’s membership.

“That’s just not a priority of this board,” said Hubbell, who became president in May. “We just feel there are many other things a superintendent should be doing. We have so many things to do as far as restructuring and rebuilding that concern us.”