Burbank School Board President Resigns, Denies Cover-Up

Burbank school board President Joe Hooven resigned Tuesday, saying allegations that he tried to cover up a sex scandal involving a 50-year-old woman fund-raiser and a teenage football player are hurting the school district.

“While I have done nothing wrong, the controversy surrounding me personally is having an adverse effect on the Board of Education,” Hooven said in his resignation letter, which he delivered to the district superintendent Tuesday afternoon. “For me to continue to serve . . . and strive to clear my name would only detract from the more important business of this school district.”

Hooven’s resignation was tied into the case of Salle Dumm, president of a fund-raising group called the Burbank Education Foundation, who was arrested in November on allegations that she lured a 17-year-old Burbank High School football player to her bed with promises that she would donate money to his team. She is awaiting trial in Burbank Superior Court on a felony charge of having intercourse with a minor and a misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

The political turmoil began in December with the release of a California Interscholastic Federation report naming Hooven and former Burbank High head varsity football coach John Hazelton in a football recruiting scandal.

Hooven initially supported the board’s creation of an investigating subcommittee to probe the recruiting allegations, saying it would give him a chance to clear his name. But he later refused to testify under oath before the subcommittee and called the probe, which had widened to determine whether he knew about the Dumm case, “a witch hunt.”

Last week, the district released transcripts of the subcommittee’s interview with Hazelton, in which he testified that he had told Hooven about the alleged sexual liaison several days after the incident occurred in July, but that Hooven urged him to “keep it quiet.”

Last Friday, Hooven issued a written statement in which he conceded that Hazelton had told him about the alleged sexual incident in July. But Hooven denied trying to cover it up. He said he did not report the information to the district or to authorities because he considered it “thirdhand.”

As an elected official, Hooven was not required by law to report incidents of child abuse, as are teachers and other school district employees. Hooven was unavailable for comment Tuesday.