Teachers Angry at Activist’s Selection

More than 100 teachers packed a meeting of the Orange Unified School District trustees Thursday night to object to the appointment of a conservative community activist to a panel that oversees the teachers’ benefits trust.

Teachers booed and hissed at school board members, who voted 4-2 to appoint Kathleen Moran as a district representative on the trust’s board of directors.

Trustees appeared stunned at the level of anger as speakers rose to address them, some shouting out their comments.

“There is no way I can trust having Ms. Moran on the board,” said David Reger, president of the teachers union and a director of the trust. “Ms. Moran is a symbol, a negative symbol to us. You have done everything to bring down morale here, and this is a slap in the face to all employees.”

Moran, a Villa Park activist who often supports the conservative majority of the school board, has spent more than a year investigating the trust. She has accused trust administrators of overcharging the district for health premiums and has urged the board to sue for a $2-million reimbursement.

Representatives of the teachers union labeled her investigation a “witch hunt” and said the trust’s directors use standard practices of the insurance industry.

The trust was established in 1985 to handle benefits for 1,800 teachers. Its board has three representatives from the union and three from the district. Each side has one vote, and both sides must agree on an action before it takes effect.

Among union leaders’ objections was that Moran will have access to confidential records of teachers, even though she is not a school district employee.

Trustee Bill Lewis said Moran’s appointment was not meant to be a slap at the teachers. The board majority supported Moran because she had shown deep knowledge of the trust during her investigation, and she had been able to collect information previously unavailable, he said.

The district will consider deleting names on confidential records that come before the trust, he said.

“It was a tough vote,” Lewis said. “But the only thing that changes is more accountability to the people who pay for [the trust]--the taxpayers.”

Trustees James Fearns and Rick Ledesma voted against the appointment, and Robert H. Viviano was absent.

Moran did not attend the meeting and could not be reached for comment Friday.