Inglewood Fires Schools Chief in Hasty Session

Inglewood Schools Supt. McKinley Nash, who has spent months waging a bitter battle with the city school board members who have questioned his management style, was fired Saturday during a hastily organized board meeting.

The meeting was held when one of Nash’s principal supporters, school board member Thomasina Reed, was out of town. The three board members who voted to oust Nash, citing a lack of confidence, may all soon be departing from the school board as a consequence of last week’s municipal election results.

Nearly 100 Inglewood teachers packed the school board meeting room to rally around Nash, who has been the district’s superintendent for nearly three years. But that didn’t change the 3-1 vote. Nash will be paid for the next six months of his contract while Deputy Supt. Richard Bertain takes over as interim superintendent.

“If citizens don’t work to take back the schools from a board of out-of-control people, there will be no quality of education in Inglewood,” said Shirley Mims, president of the Inglewood Teachers Assn., whose 582 teachers have consistently backed Nash since he was hired by the board in 1994. In two years, the teachers have received a 10% increase in pay.

Some contended that the meeting was convened quickly because the three members who voted against Nash could be short-timers.

Board member Dexter Henderson lost his bid for reelection in last week’s municipal election and will leave after a June 3 runoff for his post. Member Larry Aubry faces a June runoff after finishing second in last week’s election. And school board President Gloria Gray, who was not up for reelection last week, will nonetheless leave the board if she wins a runoff election for an Inglewood City Council seat in June.

Even though the board members had threatened to fire the 63-year-old Nash, whom they have described as having an intimidating and brusque management style, they did not explain Monday why they wanted to see him go so quickly.

“The majority of the board voted to terminate his contract without cause. They indicated they had lost confidence in Dr. Nash,” Gray said Monday. “Each board member has a responsibility to do what they think is right as it relates to the district.”

But board member Reed, an attorney who was in Sacramento on Saturday attending a California Democratic Party meeting, said she felt it was part of a power play to get rid of Nash in order to hire George J. McKenna III, who was Nash’s predecessor. McKenna reportedly encouraged Gray to run for the school board two years ago.

“Of paramount concern is getting McKenna back in,” Reed said. McKenna is a deputy superintendent in the Compton Unified School District. His contract expires in June, Reed said. McKenna did not return telephone calls made to his office Monday seeking comment.

Gray and other board members denied that they want to return McKenna to his old job. “That is absolutely ridiculous,” the school board president said.

Nash, who came to the district at a time of fiscal hardship and poor academic achievement, said he was not given a reason for his dismissal from the $103,000-a-year job and is thinking about filing a lawsuit against the district. “I have not been evaluated by this board in two years,” he said. “I have submitted all my objectives to them and with all the principals.”

During Nash’s tenure, the school district has been plagued by a number of embarrassing scandals. Last month, former Inglewood Adult School Principal John Rabun was convicted of embezzling $27,000 from the school district.

Custodial supervisor Andrew Truesdale was charged last year with robbing the school district of $441,000 after allegedly putting as many as 77 phantom employees on his payroll. And in September, a man who had posed as a teacher at Morningside High School for 10 years was discovered to be an impostor who had served time in Los Angeles County Jail for forgery and writing bad checks.

School board member Loystene Irvin, who voted to keep Nash in his job, said things have improved since his arrival. “I voted against firing the superintendent because I had seen progress in our school district,” she said, noting that the district’s budget is sound and that test scores are improving.

She predicted that Nash would get his job back in June when a new school board could be elected. “Once a new board is in place, we will rescind all action of the previous majority,” she said.