Board Upholds Firing of Gun-Toting Official

Over the objections of its attorneys, the Los Angeles Board of Education has upheld its dismissal of a top administrator who carried a gun onto school property.

Last month, the board was on the brink of ratifying a staff agreement to let Maintenance Director Jim Samples retire. Attorneys advised that it would be better to pay out Samples’ $60,800 in sick pay rather than risk the possibility of a costly legal defense later if he sued.

But board members asked to reconsider the matter because they felt it was hypocritical to give an administrator a break when students are routinely expelled for carrying guns on campus. In closed session on Monday, they voted to abide by their March decision, which throws the matter back before the district’s personnel commission because Samples had appealed his dismissal.

“We had to clearly send that message--the message we have posted on the fences of all schools that say, ‘No firearms,’ ” said board member David Tokofsky.

In October 1996, Samples was shot in a garage at district headquarters. He told those who came to his aid that he had been assaulted by a masked gunman.

The Los Angeles Police Department later dropped the case, however, saying there was no evidence of a shooter and speculating that Samples made up the story to cover the fact that he had shot himself with the gun he later acknowledged carrying.

According to district officials, Samples was under stress after receiving several death threats from disgruntled former employees.