School Board President Rejects Call for Resignation

The local elementary school board president has rebuffed a fellow trustee’s call for his resignation connected with his admitted downloading of sexually explicit material from the Internet.

Dan Robles, who received a 5% pay cut in his $45,000-a-year salary as director of the city’s public library last summer after acknowledging “inappropriate use” of the agency’s computers, sat impassively Tuesday as Ben Saiz requested his resignation.

“I believe with all my heart that Dan Robles could never ever be taken seriously again in his role as school board president, librarian or Boys & Girls Club member, because everyone now sees him as deficient in moral and ethical character,” Saiz told a small gathering of about 20 people at Tuesday’s meeting of the Santa Paula Elementary School District board.

“I believe he is no longer effective as a leader on this board and should be ashamed and embarrassed to pretend nothing is wrong,” Saiz said. “There is no redemption on the issue of inappropriate material regarding sexually explicit references . . . which our school board president has admitted to.”

Saiz, who walked out of the meeting after reading his statement, said he would participate in future meetings under protest until Robles quits and promised to continue pressing for his resignation.

Only one person in the audience rose to speak in support of Saiz, while two--one a fellow trustee, the other a member of the library board--spoke in Robles’ defense.

Robles, 45, who was born and raised in Santa Paula and whose first term on the school board expires next year, said he had no intention of stepping down.

“What is occurring is an unfair characterization of the situation by a disgruntled former employee,” he said, adding that he is exploring the possibility of legal action. “I’m not going to walk away from the situation. . . . As we teach our children, everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty.”

Robles’ downloading of written sexually explicit material was reported to the library board by former administrative assistant Cynthia Chamberlain, who has since been fired for poor job performance. She has also filed a claim with the state alleging written and verbal sexual harassment, based in part on her discovery of the material in a library storeroom.

Library officials maintain the woman made the accusations against Robles after receiving a poor performance evaluation. Chamberlain’s attorney contends her client did not receive a negative job evaluation until she blew the whistle on Robles’ questionable use of library computers.

In an interview Wednesday, Robles said he has not been a board member of the local Boys & Girls Club since 1990. He also called Saiz’s description of the content of the sexually explicit material inaccurate, but would not elaborate because of the possibility of litigation.

A criminal investigation by the district attorney’s office cleared Robles of any wrongdoing.