Simi School Board Leader Steps Down in Protest

School board President Norm Walker resigned as the board leader Wednesday in an apparent protest over a move by his colleagues to dismiss district Supt. Dan Flynn after only three months on the job.

“It is clear to me that the board is embarking upon a reckless and irresponsible course for which I cannot be an effective spokesman,” Walker wrote in a letter to Flynn, Simi Valley Unified School District’s seventh schools chief in seven years. Walker said he will remain as a trustee on the board.

An emergency closed-session board meeting is called for 8:15 tonight to continue a discussion over Flynn’s fate. Trustees began that talk--described on their agenda as “discipline, dismissal, release, transfer or employment” of the superintendent--Tuesday night.

Outside that meeting, Flynn waited until trustees left at midnight to hear the outcome, joking that he could sleep in late the next day if he were dismissed.

“So, should I be at work tomorrow?” he asked as board members emerged without taking action. “Yes,” Walker said in a muffled voice as he quickly left the building.

On Wednesday, Flynn was optimistic that his job will continue.

“I’ll be starting work tomorrow at 7 or 8 o’clock,” he said. “I’m looking forward to a productive day. That’s the official line, anyway--let’s see where we go from there.”

Walker said the board’s clerk, trustee Janice DiFatta, automatically becomes president.

DiFatta will be able to better represent the board because she represents the majority of trustees, Walker said, declining to elaborate.

According to his contract, Flynn’s first evaluation must be conducted by March 31. Trustees have not explained why they met at the beginning of February--almost two months early--to discuss his job performance, other than to say they needed time to hash out the criteria on which he will be judged.

Trustees Carla Kurachi and Diane Collins have long argued that Flynn--a former Ventura County principal and Head Start coordinator--did not have enough experience to lead the county’s largest school district.

After working in Simi Valley for three months, Flynn has still not learned crucial aspects of the job, including how the budget works, they contend.

Kurachi said she also had problems with how Flynn interacts with the board.

“His evaluation isn’t only based on job performance,” she said Wednesday. “But it’s based on a board relationship. I think three months is a good enough amount of time to see if he’s a good fit.”

Flynn’s supporters, Walker and trustee Caesar Julian, have argued that the new superintendent is showing great potential and that critics are nit-picking.

Walker said Flynn has not had enough time to do more than visit schools and introduce himself to the community. And Julian said he appreciates Flynn’s cautious approach, his communications style with the board and desire to seek comments from parents on school decisions.

In his own defense, Flynn has said he is learning the district--especially its financial aspects--piece by piece. He also pointed to a set of 60 “action plans” he is pushing his staff to implement at the schools.

DiFatta, the fifth trustee and a supporter of Flynn’s appointment last fall, declined to say whether she still backs the superintendent.

But some Flynn supporters, worried that she has switched sides, showed up at Tuesday’s meeting to support the superintendent.

“We worked hard to get her [DiFatta] elected,” said Russ Hopkins, past president of the California Republican Assembly and a self-described ultraconservative. “She’s biting the hand that fed her. For her to defect is beyond me.”

The Flynn supporters, including conservative school activist Coleen Ary, spoke to trustees of Flynn’s hard-working attitude and argued that firing him would create instability in the school district.

With seven superintendents in as many years, stability is something that the district has struggled to achieve.

Albert “Bud” Marley filled in most recently for four months, filling a vacancy left by Tate Parker, whose contract was bought out in June under an $81,000 settlement after six months of service. Prior to Parker, other schools chiefs came and left, either retiring early or leaving for other jobs.