Irvine Schools Cancel Contracts of 3 Officials

Girding for what may be a serious financial shortfall, the Irvine school board has abruptly canceled the contracts of three longtime assistant superintendents in the district.

On the recommendation of Superintendent Patricia White, the Irvine Unified School District’s Board of Education voted 3-2 in closed session Tuesday to terminate the contracts, which expire at the end of June 2000.

White says her deputies are not being fired. Rather, in the face of the district’s financial uncertainty, she intends to replace the superintendents’ automatically renewing contracts with specified start and end times. White hopes the board will be able to negotiate new terms over the next year with assistant superintendents Susan Long, Paul Reed and Dean Waldfogel.

“I want to say with great assurance, absolutely they are not being fired,” White said, adding that she has asked the board to terminate the automatic renewal clause in her own contract as well. This is White’s second year as the district’s superintendent. Until now, the school officials’ terms would renew every two years unless the board gave them notice a year in advance that they would be terminated.

“We just don’t want to set an example for our staff or community that says everybody else is vulnerable except us,” White said. “My idea is let’s all step up to the plate.”

White was supported in the proposal by school board members Jeanne Flint, Steven Choi and Karen Preston. The two most senior members of the board, Margie Wakeham and Mike Regele, voted against terminating the contracts.

The assistant superintendents at the heart of the controversy could not be reached for comment.

The move is a signal from White and the board that difficult times are ahead. The district is projecting deficit spending of about $4 million for the 1998-1999 school year. The board is considering seeking a parcel tax from Irvine residents to raise funds. Imposing such a tax would require a two-thirds vote of the public.