2 Officials’ Altercation No Surprise

The altercation between county Supervisor John Flynn and school Supt. Richard Duarte didn’t surprise local leaders.

Tensions had escalated for more than a year between Flynn, a 24-year incumbent known for his old-style politics, and Duarte, a longtime educator driven to find sites for new schools in a city short on land.

The two have differed over Flynn’s support of Duarte and the superintendent’s subsequent endorsement of Flynn’s opponent as well as where the school district should build its next elementary school.

Flynn has alleged that after Tuesday’s controversial school site vote at a City Council meeting, Duarte pushed and elbowed him. Duarte has his own allegation: Flynn grabbed his arm after shoving his way past a district administrator. Flynn has denied he grabbed Duarte or shoved the administrator, Martha Hernandez. Duarte, the superintendent for the Oxnard Elementary School District, denied he shoved Flynn.

Although a police investigation is underway, both Duarte and Hernandez said Thursday they just want to forget about the whole thing.

“I believe that Mr. Flynn is a man of integrity,” Duarte said. “It’s just an unfortunate incident on both sides.”

But Flynn remained angry about the months of animosity leading up to the squabble.

“The superintendent should be a unifier,” Flynn said. “[Duarte] has been a community divider.”

Flynn said Duarte’s appointment as superintendent in 1998, on a 3-2 vote, was made possible largely because the supervisor lobbied a school board trustee to cast the swing vote in Duarte’s favor.

When Duarte endorsed school board member Francisco Dominguez in his unsuccessful bid to challenge Flynn’s seat on the Board of Supervisors a little more than a year later, Flynn said he was furious.

“It was not an endorsement against Mr. Flynn,” Duarte said. “It was an endorsement for Mr. Dominguez.” Duarte also maintains that his relationship with Flynn did not deteriorate afterward.

But Flynn says he wishes he had never supported Duarte.

“After reflecting upon it, I think I made a mistake. He turned out to be a different person than I thought he was.”

Tensions grew this year as Flynn and other county leaders battled with Oxnard officials over where to build the proposed Juan Soria Elementary School.

With student overcrowding and a shortage of available school sites, district leaders have considered building on farmland.

In November, the Local Agency Formation Commission shot down a bid to annex the land to the city. Flynn also opposed the site, saying it violated the spirit of slow-growth laws in Oxnard and the county.

But Duarte said the need for new schools outweighed other concerns.

Proponents of the site remain determined to get the school built. Tuesday’s meeting was a big step. After presentations by Duarte and other proponents, the council agreed to extend city services to the site if the school is built there. Flynn then sought out Duarte and the altercation began.

Supervisor Judy Mikels said that although Flynn is known for vehemently arguing his point on issues he cares about “he lashes out verbally, never physically.”

But Flynn said he has no intention of changing his personality just because he’s under fire. “This is an issue I’m outspoken on, an issue in which the school district is trying to violate people’s wishes. And for me to sit back and meekly surrender is not in my nature.”

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Sherry is a correspondent and Talev is a Times staff writer.