Trustee Urged to Step Down After Arrest

Fellow school board members, principals and community leaders are calling on trustee Ray Gonzales to resign following his arrest on suspicion of possessing drugs for sale, saying his behavior reflects poorly on the school district and sets a bad example for its 15,400 students.

“He needs to resign and get his own life back in order,” said Ventura County Supervisor John Flynn, who represents Oxnard and is a friend of Gonzales. “It would be good for Ray and good for the school district.”

Gonzales, 42, a first-term Oxnard Elementary School District board member, pleaded not guilty Friday to felony charges of possessing methamphetamine for sale and transport. He appeared in court dressed in jail blues, looking disoriented and sporting a 5 o’clock shadow.

Gonzales was arrested Wednesday night at Channel Islands Boulevard and Ventura Road in Oxnard on an outstanding warrant for violation of probation, authorities said. When officers searched his car they found about 4 1/2 grams of methamphetamine, authorities said.

This wasn’t Gonzales’ first run-in with the law. In September the school board member was found guilty of misdemeanor spousal battery after his wife was cut by a broken glass window during an argument at the couple’s home earlier in the year. He was placed on probation for three years.

Supt. Richard Duarte said Friday he feels frustrated and hurt by Gonzales’ alleged actions, and said he wants to get the situation resolved as quickly as possible. But if the trustee refuses to resign, resolving the issue quickly may be difficult.

The school district can only remove Gonzales from office if he is convicted of any felony or misdemeanor related to his duties as a school board member, according to the California School Boards Assn. He was elected to the board in 1998 and his term does not expire until 2002.

The district may also be able to remove Gonzales if officials can prove he has not been fulfilling his duties as a school board member for three consecutive months, a spokesman for the association said.

Oxnard residents can also launch a recall effort, but nobody has stepped forward to organize a campaign. A recall would require a lengthy process that starts with residents delivering a notice of intent to Gonzales and ends with an election. Residents would have to collect thousands of signatures and then the board could either hold a special election or put the vote on a regularly scheduled ballot. It is probably too late to make the November ballot, officials said.

Gonzales was in custody Friday and unavailable for comment. His attorney declined comment after the short court appearance.

In a similar situation, a trustee on the Oxnard Union High School District board was arrested in 1995 on suspicion of attempted murder, causing embarrassment to the school district and prompting parents and community members to call for his resignation.

Fred Judy, who was serving as vice president of the board at the time, allegedly shot and wounded a former police officer outside an Oxnard bar. He was never charged with the crime and did not resign, but was defeated in the next election.

Tom Nielsen, vice president of the district’s PTA, said Gonzales should have resigned last year after the domestic violence case. The district needs an effective board with five active, dedicated trustees, he said.

“They don’t need a crippled board,” Nielsen said. “There is only so much they can do with four members.”

Anthony Zubia, principal of Brekke Elementary School, agreed.

“We always try to put our best foot forward,” he said. “He [Gonzales] should consider seriously about what would be best for himself, the school district and the kids.”

School board members met Thursday afternoon to discuss the next course of action. They fired questions to Duarte: Where can we go from here? Do we have to wait for resignation? What can we do if he doesn’t resign?

Trustees will discuss the matter again at Wednesday’s school board meeting after receiving a report from the district’s attorney, Duarte said.

Fellow trustee Francisco Dominguez said he and other board members have been dissatisfied with Gonzales’ poor attendance at meetings. District documents show he has missed more than one-third of the meetings since becoming a school board member.

Even when Gonzales is there, Dominguez said, he is often distracted and not involved in discussions.

“Hopefully, Ray can get his personal life taken care of,” he said.

Gonzales has not held a full-time job since August, when he was fired from his job supervising a welfare-to-work program in Oxnard. Prosecutor Wendy MacFarlane said Gonzales has been living out of his car with his wife and children for at least three months.

“It’s very sad for the kids,” MacFarlane said. “How long has it been? Eight, nine months since trial. But nobody is working.”

Gonzales is being held on $55,000 bail at the Ventura County Jail. His preliminary hearing was set for June 15.

Times staff writer Tina Dirmann contributed to this story.