Trustees Meet to Dot I’s

The 2-month-old Orange Unified School District board met in special session Monday to take the unusual step of ratifying its previous actions because of challenges to the group’s legitimacy.

In a quick 4-0 vote with three of the seven members absent and little public discussion, the board endorsed actions it took during a contested session in early July when a new president was elected and winners of a bitterly fought recall campaign took office.

“How can a board that has never been properly seated now ratify anything?” said Mark Boucher, a former attorney for the district who was ousted by the new board, after the short evening session.

But Monday’s action satisfied Richard McKee, a chemistry teacher and open-government activist from La Verne who last month filed a formal complaint with the district challenging the new board’s legality.

“Now that this board is aware that they have to be very careful, maybe things will get better,” said McKee, who added that he will not pursue the matter further. “Obviously, this district has a lot of things to deal with.”

In late June, voters in the district recalled three conservative school board members by thin margins and replaced them with trustees backed by some parents and the local teachers union.

The new board members--Kathy Moffat, Melissa Taylor Smith and John Ortega--were hurriedly sworn in early in July by trustees Robert Viviano and Bill Lewis. The five now constitute the board’s majority.

The two remaining conservative members are Terri Sargeant and Kathy Ward, the former board president. Sargeant, Ward and Ortega were not present at Monday’s meeting.

On July 9, the new majority called a special meeting to elect Viviano its president and to reverse last-minute actions by the former board, including contract extensions for a number of district administrators.

Since then, the board has been under attack by opponents, who maintain that its new members were never formally sworn in and that their subsequent actions are therefore illegal.

On Monday, McKee said there are still questions about whether the July 9 meeting was legal. However, he said, “the new members won the election. They would eventually be seated, so how long do you drag this on?”

The legal challenge to the new board may be over for now, but the 30,000-student district, known for ideological battles over issues ranging from gay student clubs to bilingual education, is likely to see more political turmoil.

Two of the recalled board members, Linda Davis and Martin Jacobson, are challenging recall winners Smith and Moffat in the Nov. 6 election. Conservative members Sargeant and Ward, whose terms are ending, will be facing challengers themselves.