Trustees Fire Oxnard Union High School District Chief

Bill Studt, longtime superintendent of the Oxnard Union High School District, was fired Tuesday following a special meeting of trustees, who said their decision was based on “philosophical differences” with the veteran educator.

The Board of Trustees voted 3 to 2 in closed session, with Nancy Koch and Irene Pinkard dissenting, to terminate Studt’s contract. The vote came after an annual performance evaluation of the 56-year-old superintendent that began last week.

Board members Steve Stocks, Dick Jaquez and Bob Valles voted to fire Studt.

Studt’s salary was about $150,000 a year. Under the terms of his contract, which would have expired June 30, 2003, he is owed 15 months’ pay, which totals more than $187,000.

“Tomorrow, I will wake up unemployed for the first time in 36 years,” said a solemn Studt in an interview late Tuesday.

A brief written statement announcing the termination said Studt and the board majority had philosophical differences. Koch, though, said in interviews before Tuesday’s vote that she believed the reasons were personal.

“No one is going to want to work for this district, and it’s real scary,” she said. “The man has received nine years of outstanding performance reviews.”

The action comes several weeks after a raucous board meeting in May in which Koch publicly accused three of her board colleagues--the same three who voted to fire Studt--of squandering taxpayer money on excessive travel expenses.

Valles, who was running that meeting, abruptly adjourned it and went into a back room, where he could be heard yelling at Studt for allowing Koch’s issue to be placed on the board’s agenda.

Sandy Rao, president of the Rio Mesa Parent-Faculty Assn., said she was stunned by what she called a “power play” and described the firing as retribution against Studt.

“This superintendent is being scapegoated for doing exactly what should have been done and that’s to bring this board in line with its own policies,” Rao said.

The board appointed Assistant Supt. Gary Davis interim superintendent. Davis agreed to do both jobs while the district conducts a formal search for a new leader.

Jan Henry, president of the 1,000-member Oxnard Federation of Teachers, said she was surprised by the board’s decision despite having heard rumblings in recent weeks that Studt would be fired.

At a June 6 board meeting, Henry said she told trustees that the union often disagreed with Studt but had also “forged a good and cooperative relationship with him that had enabled the trustees to not have as much labor strife” as other districts.

Studt’s termination comes as Oxnard continues to experience a fundamental shift in power among its politicians and top educators. Enrollment in the high school district is 60% Latino, and the city’s population is 66% Latino.

The city’s top elected official, Mayor Manuel Lopez, is Latino, as are the police chief, city manager and the superintendent of the elementary school district.

Studt, who is white, said he does not think race had anything to do with his firing. He said he wanted to be remembered for his achievements in curriculum improvement and having worked with “many, many creative and innovative people,” including teachers, bus drivers and custodians.

*

Times staff writers Anna Gorman and Fred Alvarez contributed to this story.