CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO
The embattled Capistrano Unified School District has fired its popular superintendent -- a little more than a year after he succeeded a district leader indicted on allegations of misappropriating public funds.
The board voted unanimously Monday night to terminate the contract of Supt. A. Woodrow Carter for “material breach of contract,” district spokeswoman Julie Hatchel wrote in a brief statement.
An interim superintendent was not immediately named.
The move against Carter comes about two months after he was placed on administrative leave by a board of trustees elected in recent years with the backing of a group of longtime district critics.
Carter was tapped for the top job about a year and a half ago, shortly after the board’s first choice backed out because of “uncertainty and instability” facing the district.
Also on Monday, board President Ellen M. Addonizio said in a statement that the district would have to cut $25 million from its budget.
The cuts, she noted, would require salary rollbacks and could result in layoffs.
-- Paloma Esquivel
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