School board stands by superintendent; public calls for engagement, investigation

Published 11:44 am Monday, April 29, 2024

LONG BEACH — Local school board members stood by Ocean Beach School District Superintendent Amy Huntley at their monthly meeting last week, denying she played a role in the district’s resignation agreement with her spouse and contending that the situation was being exploited by people trying to advance personal agendas.

Members of the community, including those who led campaigns in support of the district’s successful levy measure earlier this year, called on board members at that April 24 meeting to investigate the matter and to commit to better engagement and transparency in order to earn the public’s trust.

Last fall, longtime teacher Shawn Stern and OBSD agreed to a resignation settlement that saw him receive the remainder of his salary and benefits for the 2023-24 school year as part of the terms. Stern taught at the district for nearly three decades and had accumulated a lengthy disciplinary record, including alleged bullying, intimidation and unprofessional conduct toward other teachers in recent years.

The board voted to approve and read a statement of support toward the beginning of the meeting and just before taking public comment. Board chair Tiffany Turner, along with Nansen Malin and Don Zuern, voted in favor of approving the statement, while Mark Mansell and Carolyne Perez abstained. Neither Mansell or Perez were on the board when it approved the district’s resignation agreement with Stern.

Board backs Huntley

The statement, which clocked in at nearly 350 words and was read aloud by Malin to those in attendance, offered a full-throated defense of Huntley throughout the process of her husband’s separation from the district.

“First of all and most importantly, Amy played no role in any disciplinary action relating to Shawn or in the resignation agreement he and the district ultimately entered into,” the statement reads. “The board and Amy had previously agreed that she would recuse herself from any matters related to his employment. This recusal meant that she was not involved in any interaction, discussion or negotiation regarding his resignation.”

The statement also says that Jim Paxinos, OBSD’s HR director, negotiated the resignation agreement on the district’s behalf, in consultation with Turner and the district’s attorney. That agreement was presented to the board during the executive session of that October meeting, the board states, and that Huntley had “zero knowledge of or involvement” with Stern’s employment or resignation agreement.

Pull Quote

‘Our superintendent has had to navigate one of the most difficult moments in public education and has done so with incredible leadership that is beginning to show impressive growth in student achievement.’

Ocean Beach School Board statement read by member Nansen Malin

The board voted to approve Stern’s resignation agreement with the district at the following November meeting, “because we determined that entering into the agreement was in the district’s best interest,” the statement reads.

The board’s statement also accuses unnamed individuals of using Stern’s separation from the district “to try to divide the school board, staff, students and greater community to further some personal agendas that distract us from doing the difficult work of making sure our children get the very best education they can.”

“Our superintendent has had to navigate one of the most difficult moments in public education and has done so with incredible leadership that is beginning to show impressive growth in student achievement,” the statement reads, referring to the covid-19 pandemic. “To do so, she has had to make difficult staffing decisions to build teams that work effectively together and begin to create cultures of excellence in our buildings.”

The statement concluded by again claiming that Huntley was not personally involved in matters relating to Stern’s employment.

Public weighs in

Last week’s meeting was the first for the school board since the terms of Stern’s departure came to light, and with it came a lengthy public comment period that was mostly dominated by that issue.

Among those weighing in was Joan Porter, who headed up the committee supporting the district’s levy proposal that voters ultimately approved in February. She called it a “rewarding” experience and hailed the partnership between OBSD, the board and the committee, saying “it felt like some important strides were made toward reestablishing some previously lost trust.”

Porter said she was disappointed and shocked when she learned the details of Stern’s separation from the district, and questioned why he had been able to keep his job despite his lengthy disciplinary record.

In recent weeks, Porter said her phone has not stopped ringing and that she has also gotten texts, emails, neighbors knocking on her door and people stopping her at the grocery store with angry comments about the situation. She advised the board that this issue is not going to simply blow over.

“They’re upset with me for encouraging them to vote for more money to put into the coffers of the district … You asked a group of citizens to put our integrity and reputations on the line, to go out in the community as the rally squad for the district, and we were happy to do it, but it’s going to be a hard sell if you ask us to go back out to the community to get support for the bond you plan to bring before voters in the not-too-distant future,” Porter said.

“I’m here to tell you that if you do not start having honest, in-person engagement with the public — and I appreciate your statement tonight — we do not stand a snowball’s chance in hell of getting that bond passed,” she added. “In all my years in public relations, this is one of the biggest public relations debacles I have ever seen. Even though you say there is no wrongdoing here, there is certainly the perception of wrongdoing — and we all know perception is reality. The public needs to know you’re putting a system in place that ensures this kind of situation never happens again.”

Marilyn Sheldon, a former school board member who served on the district’s facilities committee for its failed 2022 bond measure, said she knows people who feel like they can’t speak up and say what they want to say to the board.

“I said this about the bond, if you surround yourself with people who tell you what you want to hear, that what you’re gonna hear is what you want to hear,” Sheldon said. “I would encourage people who have something that’s hard to say to find the courage to stand up and say it. It doesn’t have to be here, it doesn’t have to be in the newspaper, but call a board member [or] find them in-person and tell them what you’re really thinking.”

Calls for investigation

Annie Snyder was also involved with efforts to approve the levy earlier this year, and was “so happy” when it passed. After reading the details of Stern’s resignation agreement, she said she feels like that victory “was tarnished.”

“While we were out working in the winter, in the cold and the dark, these things had already happened and we didn’t know about it,” Snyder said, and called on the board to “deal transparently with what’s been going on in the schools,” particularly when it comes to staffing. She and her husband proposed that the board open a third-party investigation into the matter, which was supported by several others who spoke out at the meeting.

Former Ocean Park Elementary teacher Tracey Crook, who first accused Huntley of improperly weighing in on her husband’s behalf while the district was negotiating Stern’s resignation agreement, criticized the board’s statement and said it “almost added to the divisiveness.” She added that she hoped board members were listening to what had been said during the public comment period.

Crook also lamented that there were no surveys or opportunities for school staff to provide anonymous, honest feedback during her brief tenure, and backed calls for an independent investigation into the district.

“Really, I just think that we’re not opening our minds about the possibility that maybe it’s not all about just sticking to our little peninsula,” Crook said. “Maybe we’ve got some dysfunctional, unhealthy thinking going on and would like to see some change for the future of our kids.”