Two of 3 school superintendent finalists had been on paid leave

Two of the three finalists for the job of Baker School District superintendent were placed on paid leave by their school boards before their current contracts expired.

George Park of Panguitch, Utah, and Earl Pettit of Douglas, Ariz., both contend they were disciplined in retaliation for changes they made in their districts.

Park and Pettit, along with the third finalist, Walter Wegener Jr. of Friday Harbor, Wash., will be in Baker City this week.

The Baker School Board met in executive (closed to the public) session Tuesday night prior to its regular board meeting to discuss concerns about Park and Pettit.

Directors Lynne Burroughs and Ginger Savage learned more about the two men during visits they made last week to the districts of each of the three finalists.

In addition to the Utah and Arizona districts, the women also traveled to the San Juan Island School District at Friday Harbo where Wegener is serving as interim superintendent this year.

Although the board was aware of Pettit’s conflicts with his board, they had not heard of Park’s difficulties until Savage and and Burroughs traveled to Utah, Savage said after Tuesday’s board meeting.

Savage also received an e-mail about Park and a packet that contained the results of a state audit of his Utah district. Both were sent anonymously.

Park, who gave his age as “over 40,” said in a telephone interview today from his daughter’s home at Meridian, Idaho, that the trouble with his Utah board should not affect his candidacy for the Baker job.

He maintains that the results of the state audit exonerate him.

“There isn’t anything that implicates me in any wrongdoing,” he said. “The audit report was a witch hunt.”

Earl Pettit

Pettit, 44, who has filed state and federal lawsuits against his board and district, declined to comment on the ongoing cases in a telephone interview today.

He did say, however, that the complaints involve violations of the public meetings law and the board’s objections to him attempting to enforce state law regarding the education of English language learners.

Pettit said he filed the federal lawsuit in January and the state lawsuit earlier this month. He was placed on administrative leave in January of this year after ongoing conflict with the board that began shortly after he was hired in July 2008.

“It is a mess that has been very personally and professionally damaging to me,” he said. “I am doing the best I can to recover from it.

“I wouldn’t take legal action if I didn’t believe it was the last resort,” Pettit said.

More on George Park

Park said his board put him  on administrative leave in July 2009 after a change in board leadership and complaints from the teachers’ union about his role in eliminating an early retirement program, a change he said was made at the former board’s direction.

Park left the district April 1 of this year under terms of an agreement that required him to forego salary and benefits for the remainder of his contract, which was due to expire June 30.

In exchange, the board agreed not to fire him and to take a neutral position in commenting to future employers who ask about his job performance, he said.

Yervasi and Savage said Park did not disclose his conflict with the Utah district when the board interviewed him in Baker City the week of April 5. 

The details began to surface during the visit Savage and Burroughs made to Utah last week.

In a report dated Feb. 10, 2010, Utah state auditors provided the Garfield County School Board with a review of transactions related to Park and to the district’s former business administrator, Justin Baugh, from June 2005 through July 2009.

According to the report, the auditors found “improper and potentially fraudulent payments” totaling more than $88,000 to Baugh, who has reimbursed the district for $55,522 of that amount.

The report also cites “questionable payments” of more than $37,000 to Park and other district employees. Park provided a written response to questions about raises, bonuses and payments to his retirement account, asserting that they were not “questionable.”

He did agree, however, to reimburse the district if the current business manager were to find that he had been overpaid. He also refuted accusations of wrongdoing in his supervision of Baugh.

“I’m not going to say anything in support of him,” Park said.

(A copy of the Utah report is available online at www.sao.state.ut.us/reports/09-SCH-J.pdf

Although no criminal charges have been filed, authorities are continuing to investigate Baugh’s handling of district funds, Park said.

Walter H. Wegener Jr.

No controversy was uncovered regarding Wegener, 59, who said in a telephone interview last week that he is eager to return to the four distinct seasons of an eastside climate and countryside after spending a year at coastal Friday Harbor.

He formerly served as director of student services at the Toppenish School District in Washington in 2008-09 and was the district’s high school principal from 2004 to 2008.

Yervasi said it’s not surprising to discover that two of the three finalists have been involved in controversy.

“Any time you are a superintendent in a district, there will be people who will follow you anywhere and people who are going to be upset with the changes you’ve made,” he said. “We’ll need to vet the issues and decide what comes with the territory and what causes any concerns.”

School board members encourage local residents to attend public meetings designed to allow the candidates to answer questions about their background and experience and to complete questionnaires seeking further comment that will be available to the public.

The public event schedule (all at the 5J District office, 2090 Fourth St.):

• Park: Thursday, 5:30 p.m. to 6:15 p.m., Friday from 9 a.m. to 9:45 a.m.

• Pettit: Thursday, 6:30 p.m. to 7:15 p.m., Friday from 10 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.

• Wegener: Thursday, 7:30 p.m. to 8:15 p.m., Friday, 11 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.

Yervasi said he is confident that any of the three finalists would serve the district well.

“They are all qualified and all competent to lead this district,” he said. “They all are going to look forward to the opportunity to answer any questions the public and press might have.”