Resignation of Price Fails to Squelch Bitter Feelings

Even though he is stepping down as superintendent of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District, Jack Price has made it clear that he does not intend to disappear from the public eye.

In his resignation statement Monday, Price announced that he would work to reelect incumbent board members Marlys Kinnel and Jeffrey Younggren this fall, as well as Brenton Goodrich, a third candidate closely aligned with them.

“They are well-meaning, concerned and experienced,” said Price, who read his statement aloud at a regularly scheduled board meeting. “I plan to continue living in this district. . . . I will vote for them and work for their election.”

Animosity to Remain

Despite Price’s decision to step down, it was immediately clear that his departure would not lower the level of animosity between top district officials and critics.

Only minutes after Price announced his resignation, Dawn Henry, an east-side resident and staunch foe of Price and the board, attacked the district’s business practices. Her comments prompted an angry retort by board member Jack Bagdasar, who ordered her to sit down when she talked beyond the three minutes allotted audience members.

“I don’t want to hear all the filth you keep portraying,” Bagdasar said.

Price has been at the center of a bitter, 2-year-old battle between the school board and the East Peninsula Educational Council, a parents’ group that has fought to keep Miraleste High School open. The board two years ago voted to close the east side school because of declining enrollment.

At the same time, Price and the board have fought a lawsuit that alleges the district lost more than $1.5 million by failing to get top dollar for surplus property and for selectively forgiving developer fees. Price and board members have denied any wrongdoing.

Three dissident candidates seeking election to the board--Peter Gardner, Barry Hildebrand and Maryanne Kipper--recently resigned from the group to run on a platform calling for Price’s ouster.

Henry and other members of the parents’ group asserted Tuesday that board members, by accepting Price’s resignation, wanted to deflect criticism from themselves just weeks before the election.

Denied Allegation

Younggren, the board president, denied the allegation.

“The board did not consider this move based on anything that is political,” he said. “I think it is unfair to say, ‘This is the way the board is trying to shake off Jack Price so they can win.’ ”

Hildebrand said Price’s resignation could hurt the insurgent candidates’ ability to emerge victorious in November.

“We have been saying, ‘He has to go,’ and so he is gone,” Hildebrand said. “It may have some influence (on voters), but I think we can still pin some of the rap on the board.”

Jon Knickerbocker, the district’s deputy superintendent, will serve as acting superintendent when Price leaves at the end of the week. Board members are negotiating a severance agreement with Price, Younggren said.

Price, 58, informed the board two weeks before Monday’s meeting that he planned to resign. Younggren said no board member had asked Price to leave and said he knew of no member who had attempted to persuade him to stay. Price served as the district’s superintendent for almost seven years.

“I think the board realizes he is really worn down,” he said.

In his statement, Price said that over the last two years, he had “taken more personal abuse than any person--let alone a dedicated public servant with 37 years of exemplary service--should have to take.” Price began his career as an educator in 1952 as a seventh-grade teacher in Michigan.

Miss the Friendship

Price said he will miss the friendship of colleagues and friends who supported him the past two years and “stood shoulder-to-shoulder against unwarranted and undeserved attacks, innuendo, lies (and) outrageous, vicious and untrue charges. . . . “

“If my leaving can galvanize this community to take action finally against those forces in the district who wish to destroy it, it will not be an action taken in vain,” Price said.

After Price read his statement, board members unloaded on their critics.

Younggren said the district had been “exposed to some of the basest form of human behavior.” Another member, Joseph Sanford, his voice cracking with emotion, said the “whole process has been devastating.”

“It is so easy to throw rocks, it is so easy to judge somebody,” Sanford said.

Several critics said later that the board, by attacking them, was attempting to draw attention away from the real issues confronting the school system.

“It’s outrageous,” said Jan McAuley, a co-plaintiff in the lawsuit filed against the district. “It is the typical defense. If you are guilty, the best offense is to attack the messenger.”

Said Henry: “They are trying to take the focus away from the real issues, which are the millions of dollars they have wasted.”

The search for a permanent replacement for Price is expected to take three or four months, district officials said.