Embattled Supt. Nicoll to Resign : Schools: His Newport-Mesa district has been rocked by an embezzlement scandal, but he says he’s quitting for health reasons.

NEWPORT BEACH —  Supt. John W. Nicoll, who has been under pressure to step down as head of the beleaguered Newport-Mesa Unified School District, announced his resignation Saturday, citing old age and failing health.

Nicoll, 71, has served for 21 years as the top administrator of the Newport-Mesa district, which is now reeling from what is believed to be the largest embezzlement in California education history.

During his tenure, Nicoll hired and promoted Stephen A. Wagner, the school system’s former finance director who pleaded guilty earlier this month to looting district accounts of at least $3.5 million.

Although parent and teacher groups have during the past several weeks called for his ouster because of the Wagner scandal and other ongoing problems, Nicoll on Saturday said he was retiring only because of his health.

He spent several weeks in the hospital after undergoing quadruple bypass surgery in November, and is now suffering from a bleeding ulcer.

“My decision to retire, that’s based solely on my age and my health, not on any criticism whether fanciful or factual,” Nicoll said. “The illness that caused me to spend so much time in the hospital is stress-related. . . . The advice of three doctors is sufficient as far as I’m concerned.”

Newport-Mesa school board members said they have encouraged Nicoll to retire in order to quell criticism from the community, which has called for his departure as well as other high-ranking administrators.

At two recent school board meetings, hundreds of parents and teachers stormed the trustees, demanding the ouster of Nicoll and his two chief aides, acting Supt. Carol A. Berg and Assistant Supt. Thomas A. Godley.

The teachers also presented an overwhelming vote of no confidence in the same administrators and called for a national search for a new superintendent.

“I think this will take off some of the concerns the parents raised in terms of leadership,” said Martha Fluor, a school board member. “I still think the parents have some grave concerns, and we are trying to address those.”

Fluor described Nicoll’s decision as in the best interest of the school district, but she said that Nicoll knew that his contract might not have been renewed.

The school board is planning to have a public meeting on Jan. 6 with Dick Montgomery, a representative of the California School Boards Assn., to discuss the recruitment of a new superintendent.

Both Fluor, a newcomer to the school board, and Sherry Loofbourrow, who was elected in 1981, praised Nicoll’s years of service.

“He is so good at helping the school district ride through a crisis and come out stably focused on what’s right for the child and the classroom. . . . I would really like him to continue being superintendent,” Loofbourrow said.

She praised Nicoll for bringing computer technology to Newport-Mesa, developing a written educational philosophy for the district, and helping several campuses launch major planning and curriculum revisions.

In a two-paragraph statement he faxed to the seven-member school board Saturday afternoon, Nicoll said he will spend the next three months on medical leave, and then officially retire on April 2, 1993.

Born in Bellflower, Nicoll graduated from Whittier College, got a master’s degree from Claremont College and earned his doctorate at Columbia University. When he became superintendent of the Pacific Grove Unified School District in 1959, Nicoll, now of Newport Beach, was the youngest leader of a unified school district in California; he is now the oldest.

Before coming to Newport-Mesa in 1971, Nicoll led the Central High School District No. 2 in Long Island and the Vallejo Unified School District in Northern California.