SANTA PAULA : Board Delays Plan to Remove Official

Trustees of the Santa Paula Elementary School District have backed off a plan to remove its appointed representative from the school district’s personnel commission after critics questioned the legality of the action.

In December, the board appointed Ofelia De La Torre to a three-year term on the commission, which serves as an independent watchdog over matters involving the district’s 170 non-teaching personnel.

In a letter sent to De La Torre on Tuesday, board President Janet Grant said the board was unhappy over the commission’s 2-1 vote June 22 to fire Personnel Director Barbara Miller at the conclusion of her six-month probationary period. The commission had hired Miller in December.

Supt. David Philips and Grant had each asked De La Torre to change her vote and support Miller, but De La Torre refused.

At Wednesday’s board meeting, De La Torre defended her right to vote her conscience.

“When I was appointed, I was never told that I was required to vote the way the board told me,” she said. “But the first time I don’t change a vote, I am threatened, making a mockery of the merit system rules as I know them.”

James Kelly, a director of the California School Personnel Commissioners Assn., testified that state courts consider personnel commissions to be independent and their members protected from arbitrary dismissal.

“Our legal counsel says you can’t rescind an action taken six months ago,” Kelly said.

Although Philips told the board that it was not bound by the government code sections cited by Kelly, the board voted unanimously Wednesday to delay its decision until members could be certain of the legal consequences.