Rio Schools Settle Suit by Ex-Chief

After a lengthy and bitter legal battle, a split Rio School District board has agreed to a $1.4-million settlement with former Supt. Yolanda Benitez, who was fired nearly three years ago over allegations of mismanagement and an overly aggressive pro-bilingual agenda.

“It’s awful that we had to pay this amount of money, but it was necessary to stop the bleeding,” said school board President Simon Ayala, one of two panelists who voted against Benitez’s firing in June 2003. “Now we have to get back on track and move in a positive direction.”

The board voted 3 to 2 during a special meeting Monday night to pay Benitez nearly $381,000 to buy out her employment contract, which expires in June. In addition, Benitez will receive $325,000 to settle her wrongful-termination lawsuit, $35,000 in unused vacation pay and $690,000 for attorney fees and related courts costs. The district will also pay for her medical insurance until she turns 65.

“The issue was never to punish the school district,” said Benitez, 54, who served for eight years as superintendent of the Oxnard-area district of 4,000 students, many of whom are from working-class Latino families. “The issue was to right a wrong that was done to me. I feel happy that I can finally go on with my career.”

Benitez was fired after district officials accused her of pressuring or bribing parents to sign bilingual waivers, instructing faculty to prevent bilingual students from taking state proficiency tests, discriminating against white faculty members and hiding district files during a state audit.

The superintendent denied the allegations and later sued the district for wrongful termination. Benitez maintained that she was denied her right to have the board discuss her termination in public. She also accused board members of violating her constitutional rights and intentionally damaging her reputation.

Henrietta Macias, part of the board majority who voted to fire Benitez, said she was confident that the district could have persevered in the legal fight.

Macias said the current board majority -- which includes Ayala, Ken Ortega and Eve Acosta -- “didn’t bother to see the facts, didn’t see the devastation this will cause. It’s like [Benitez] won the lotto and didn’t even have to buy a ticket.”

But Ortega, elected after Benitez’s termination, said the district had paid about $365,000 in legal costs and made a wise choice to stem its losses. “While I’m not pleased with the magnitude of the settlement, for me it was basically a business decision,” Ortega said. “I didn’t feel as confident as some of my colleagues that we would have won” in court.

Board member Ron Mosqueda also voted against awarding the settlement.

Ortega and Ayala said the district had two chances to settle the case for less money but decided to pursue the matter, despite losing two major court rulings.

Shortly after Benitez was fired, the board had the chance to pay her for 18 months of her contract, about $200,000, Ortega said. A second opportunity came in October 2003, when the board rejected a tentative deal to settle the matter for about $395,000.