Embattled former superintendent Bob Nuñez made a surprise appearance in front of the East Side Union High School District’s Board of Trustees last night, publicly announcing that he thinks the district needs to address issues of fraud and intimidation within their own board and administration.
Nuñez was unceremoniously ousted by the board last October in a swirl of controversy and accusations that he had abused district money and vacation time. He was cleared of these charges last week when outside auditor Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team (FCMAT) released a report stating that he was guilty of no wrongdoing.
After pointing out that he was glad the FCMAT report finally cleared his name, Nuñez launched into a speech that raised concerns about the board’s own practices.
“Back about two years ago, I had concerns in regard to activities within the facilities department. Those were brought to me by board members, they were brought to me by community members and my staff. They all were talking about how contracts were given out,” Nuñez said during the public comment period.
He said he looked into the matter and called a meeting with two current board members and the associate superintendent of facilities, Alan Garofalo.
“In those meetings, there was an attempt on the part of the board members to try to repair our relationship, and I indicated that really was not this issue,” Nuñez said. “The issue was, as I see it, exactly what is pointed out in the FCMAT report. That contracts were given out and bids were not provided, and we could not explain why certain persons had gotten contracts with us.
“I’m not here to say that there was fraud. What I am here to say is that I believe there needs to be further review recommended within the FCMAT report.”
While at the dais, Nuñez also raised concerns about intimidation of district staff—another issue dealt with in the report.
When he was finished speaking, most of the 20-some audience members in the boardroom broke into applause.
Last night’s special emergency board meeting comes one week after the release of the third in a series of audits on the District’s practices.
The final FCMAT report, which was paid for by the Santa Clara Country Office of Education, found Nuñez not guilty of any fiscal illegalities. Instead, the 30-page report placed blame on the District’s five member Board of Trustee’s themselves for mismanagement. It states that the 25,000-student school district suffers from a climate of “mistrust and intimidation,” and that the district “lacks internal control systems.”
He said he felt compelled to bring these issues to the board now in hopes that they would look into what he sees as the district’s real problem. After the meeting, Alan Garofalo, associate superintendent of student services and facilities for the district, declined to comment.
Board Clerk Patricia Martinez-Roach said she was shocked by the FCMAT report’s findings.
“I’m very very very disgusted that we have people who have been awarded contracts without bidding processes, and with favoritism. I mean, it’s all right here,” Martinez-Roach said. “We should all be embarrassed by this.”
During the board’s discussion, Martinez-Roach said she was “puzzled” by the board’s decision to call an emergency meeting to discuss the FCMAT report on such short notice. Tuesday’s special meeting was officially announced and posted Monday afternoon. Board president Eddie Garcia said that the trustee’s legally needed to respond to FCMAT’s report within 14 days. The district received the FCMAT report on Jan. 29, he said.
The FCMAT report will be formally presented to the board by County Superintendent of Schools Charles Weis at the Feb. 18 Trustee’s meeting.
Weis sat at the back of the boardroom during last night’s meeting. He declined to comment officially, but told San Jose Inside he was there to observe and would be making all of his official comments when he presents the FCMAT report to the board on Feb. 18.
“None of what [Nuñez] said is news,” said Wendy Stegeman, East Side Teachers Association’s rep at Andrew Hill High School, after the meeting. “A lot of it is known around the district. It’s been going on for a long time.”
Nunez never attack people who may oversee your community service.
Or be fellow cellmates
I do not understand your comment in this post? If three separate reports done at considerable expense and over a long period of time have shown Mr. Nunez to be completely without guilt of anything at all, then why do you imply he will be going to a jail cell? What do you know that these people do not know?
If you have a serious accusation to make and evidence to support it, then why did you not bring it to the attention of the authorities that were responsible for the investigation(s) and who ultimately prepared three, expensive, thorough reports showing him completely innocent of any wrongdoing?
How many reports clearing him will need to be done and released to the public to satisfy you?
Instead, why not ask why Nunez would go out of his way and allow himself to be in the spotlight again simply for the purpose of exposing the dishonest practices of this poorly managed school district, the same district that for a year has maligned him relentlessly, ruthlessly and with utter contempt for his rights as a hard working administrator with a stellar reputation prior to this nightmare?
These so called public servants went after him with a vengeance, without concern for his good name and reputation, without the slightest concern for his family, his future career or his life. To say he was treated unfairly is the ultimate understatement. His treatment at the hands of his accusers was abysmal.
Now that he has been COMPLETELY VINDICATED, is he out there asking for an apology? Compensation beyond what was owed to him for the work he had completed? Is he flanked by flashy lawyers, twisting their greedy hands with glee as they threaten lawsuit upon lawsuit that could conceivably bankrupt the entire district? Wrongful termination, slander, liable, defamation of character. The list is endless.
No! He is not even asking for justice or a little fairness for himself. He is merely asking on behalf of the students, taxpaying citizens and employees of that district for an investigation of serious wrong doing that has merit and is actually supported by facts! What a concept?
Why is that so threatening to you, I wonder? Could you be one of those who is about to be exposed? If so, I suggest you worry about your own jail cell, not that of a man who has been proved innocent over and over again.
I suspect he will be just fine in spite of all that has been done to him. Some people are just that strong.
Just an isolated incident, folks.
Nothing more to see here.
Go back to your homes.
Patricia Martinez-Roachhas been ignorant and a poison to that board. It’s time for her to go.
The Merc published more than a dozen stories suggesting that Nunez was guilty—many of them on page one. The story about the report exonerating him was buried on page 19. Shame on them.