For the fourth time in a year, the district attorney's office has rebuked a politically frayed south Orange County school district for violating the state's open meeting law -- this time for awarding a pay raise to its superintendent during a closed-door meeting.
The Orange County district attorney's office said it would not pursue sanctions against the Capistrano Unified School District, which has some of Southern California's most acclaimed schools, because the board later rescinded his contract and the district is having financial difficulties.
In the Sept. 2 report, which was made public Tuesday, prosecutors said they had considered taking legal action against the school board because it seemed "incapable or unwilling" to follow the law. But the district's financial shape and the fact that voters swept two school board members from office in a June recall weighed against it.
Thomas Russell, a spokesman for the recall group, said the district attorney's report lavished praise on the school district's new board majority, which was formed in the wake of the recent election.
"The reform trustees have done a tremendous public service by exposing the ongoing corruption -- which is why they were elected and given a mandate for change," Russell said.
But Sheila Benecke, one of the board members who was removed from office in the recall election, said the district attorney's investigation seemed filled with innuendo and misstatement.
"Very clearly, political pressure has been put on the district attorney and he is responding accordingly," she said. "It's nice not to have to be dealing with this stuff anymore."
School board member Mike Darnold, who says he won't seek reelection in November, said the investigation seemed redundant and that he has faith that the community will finally end the divisiveness that has plagued the district.
The district has been swamped by controversy and political turmoil in recent years. There have been investigations, recall elections and even a superintendent indicted on suspicion of misusing public funds.
"The life cycle for outrage is normally pretty short," said Mark Petracca, a UC Irvine political science professor. But in Capistrano Unified "the hits just keep on coming. In Orange County, they've certainly moved to the top of the class in terms of conflict."
