By LESTER CHANG
Amid complaints over the release of a popular high school teacher who was replaced by a vice principal's daughter, several Fremont Union High School District trustees lashed out publicly at one another over allegations that the district fosters preferential hiring.
At a June 30 meeting, trustee Andrew Springmeyer charged that the board and Superintendent Mary Panucci's administration collaborated in adding family members and friends to the district's employment rolls during the last two years.
"I think we are operating in deception and collaboration, and I, for one, do not believe that there was an honest transaction here," Springmeyer said.
The latest example of the district's cronynism occurred when officials decided not to rehire temporary Cupertino High School English teacher Matt Whitlock and instead hire Susan Jensen, goddaughter of Principal Barbara Nunes, he said. Jensen is also the daughter of Homestead High School Vice Principal Gayle Jensen.
Springmeyer could not provide any other examples of unfair hiring practices in the district.
Board president Franklin Pelkey and board member Nancy Newton vehemently denied Springmeyer's charges. Each said the district's investigation into Whitlock's employment and dismissal was thorough, and that an accompanying district report, not released to the public, was unbiased.
"You have made a serious accusation," said Newton, sitting up in her seat and glaring at Springmeyer in the board room at the district office in Sunnyvale. "I ask you to prove it or withdraw it, because no collaboration or collusion has occurred."
Springmeyer's charge could further undermine the public's trust in the board and the district, warned some of the 20 parents, teachers and Cupertino High School students who attended the meeting.
Afterwards, board member Randy Okamura said the district and board have worked diligently to respond to public concerns. He said if some residents have lost faith in the school system, he would "deal with that."
Springmeyer leveled his accusation after fellow trustees defended the district's decision to let Whitlock go and hire Jensen.
Whitlock was voted one of the top teachers at Cupertino High during the 1995-96 school year, his first year of teaching. He's also credited by fellow teachers and by parents for reviving the speech and debate club.
Jensen, who has no professional teaching experience, worked as a student-teacher at Wilcox High School in the Santa Clara Unified School District.
During the heated exchange among board members, Springmeyer said the incident smacked of "borderline actions [by the district] without violating the law."
"The situation here is like concentric rings in the pond," he said, "with ... ethics in the middle rings and the law on the outside. And I see some of the practices in the district as having the heel on the edge of the ethics and the toe on the edge of the law ... and saying at no point have we crossed any boundaries."
He said he didn't like being part of a process that goes to the "borderline on every issue."
Newton said she would not let his charge pass. "You cannot make accusations against our characters," she said.
She said the board was "very tough" on Panucci's work in the investigation. Newton, Pelkey, Okamura and board member Homer Tong met in closed sessions to discuss the case, and none was a "party to anything illegal," she said.
Springmeyer said he didn't attend two meetings because he wanted to be able to talk about the matter publicly. If he had attended them, state law would have prevented him from doing that, he said.
Newton indicated he should have brought up his concerns earlier and that the board could have looked into them.
Springmeyer said he tried to bring up the matter of preferential hiring during a regular board meeting last month, but was abruptly told by Pelkey not to do so, apparently because of board meeting rules.
Newton added the board has worked on this issue and "it has been very painful."
The district's position that preferential hiring does not occur triggered calls from some audience members to oust Newton, Pelkey, Tong and Okamura. Those board members weren't immediately available for comment.
Ted Lewis, who will be a sophomore at Cupertino High this year, said he was "bewildered" when the nepotism charges surfaced.
Vanessa Schlueter, valedictorian for the 1996 graduating class at Cupertino High and bound for Harvard University this fall, said the charge saddened her "incredibly."
She wondered if the board and district had done a fair investigation.
"Have you really reviewed the circumstances?" she asked the board. "Can you look into all our eyes and say you think there were no unfair hiring practices occurring here. I don't think you can."
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, August 7, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.