Alum Rock board's history may hinder search for chief

Trustees again at center stage

Coach controversy underscores board's feuding, residents say

By Molly Dugan, Sacramento Bee, June 3, 2005

Something about the Center Unified School District makes it a lightning rod for controversy.

A small, unassuming school district - one of the oldest in California - it's tucked into the northern reaches of Sacramento County. Largely middle-class, the district has a generally harmonious, ethnically diverse student population with a history of strong academic performance. Center High School has championship sports teams and award-winning newspapers and yearbooks.

But the 6,398-student district often seems in disarray. And residents say they have a good idea why: feuding school boards.

A deadlocked school board will again take center stage tonight when it meets to reconsider its vote last month to dismiss popular head football coach Digol J'Beily.

The Center High coach failed to get three of the five trustee votes May 18 that he needed to keep the job. The vote was 2-2 with one abstention - a trustee who is the coach's father-in-law.

Board members who support J'Beily said trustee Scott Rodowick had never forgiven him for not naming his son starting quarterback three years earlier and that he had a personal vendetta.

The ensuing uproar resulted in three student demonstrations, mass resignations of coaches and student activity advisers, and a recall drive against Rodowick.

The controversy is about more than the sudden ousting of a well-liked coach, some trustees and teachers said. To them, the latest brouhaha is symptomatic of a board that has long been troubled by infighting and feuds.

"This is just the latest incarnation," said teacher Bob Eason, who resigned as athletic director after the coach's dismissal. "I don't care what you bring up anymore. If it goes to the board, there's going to be an argument."

Even trustees acknowledge that student achievements are overshadowed by board battles.

The state's Academic Performance Index in 2004 was 739 for the entire district, and 718 for Center High School. The district has the highest API scores in north Sacramento County. The statewide average is 693.

Now, resignations of 30 coaches and student advisers from their extracurricular posts have put the board on the spot.

"Over the years, the board has had these arguments, and this is what it has finally come to," said Libby Williams, who voted in favor of J'Beily and has been trying to negotiate a compromise. "This back and forth badgering, this hatred. It can destroy people."

Teri Ferguson, who voted against J'Beily, said that although she doesn't view the board as being particularly contentious, she is concerned about trustees not respecting each other's opinions in the J'Beily case.

"It didn't turn out the way whomever wanted it, and now we're in the mess we're in," she said.

Administrators and trustees say they are focusing on education, and that the board's conflicts don't affect the classroom.

They're wrong, Eason said. "It enters into everything that happens here," he said. "So much time, so much energy is spent on getting alliances, I don't know how much open-mindedness there is anymore."

Some students said they are angry with the bickering board. "They need to mature," said junior Mikayla Barvour. "They need to decide why they're here - to make the schools better or for their own personal benefit?"

At graduation ceremonies Thursday at Memorial Auditorium, some boos were heard during the introductions of Rodowick and Ferguson.

Earlier, Varinda Thongpet was signing yearbooks on the last day of school. She said she wanted to play football next year - but only if J'Beily were reinstated.

Board controversy flared about five years ago, when transgender teacher Dana Rivers was fired in 1999 on a 3-2 vote for speaking to her classes about her sex change.

"We're just a little district out in the middle of nowhere that most people have never heard of before this," said Raymond Bender, who can't vote on his son-in-law's behalf. "Unfortunately, our reputation to the outside world is currently Digol. In the past, it was Dana Rivers."

Former trustee Ronald Hodges, who served from 1996 to 2000, said the board has long been dysfunctional and that the latest controversy isn't about the coach or Rodowick, but about trustees who can't get along.

"This is not a surprise," Hodges said. "What is a surprise is that a small group of very loyal voters allow this contentiousness year after year by electing the same people."

Former Center High Principal Steve Wehr said the board has long had difficulty coming together when faced with controversy. Trustees never really recovered from some of the conflicts of the past, he said.

"Something like this has roots and reasons for it," he said. "Some of the concerns … have been part of the history of the school district for a long while."

Wehr said a conflicted school board sends a mixed message to employees about the direction in which the district is headed.

Some parents worry that district leaders are distracted by the dispute. "It takes focus away from the important issues - the academics, what the students are there for," said Suzanne Swartz, a member of the Center High Cougars Booster Club. "It negatively impacts the school."

Some teachers said Rodowick has tried to get staff members removed from the school before J'Beily. They say the staff is becoming increasingly cynical as board conflicts bubble beneath the surface of the district.

Board member Nancy Anderson, who voted in favor of J'Beily, said Rodowick's attacks on employees hurt them and students.

"The abuse of power that Mr. Rodowick has consistently shown has got to stop," said Anderson. "This is a bigger issue than Digol J'Beily. With past attacks on employees, they feel like who's next?"

Rodowick said trustees have the right to vote differently and that they should all come together to find common ground. He maintains his votes are based on the interests of parents and students, not a personal vendetta.

"Ninety-eight or 99 percent of our votes have been the same," Rodowick said. "There have only been two major issues in the last five years: one, the Dana Rivers situation and now it's Coach J'Beily. Otherwise, I think we've pretty well done what's best for our school district."

The California School Boards Association has gotten involved in the past, trying to facilitate cooperation among trustees. The board also has held several workshops about communication and working together.

Williams wonders if they've done any good.

"You have to separate your personal feelings," Williams said. "You are there for one thing. That's to take care of these students."

Bender said he's frustrated that no resolution has been found to the J'Beily dispute and that trustees have such difficulty coming to a consensus. He admits that he's "bumped heads" with Rodowick in their nearly 10 years on the board together.

"You almost get to the point where you forget when it started and why it started," Bender said.

School leaders and district trustees said they hope the board can come to a resolution at tonight's meeting and get the school back to normal.

"It would be really nice to just for once to put some of this stuff behind everybody and move on," Eason said. "But that never seems to be one of the options."

District chiefs hard to find in stormy times

School board politics, long hours scare educators away

By Jean Cowden Moore, Ventura County Star, February 27, 2006

How does this job sound? You'll be the leader of a school district where you'll work with challenging bosses, conflicting political agendas, convoluted federal regulations, shrinking budgets and a demanding public. Plan on long hours and a short tenure.

If it doesn't sound appealing, you're not alone. That job description doesn't appeal much to a growing number of educators who once may have aspired to being a school superintendent but now are balking at moving into management.

Over the past few years, the job of superintendent has become so demanding that school districts are having a tough time finding qualified candidates to fill the job.

Parents demand recall of Pomona school board members

PUSD under fire at forum

By Sara A. Carter, Daily Bulletin, March 15, 2006

Pomona parents demanded Tuesday night that four of five school board members be recalled in response to the board's decision to select a new superintendent from current district administrators.

The parents also contended that the district is mired in corruption and scandal. One by one, parents scolded school board members about the board's decision to exclude the community from participating in an internal investigation into the district's involvement in the federal E-Rate program.

A federal audit found the district culpable in February for $2.3 million in ineligible funding for laptop computers.

Andrew Wong, the only member to reject both decisions made by the board at the last meeting, was not included in the notice to recall.

"We feel disenfranchised, incredibly discouraged and we are frustrated by the ongoing lack of representation by the school board," said Roberta Perlman-Hensen, a parent who organized the notice to recall. "The children are the least represented in this community. There is nothing that is more frustrating than seeing children who are the innocent victims in this situation."

Thomas Manning, a parent of two students at Diamond Ranch High School, delivered the notice-to-recall message to surprised board members.

"I'm horrified by some of the things taking place in this district," Manning said. "I believe that the time has come for a new direction."

Manning said Tuesday night's notice to recall was the only action left for the community.

The members listed on the notice are longtime member and president Nancy J. McCracken, John J. Avila, Candelario J. Mendoza and Richard L. Rodriguez. Manning delivered individual notices to each one, along with the reasons for the action.

Earlier this month, Superintendent Patrick Leier announced he would leave the district at the end of his contract. The decision came one month after a federal investigation by auditors concluded that the district misspent federal funding for 460 laptop computers in 2001.

The district and the vendor have been asked by the federal government to repay the funds.

Board member Mendoza blamed the Daily Bulletin for demonizing the district and its employees and vendors.

"We can pay off the $1.6 million for the computers," he said. "It will not be a problem and we would own the computers."

Leier, 57, who has offered to stay on until a replacement is found, responded to the recall with stoicism. While the other four both vehemently defended him and insulted audience members, he said nothing in his own behalf.

At one point, the audience booed loudly when Avila told Perlman-Hensen, "There's an oxymoron - Hensen and positives, in the same sentence."

Wong once again called for a community investigation into the E-rate matter, and did not back down, even though at the last school board meeting Leier said that any investigation by the district should not be open to parents.

Wong added that he believed it was the school board's responsibility to look outside as well as inside the district for a new superintendent as a way of ensuring the parents that the district is serious about finding the best possible candidate.

He also expressed dismay at the board's majority decision not to include the community in the committee to review the E-Rate issue. Pomona Unified received nearly 90 percent of its costs for Internet connectivity from the federal government. The money, from E-rate, is gained from a fee placed on every telephone in the nation and then dispersed to schools based on the district's income status.

Board president McCracken and member Avila, both longtime supporters of Leier, said they are hoping to find a new superintendent similar to Leier and would stand by the superintendent's advice not to include the community in any investigation.

His recommendation had been that three district employees should review the district's purchase of 460 laptop computers which were deemed ineligible under E-Rate rules, after a Daily Bulletin investigation.

To the parents, that is part of the problem.

"The school board doesn't answer to the community," Hensen said. "The school board only answers to Patrick Leier. It's been going on for years, and we hope something will change for the sake of the school district."

Interested in Selection Process for L.A. Unified Chief?

Too Bad

By Bob Sipchen , Los Angeles Times, August 14, 2006

Sooner or later seven people whose names you probably don't know will appoint someone to Southern California's most important public position. Until then, they will tell you nothing about whom they're considering to replace soon-to-depart Supt. Roy Romer. And if you don't like the person the Los Angeles Unified School District's Board of Education ultimately selects to take charge of the 720,000 students in its care?

Move.

Don't move to Boston, though, because that school district has its own superintendent problem — which may or may not have something to do with the fact that the same headhunter is conducting top-secret supe searches for both cities.

Boston's case is interesting. The district had a full year's warning that Supt. Thomas Payzant was retiring. Officials had intended to replace him by his June 30 departure. But the process went sideways. A recent Education Week article quotes one person who says the situation is "in limbo" and another who says it's "in chaos." No one thinks there will be a new supe before January.

Edward Hamilton, whose firm is recruiting for both Boston and Los Angeles, downplayed his East Coast problems. He blames setbacks not on himself or the search committee or district administrators or the candidates, but rather on the Boston Globe's naming of five reputed finalists "without the authorization of the search committee."

Four of the five people mentioned by the Globe instantly wilted in the spotlight and now say they aren't interested — and, to show how muddy things can get without the light of public scrutiny, two of those say they never were.

Elizabeth Reilinger, a Boston school board member and chairwoman of the search committee there, echoes almost everyone in the incestuous world of district administration in saying that the clandestine approach is essential for big districts hoping to attract the best candidates.

Why? Because most people belonging to this rarefied breed don't want the people currently paying them to know they're looking for better gigs.

Ramon Cortines, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's new education czar, has run a bunch of big school districts, including Los Angeles. "If someone is interested in this job," he says, "they should really want it and be able to say, 'Hey, look at me.' "

Los Angeles' school board has a different take. It has decided that massaging job candidates' delicate sensibilities trumps parents' and teachers' and students' right to information about the selection of a public figure who will have a tremendous impact on their lives.

"The only name that will ever be made public is the name of the person appointed," Hamilton says.

Will details of the search enter the public record?

"There's no reason for that," he says.

Hamilton gets annoyed as our conversation goes into a loop, with me asking how the public is supposed to decide whether he has really turned up 100 or so crackerjack candidates and whether the search committee is winnowing that list down to a wondrous handful without, say, pushing through a board member's brother-in-law or discriminating against the left-handed. The essence of his repeated response: Trust us.

Bostonians, alas, must be lacking in trust, because officials there have at least given the public the courtesy of trotting out finalists for public scrutiny.

This can be good.

This spring, for instance, news reports pointed out that the search committee's screeners for Cleveland had overlooked the fact that one of their five finalists, then-Pasadena schools Supt. Percy Clark, had years earlier OD'd on prescription drugs after the disclosure of an affair with an elementary school principal while running an Indiana district. The board was embarrassed.

But there is potential for more serious consequences in choosing someone who's not up to a superintendent's job stresses — as a Cleveland student discovered in 1985 when he entered a high school stairway and found the corpse of a superintendent who'd shot himself after complaining about "petty politics."

Risks aside, the national trend is toward less transparency in superintendent selection. More districts are taking Los Angeles' approach and telling people it's none of their business.

I can see why this exemption from accountability makes board members, headhunters and other inside-the-cult elites happy.

And who can blame these very special type of candidates for acting as if they're entitled to parasol-wielding bodyguards, given fawning educrats' eagerness to treat them with the delicacy that pop divas demand.

Look, for instance, at former New York Supt. Rudolph Crew. Even though then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani had fired him, several districts went all out in wooing Crew. Miami finally prevailed in the courtship by offering a contract that sounds as persnickety as those rock-star demands of "No brown M&M's in the dressing room."

In addition to a salary that with all possible bonuses could hit $479,700 for 2006-07, Crew also gets a new car every two years — it must be the equivalent of a Crown Victoria — and a $14,400 yearly expense account, the Miami Herald reported. The district also handed him $40,000 in moving expenses, and Miami's business community tossed in a $240,000 home-buying loan that might be forgiven over time.

For his part, Crew told me recently that he's not in the running for the L.A. job.

But who knows? One of these days the board may send up Vatican-like smoke and announce that it won his heart by upping the ante with a yearly Lamborghini.

I just hope I haven't frightened him away by recklessly printing his name.

Troubled School District Faces Another Recall Vote

By Gregory W. Griggs, Los Angeles Times, August 19, 2006

The embattled Rio School District has had its share of political squabbles.

In the last three years, a veteran superintendent was fired for pushing a pro-bilingual education agenda, another resigned under pressure, and a vitriolic but ultimately unsuccessful campaign was launched to recall two school board members.

And the district's troubles are not over yet.

3 Rio School Board Members Recalled

A grass-roots effort ousts the former majority, which OKd a $1.4-million settlement for one superintendent, forced another to leave

By Gregory W. Griggs, Los Angeles Times, August 24, 2006

A grass-roots campaign aimed at reshaping the troubled Rio School District claimed victory this week as voters recalled a majority of the school board.

Less than 14% of the city's 10,675 registered voters cast ballots in Tuesday's special election, ousting board President Simon Ayala and colleagues Eve Acosta and Ken Ortega. The board members oversaw the Oxnard-based district of 4,100 students, most of them Latino.

"We didn't even get out of the starting gate," Ayala said Wednesday. "We had a really low turnout. Only 1,486 people voting is horrible, and 943 of them were absentee."

Based on preliminary results, Ayala will be replaced by Robert W. Guillen, a production manager for an Oxnard manufacturer; Acosta will be succeeded by Tim Blaylock, chief professional officer of the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Oxnard and Port Hueneme; and Ortega's seat goes to Brian E. Martin, an electrician and maintenance worker at a wastewater treatment plant in Goleta.

Organizers of the recall campaign said voters blamed Ayala, a veteran of the five-member board, and Acosta and Ortega for the forced departure earlier this year of a popular superintendent, Patrick Faverty, and for agreeing to spend $1.4 million to settle a lawsuit with his predecessor, Yolanda Benitez.

"For me, this was a battle of ideas on how to run the district and a disagreement about money," said Mike Stubblefield, who helped spearhead the recall. "In my view, the 'Rio Trio' did not need to give Yolanda Benitez $1.4 million and they did not have to fire Dr. Faverty."

Benitez, 55, was fired in June 2003 after being accused of pushing a pro-bilingual education agenda, among other things.

The recalled board members, who formed a majority, voted in March to pay Benitez $741,000 for back wages and wrongful termination. She also received full medical coverage until she turns 65 and attorney's fees of $690,000.

"You could say the [board majority] lost their nerve and decided to settle … or you could say it was a gift, or theft, depending on your point of view," said Stubblefield, who is suing the ousted board members and the district in an effort to invalidate the Benitez settlement.

The newly elected board members, who will take office next month, said they are eager to polish the district's image in the community, get its finances in order and work with newly hired Supt. Sherianne Cotterell, an administrator from Northern California, to improve educational opportunities.

"The main goal is to make the school district a much happier and content place," Blaylock said. "It's been in crisis mode for a long time."

Martin said the new board members campaigned on a promise to make district business open and accessible and planned to encourage more parent participation.

Guillen, a native of the Rio district whose father once served on the school board, said he wants to help return stability to the district.

Acosta said there were numerous misrepresentations during the campaign and criticized her opponents for suggesting to some who signed the recall petitions that the effort was to support keeping Faverty at the district. The board majority complained that Faverty had not informed them about key decisions involving the budget and other matters.

"This is a politically motivated action against someone who only wanted to do the right thing," Acosta said. "This was a vendetta."

Ayala said court rulings that found Benitez had been denied a chance to have her performance evaluated in a public forum and have her lawyer present during a closed-door meeting made a settlement the only logical option.

"To me, there was a lot of confusion" among voters, Ayala said. "I'm not going to cry sour grapes. I've been here for 12 years."

Because his term expires in less than three months, Ayala's name will appear on the Nov. 7 ballot, along with Guillen and incumbents Henrietta Macias and Ron Mosqueda. Ayala said Wednesday that he doesn't intend to actively campaign.

Ortega, Oxnard's public works director, was philosophical about being recalled in the middle of his four-year term.

"I've got a full-time job and a half. I have a wife and two daughters who'll be glad to have more time to spend with me," said Ortega, who also is president of a Rotary Club chapter and involved in softball. "I'm not bitter … I wish the new board and the new superintendent the best."

Capistrano Unified loses designated superintendent

A Troubled O.C. school district's executive resigns before starting job, citing 'persistent' problems

By David Haldane, Los Angeles Times, May 31, 2007

The man selected to become superintendent of the troubled San Juan Capistrano Unified School District has backed out of the deal, officials said Wednesday.

Dennis M. Smith, who had been expected to assume his duties July 1, said in a letter to the district's board that he had reconsidered taking the position because of "uncertainty and instability" facing the district.

"I have looked forward to working with the current board members to establish a new vision that enables the district to move forward," Smith wrote. "That optimistic view was based on the presumption that several legal controversies and leadership challenges facing the district had been resolved…. However, there are indications that these problems may persist for well into the future."

Smith, currently superintendent of the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District, was named in March to replace longtime Supt. James A. Fleming, who resigned in August after a 15-year tenure marred by controversies.

Trustees write out a wish list

By Maureen Magee, San Diego Union, October 31, 2007

SAN DIEGO – They want someone who can educate, delegate and communicate. They want a visionary who works well with others.

The San Diego school board has issued criteria for its next superintendent and it's asking for high standards, politically correct thinking and efficient management.

California's second-largest school district has no plans to hire an aggressive change agent such as former U.S. Attorney Alan Bersin, who held the post from 1998 to 2005. And the low-key approach exemplified by Bersin's successor, Carl Cohn, is out.

Cohn leaves Dec. 31. Trustees say they hope to find a successor before then.

The criteria approved Monday includes more than two dozen qualities that lack detail.

For example, the board wants a superintendent who believes that all students can learn. They want someone who celebrates diversity and communicates effectively with staff members and parents. And they also want a leader who will work to close the chronic achievement gap between white students and some of their minority counterparts.

Among the few specifics included in the criteria is someone who has experience as a superintendent and who believes the district ought to partner with charter and private schools, as well as universities. The board also would like a Spanish speaker and someone who has been a teacher and principal.

The next superintendent should also encourage families to get involved in schools.

The criteria is based on earlier workshops and was assembled by a consultant hired to assist in the job search. But the school board, which has earned a reputation for micro-managing, could barely agree Monday on where to put commas and periods in a memo detailing the criteria.

“This is ridiculous,” said board president Luis Acle, who suggested that trustees were sending a dangerous signal to candidates. “Here we are, micro-managing our consultant and telling them what way to word something.”

The board has scheduled a flurry of meetings related to the job hunt, including a Nov. 20, and possibly 21, workshop to set professional goals for the superintendent.

A Nov. 26 workshop has been set for the interview process and the final stage of the search. The board will also be presented with a slate of candidates for interviews.

Interviews with the candidates will take place Nov. 27 and 28. Semifinalists will be identified the following day, and interviews will take place Dec. 2-4.

The board hopes to identify a finalist Dec. 10.

School head's resume riddled with falsehoods

Hopeful district hired experienced administrator who claimed positions he never held, degrees he never earned

By Nanette Asimov, San Francisco Chronicle, September 3, 2008

The choice of veteran educator Stephen J. Wesley to run Emeryville schools last spring was meant to signal a new beginning for the tiny East Bay district still in recovery from bankruptcy and scandal earlier this decade.

His calm demeanor and years of experience convinced the school board that Wesley was the best of 27 applicants vetted for the $150,000 position by the California School Boards Association's executive search firm.

It says he holds a Ph.D, but he doesn't. It says he earned a master's in theology and philosophy, which he didn't. Less blatant are exaggerated job titles and responsibilities in places Wesley really did work.

"I take responsibility for whatever needs to be cleared up," Wesley told The Chronicle. "There is no mean-spiritedness, and no viciousness in these issues."

Missing from his resume is any reference to Wesley's jobs as superintendent and assistant superintendent in Pennsylvania, where he lost his certificate in 1995 for falsifying his resume.

In 2002, Wesley was turned down for reinstatement of the certificate when the Pennsylvania Professional Standards and Practices Commission found "a continuing pattern of misconduct," including a "false representation that he obtained special education certification in California."

His current resume lists no doctorate, yet a bold "Ph.D" follows his name in its header. His district business card lists the degree after his name, and when he sends an e-mail, the name displayed is "Stephen J. Wesley, Ph.D."

It's enough to confuse his colleagues and the public. A Chronicle reporter was recently admonished by an Emery Unified administrator to call Wesley "Dr.," not "Mr." And an announcement of his hiring so strongly implies that Wesley earned a doctorate from Columbia University that an East Bay reporter was fooled last spring into saying so in print. Columbia says Wesley took summer courses there nine years ago.

Nor does Wesley have a master's from the University of Chicago's Jesuit School of Theology, as he claims on his resume.

The same resume says Wesley was a Fellow at Harvard University's Principals' Center in 1987. Harvard said it can find no record of Wesley being there.

And the Kennedy Foundation in Washington, D.C., said it had no record of Wesley receiving a "Leader of the Year" award, as claimed on an information sheet released by the Emery district.

In acknowledging that he does not hold the master's in theology and philosophy, Wesley, 57, said he has "probably the equivalent of that in terms of the number of hours I sat in on classes. This is without any matriculation."

Master's in 1977

Wesley does have a master's degree in school administration from the University of Dayton, awarded in 1977, and a bachelor's from DePaul University, earned in 1974. He also took a post-master's level "educational specialist" degree in 1986 from Saint Louis University.

Wesley also has worked for charter-school companies in San Francisco and Albuquerque; in the Arizona Division of Developmental Disabilities; at the Kennedy Institute; and as a superintendent, assistant superintendent, and high school principal.

In 2007, Wesley was vice president for education at Leadership Public Schools, a San Francisco charter school company, when Emery hired him to be an assistant superintendent. But some claims made to Leadership also appear to be problematic.

"He has been a distinguished faculty member at New Mexico State University," Leadership announced in 2004. The university told The Chronicle he never worked there.

Nor can the California Department of Education find evidence that Wesley worked there, as claimed in his Leadership resume. Unified school board president Joshua Simon was taken aback when told of the discrepancies by a reporter.

"I'm certainly surprised," he said. "The (search firm) CSBA did background checking for our applicants. None of this came up."

Emery Unified has just two schools and about 800 students, most of whom are from low-income families. The state took over in 2001 after Emery went bankrupt. That year, Superintendent J.L. Handy faced charges of using district money for personal expenses, and several trustees were recalled. The district emerged from bankruptcy in 2003.

'He has an impact'

Wesley has "brought a knowledge of school operations, and a calm presence that earns the respect of the kids," said Simon. "You can feel it. He has an impact."

At the same time, Wesley, who oversees Emery Unified's $14 million budget, has had five state and federal tax liens placed on him in four states between 1990 and 2004. Ranging from $723 to $15,599, all but one appear to have been resolved by 2006.

Simon said he was disappointed to hear of Wesley's problems, but would give the school board a chance to study the issue in closed session today before drawing any conclusions.

Board member Kurt Brinkman said he was shocked at the discrepancies. He also expressed irritation with the California School Boards Association, which had combed through dozens of applications and recommended six candidates for the board to interview, including Wesley.

"We employed CSBA to do the background checks," he said. "We trusted them to do that."

The California School Boards Association has a good reputation for providing lower-cost searches, and about 30 districts have used them this year. Simon said Emery paid about $7,000 for its search.

Not its job

"It's the candidates' responsibility to be truthful in their application," he said.

Asked if verifying degrees is the search firm's responsibility, he said, "I don't know that it is."

For less than $40, The Chronicle checked four of Wesley's claimed degrees in just a few days.

The superintendent told The Chronicle that he added a Ph.D to his name because he expects to receive that degree in December from Madison University, where his dissertation proposal was accepted a few weeks ago.

An online school in Gulfport, Miss., Madison charged $4,200 for a Ph.D until recently, when it canceled the 24-month doctoral program, according to the admissions office.

Previous trouble

Wesley has been in trouble before for making false claims. Much of the history was detailed in the 2002 report from the Pennsylvania commission that refused to reinstate his certification.

That panel cited seven instances of falsification, including altering transcripts from Saint Louis University and the University of Dayton to show a Ph.D., and claiming he held special-education certification in California.

Another instance was reminiscent of Emery Unified's own history, in which former superintendent Handy had to pay back $32,000 he took from the district. Wesley, the panel found, hadn't disclosed to Pennsylvania education officials that he'd had to restore $8,000 he took in 1988 from a Colorado district where he was an administrator.

Today, Wesley describes himself as a "fairly quiet, gentle person, very committed to what's in the best interest of kids, and to urban schools."

"People make mistakes," he said.