So they convene a special public meeting with just 24 hours notice, boot the superintendent of the county’s largest school district days before Christmas, then refuse to say precisely why.
“Please investigate and report on the reasons and make sure this was not political!” folks asked us, which made us spit out our coffee.
Officially, the Capistrano Unified School District’s board “released” Superintendent Kirsten Vital Brulte from her contract without cause last week, effective Dec. 31. We have contacted every board member by phone and/or email, suggesting this is a rather important bit of public business and folks have a right to know why they did this. Some board members were gracious enough to get back to my colleague Erika Ritchie and me, but the answers went something like, “If we told you, we’d have to kill you.”
Capistrano Unified Trustee Judy Bullockus, who with trustees Lisa Davis and Gila Jones, opposed “releasing” Vital Brulte (doesn’t it sound like she was held captive against her will?!), described the board majority’s decision as “a vote of no confidence in the skill set they think she has for going forward with the vision for the district.”
Hmm.
Others said the couldn’t speak because of confidentiality rules about personnel matters. Michael Parham, Amy Hanacek, Gary Pritchard and Krista Castellanos were the board majority who voted to release Vital Brulte.
“As you know, personnel matters are highly delicate, so I will not be providing any additional information about the rationale behind this decision,” said Parham by email.
Okay.
We also left messages for the released superintendent, trying to get her view on things, but she didn’t respond. It’s possible she’s been asked to avoid public comment as part of a severance deal. Breaking her contract (which ran through 2026) means Capistrano Unified taxpayers will fork over some $550,000 to Vital Brulte to ease the shock. (If you paid me a half-million dollars there’s a good chance I’d shut up as well, though at least one of my editors highly doubts that).
We promptly filed public records requests with the district to try to shed light on these events — thanks, district folks, for taking that request over the winter break — but it will likely be some time before we get those records.
So let’s just look at what’s in front of our noses, shall we?
First, there is no such thing as a governing body that is free of politics, and that is doubly and triply true for school boards in our current post-pandemic, critical-race-theory, anti-vax mandate, “parents’ rights,” masks-suffocate-children era.
Also, South Orange County has long been a bastion of vaccines-are-for-others thinking, and state data showed that just 88.9% of Capo kindergarteners had received required childhood vaccinations for the likes of polio and measles, mumps and rubella. The state says that metric makes many of Capo’s schools “more vulnerable” to outbreaks of preventable diseases. Granted, the data is a couple of years old (state officials said fresh numbers would be posted by the end of the year, which gives them a few more hours) and some of Capo’s elementary schools were nearly 100% up-to-date on mandatory vaccinations. But a couple of Capo Unified schools were less than 60% up to date, vaccine-wise, which makes them officially “code red” in the state’s eyes.
Finally, the superintendent had to explain to the board that the district is required to follow the state’s rules on vaccines and COVID rules and everything else.
So, who’s surprised by her ouster?
Over the past two years, boisterous crowds have jammed Capo Unified board meetings denouncing mask mandates. Some students have tried to enter classrooms without face coverings (and were sent home with unexcused absences). Hundreds of pairs of shoes appeared at protests, allegedly representing Capo Unified students who would walk out over COVID-19 vaccine mandates. In March, a board member proposed ditching the state’s mask requirement entirely, while another (Pamela Braunstein) actually resigned, alarmed by her colleagues’ anti-COVID-safety bent.
The whole “parents’ rights” movement — which, far as I can tell, seeks to put parental opinions and desires ahead of expert advice — seems to have a better-than-average foothold in O.C. The Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District banned critical race theory, prompting CSU Fullerton to pull student teachers from its classrooms. The conservative Orange County Board of Education repeatedly (and unsuccessfully) sued the governor over pandemic-related mandates and his emergency order. The battles between that elected OC Board of Ed and elected Superintendent Al Mijares have been epic, expensive and, some might argue, completely unproductive.
At some $550,000 — we’re still waiting on the official numbers from the district, but that’s our rough calculation for 18 month of severance pay as per the former superintendent’s contract — ditching Vital Brulte may end up being cheap. But, as the board starts its search for her replacement, it may find that the cost of the latest political battles will be dear indeed.
We’ll let you know when we get the records. Until then, feel free to weigh in with any wisdom.
