Pertinent Questions for Pasadena Unified School District

GUEST OPINION

Several senior management staff have left PUSD in the last few months, and the superintendent is leaving June 30th despite a long list of accomplishments.

By Adrienne Ann Mullen

The natural question is why? Why the exodus of staff? Why is Dr. McDonald leaving when he had three years remaining on his contract and such an exemplary record?

The board has taken pains to make it appear that Dr. McDonald is resigning of his own free will. If that were really the case, the board wouldn’t be paying him over $300,000. There is a lack of honesty and transparency by the board. Despite these words being used regularly by the same board members, they are in fact pushing him out.

Termination of a contract in this manner is known as for convenience, rather than for cause. He didn’t receive an unsatisfactory evaluation as part of his annual performance review because the board didn’t conduct one that has specific goals, and a process of analyzing whether those goals were met or not.  It must be for some political reason leading to the expenditure of over $300,000 of district funds, thus paying two superintendents for the coming year. There will likely be significant other costs involved. Executive recruitment firms must be hired to conduct searches to fill the many empty positions that now have temporary leadership. This allows the board to find the right politically correct appointees for those positions.

Another question is who is managing the Measure O Bond Facilities Program now that Dr. Leslie Barnes has left after being micromanaged by Board Member Kim Kenne? (Dr. Barnes just got hired as the new associate superintendent of business services at Fontana Unified). The board appointed Kingsley Udo as Interim Chief Business Officer at its last meeting, but Dr. Barnes’ position also included oversight of facilities, which is not in Mr. Udo’s new position title.

Dr. Adrienne Ann Mullen is a former PUSD Board of Education Member.