By Sandra G. León

The San Diego County Board of Education listened intently at its meeting on Wednesday night as angry teachers and a school board member from San Ysidro accused the County Superintendent of intentionally railroading their district toward bankruptcy.
Four speakers accused San Diego County Office of Education (SDCOE) Superintendent Dr. Randolph E. Ward and his Assistant Superintendent Lora Duzyk of manipulating budget and financial projections to push the San Ysidro School District toward bankruptcy during a two-year period the County had oversight control of that district. The speakers demanded that Dr. Ward and Ms. Duzyk resign their posts.

“I am here today to request the immediate termination of Mr. Randy Ward and Ms. Laura Duzyk for their direct involvement of the institutional racism against the San Ysidro School District,” said Guillermina Sandez, President of the San Ysidro teachers’ union. “As teachers were forced to strike, Randy Ward and Lora Duzyk knowingly opposed public school funding to the most disenfranchised youth and one of the most impoverished communities,” Ms. Sandez added.

The friction stems from the County’s oversight of  San Ysidro’s budget from February 2013 to April 2015 during the time San Ysidro was in negative certification, a designation given by the County when a school district is in danger of running out of operating money. Every year, each of the county’s 42 school districts must submit their budgets for certification by the SDCOE. If a district is
in good financial health it receives a “Positive” certification, a “Qualified” certification if it may not meet its financial needs in the next school year, or a “Negative” certification if it projects a budget problem for the next two years.

“Randy Ward and his staff purposely hide money and forced a teachers’ strike when we really had the money all along,” commented Rodolfo Linares, a Board member from San Ysidro School District. “Therefore, Mr. Ward and Ms. Duzyk I am charging you with institutional racism, a disregard and violation of the rights of children and families in the greater San Diego area, and for being incompetent. Here is your pink slip,” Mr. Linares added. After his comments, Mr. Linares presented Dr. Ward with a pink slip, a symbolic reference to termination notices given to teachers when they are laid off.

During the past 6 months, officials from San Ysidro have insisted that several million dollars were hidden in various ways by County officials to force the District into a takeover by the SDCOE. At a recent school board meeting in San Ysidro, their then-Chief Business Officer Dena Whittington admitted that the Ms. Duzyk directed her to present the budget in a negative light that eventually led to the teachers’ strike.

After the county overseer left San Ysidro, the new administration reallocated the found funding and returned the District to a “Positive” budget certification. As a result of the revised budget, the District’s bond ratings were increased and it refinanced existing bonds to achieve over $75 million in savings to taxpayers over the life of the bonds. Last month, the District reached an agreement with the teachers for a 6% pay raise.

Martin Galante, a teacher at Willow Elementary in San Ysidro, called on the county board to “please investigate why Duzyk and Ward projected a deficit of 4 million dollars for 2013-2014 when the actuals for the same fiscal year have an ending balance of 3 million dollars in the black. That is a 7-million-dollar difference,” Galante said.

“The county made us believe we were in financial trouble in order to take over our district and install one of their own as a czar, without an elected board to represent the taxpayers of our district,” said Mr. Linares. “This was a coup orchestrated by the very people who are supposed to support us,” Linares added.

Another speaker, Jeff Scarlett, also a San Ysidro teacher, criticized Dr. Ward and Ms. Duzyk for approving a $211,000 payout to then-Superintendent Manuel Paul. At the time, Mr. Paul was under criminal indictment related to a wide-spread corruption scandal. Mr. Paul later pled guilty and served 60 days in federal custody.
“In 2013, Duzyk approved a payment buyout of over $200,000 for Manuel Paul, a corrupt and convicted criminal who served as the worst superintendent of the San Ysidro School District,” Mr. Scarlett said. “This was the same year that [Duzyk] reported that the District would be in the red by millions of dollars,” he added.

At the end of the meeting, the County Board asked Dr. Ward to prepare a report detailing the actions of the SDCOE with respect to the San Ysidro School District. A report is expected at their next meeting in November.

Photo by Sam Hodgson, VoiceofSD