Madera schools superintendent says board wants him to leave

Madera Unified School District is preparing to part ways with Superintendent Edward González.

González said Tuesday that he learned last week that the board of trustees wants him out.

González said Board President Al Gálvez and trustee Ricardo Arredondo met with him Friday and told him the “board had decided to go in another direction. I’m still the superintendent, but they are interested in negotiating a separation agreement with me,” he said.

Gálvez said in an email that “the Madera Unified School District Board of Trustees has not taken any reportable action. That being said, this is a personnel issue and no further information is available at this time.”

González has been superintendent since 2013. His contract extends through June 2018. The release from his contract would be without cause, González said.

But the board and González have had friction in the past. In a February 2015 meeting of the board, González was the subject of an investigative report by an outside law firm that recommended he and associate superintendent Victor Villar participate in anti-harassment and anti-bullying training. The board took no action at that meeting.

On Tuesday, González said “it has been documented that the board and I have had some disagreements. I don’t think that is news.”

The superintendent said the board met in closed session Jan. 31. He was asked to leave the closed meeting and the board remained for an additional 45 minutes. “There was no report out of closed session,” he said.

But a consensus must have been reached about negotiating his release, he said. “And they sent the board president to meet with me.”

González is in Palm Desert for the remainder of this week for the annual conference of state superintendents. He should be back in his office next week, when he said the board president told him he would like to meet to negotiate the separation agreement.

This story was originally published February 7, 2017 at 1:19 PM with the headline "Madera schools superintendent says board wants him to leave."