{"id":46022,"date":"2013-11-22T14:37:42","date_gmt":"2013-11-22T22:37:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=46022"},"modified":"2013-11-27T16:02:29","modified_gmt":"2013-11-28T00:02:29","slug":"psd-superintendent-resigns-with-332k-payout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2013\/11\/22\/psd-superintendent-resigns-with-332k-payout\/","title":{"rendered":"PSD Superintendent resigns, $332K payout"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The District\u2019s legal counsel Framroze Virjee speaks at a Special Board Meeting Friday morning to consider a resignation agreement for Palmdale School District Superintendent Roger Gallizzi.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

PALMDALE \u2013 In a special meeting Friday morning, the Palmdale School District Board of Trustees accepted the resignation of Superintendent Roger Gallizzi<\/strong> and agreed to pay Gallizzi a lump sum equivalent to 18 months of his regular compensation and stipends totaling $332,765.<\/p>\n

The Board voted 4-1 to approve Gallizzi\u2019s Resignation and Mutual Release Agreement<\/em>, with Trustee Maria Molina casting the sole dissenting vote.<\/p>\n

The resignation agreement also holds Gallizzi harmless \u201cfrom any and all claims and liabilities, arising on or before the Resignation Date, from or otherwise related to employment activities\u2026\u201d [Read the entire agreement here<\/a>.]<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Gallizzi<\/a>
Gallizzi has been on an indefinite medical leave of absence since last month.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Prior to the vote, a handful of speakers at the sparsely attended meeting voiced opposition to the resignation agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have over $330,000 being sucked out of the classrooms\u2026 I don\u2019t think this is right,\u201d said Don Wilson, who ran unsuccessfully for Palmdale School Board in the past election.<\/p>\n

Maria Velasquez asked the Board to postpone the matter to allow stakeholders a chance to give input.<\/p>\n

\u201cPut it at a time where your parents can come in, and it [does] not look like something was rammed through,\u201d Velasquez said. \u00a0\u201cThis is something that truly none of you should be doing right now, and you should give the opportunity to parents and the community and the stakeholders to give their input.\u201d<\/p>\n

Palmdale School Board Trustee-elect Nancy Smith took issue with a section of the Agreement [9. Nondisparagement]<\/em> that prohibits the District from criticizing or disparaging Gallizzi orally or in writing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the new administration coming in finds things that should be brought to public light, they should be\u00a0 free to talk about them and not worry about the District being sued\u2026\u201d Smith said, adding that the clause gags the new school board from criticizing Gallizzi. \u201cHe has been free to criticize anyone and everyone that he wanted to and now you\u2019re putting a gag on the future Board, and I think that\u2019s totally wrong,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

Smith, Juan Carrillo and Joyce Ricks won seats on the Palmdale School District Board Of Trustees in the November 5 election, ousting incumbents Sandy Corrales, Jeff Ferrin and Carol Stanford. The new school board will be sworn in on December 10.<\/p>\n

In a strongly worded letter to the PSD Board of Trustees, Assemblymember Steve Fox urged the current Board to \u201cdo the right thing and let this matter be handled by the new school board.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBy all appearances this appears to be a sweetheart deal by a lame duck school board to help out an employee,\u201d Fox wrote. [Read Fox’s entire letter here<\/a>.]<\/em>
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking at the special meeting Friday morning, Fox said he believed the resignation agreement was a misuse of public funds. He said he believed Gallizzi\u2019s employment contract expired Dec. 31, 2014, therefore Gallizzi was only entitled to 13 months\u2019 severance pay under California law.<\/p>\n

\u201c[That\u2019s] my clear interpretation, there appears to be others. I would suggest and urge the Board to err on the side of caution and allow the next Board to consider making [the decision,]\u201d Fox said.<\/p>\n

Citing an evergreen clause and addendum to Gallizzi\u2019s employment contract, the District\u2019s attorney, Framroze Virjee, said the superintendent was actually in the first year of a three-year contract, which expires December 2015. [Read Gallizzi\u2019s employment contract and all addendums here<\/a>.]<\/em><\/p>\n

Virjee made it clear that he was representing the District\u2019s interests only, and said the District was following the law by allowing Gallizzi 18 months\u2019 severance pay in the resignation agreement. Gallizzi has been on an indefinite medical leave of absence since October.<\/p>\n

Virjee said the Board also had the option of doing nothing and continuing to pay Gallizzi during his sick leave while waiting to see if Gallizzi was able to return. But the Board would also be paying for an interim superintendent during that time as well, Virjee said.<\/p>\n

Paying two salaries while facing uncertainty about Gallizzi\u2019s return was unfair to the taxpayers, said PSD Board President Sandy Corrales.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis general release agreement is not ideal. It\u2019s probably not what the Board wants, it\u2019s probably not what Mr. Gallizzi wants, it\u2019s probably not what our employees or anybody wants,\u201d Corrales said. \u201cBut it\u2019s an agreement, it\u2019s a settlement, it\u2019s a compromise\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMoving forward with this agreement will allow the newly-elected Board to start with a clean slate, to chart their own course and not have to worry or deliberate on the issues of the past,\u201d Corrales continued.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PALMDALE \u2013 In a special meeting Friday morning, the Palmdale School District Board of Trustees accepted the resignation of Superintendent Roger Gallizzi and agreed to pay Gallizzi a lump sum equivalent to 18 months of his regular compensation and stipends totaling $332,765. The Board voted 4-1 to approve Gallizzi\u2019s Resignation and Mutual Release Agreement, with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":46024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29,11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46022"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}