Newport-Mesa school board fires H.R. director who complained about superintendent

Newport-Mesa Unified fired its human resources director Tuesday, less than a week after he asked a court to compel the district to release documents related to a complaint he filed against the superintendent.

The school board voted 7 to 0 to terminate John Caldecott. Board president Martha Fluor announced the decision after a closed-door meeting.

Caldecott, 60, became executive director of human resources in 2010 after five years as the director of classified personnel. His termination is effective Feb. 1.

Fluor said after the meeting that she couldn’t comment on a personnel matter.

Reached by phone Wednesday, Caldecott said, “The complaint against the superintendent involves multiple occurrences of unethical behavior on the part of the superintendent and the board of education.” He declined to elaborate.

In an email on Wednesday, Supt. Fred Navarro said, “The integrity of our personnel procedures and practices are founded upon the ethics ingrained in maintaining the highest levels of confidentiality. Any comment on this or any other personnel matter would be inappropriate and unethical. As far as the district is concerned this remains a confidential personnel matter. Any legal concerns will be addressed through the legal system.”

In a writ filed Jan. 22, Caldecott asked the Orange County Superior Court to order the district to provide records related to a complaint he lodged in October against Navarro.

Caldecott requested the court order after a school district attorney rejected a request he filed under the California Public Records Act.

On Dec. 24, Caldecott had asked for a copy of a board document called “Response to Superintendent Complaint Filed by Employee.” He also asked for an email with the subject line, “Board’s December 10, 2014 response to complainant about the superintendent.”

In the court filing, Caldecott wrote that he wasn’t acting in an official capacity when he requested the documents, but rather as a member of the public.

School district attorney Spencer Covert denied the request on the grounds that “the privacy rights of the employee outweighed public interest in the case,” according to Caldecott’s court filing.

On Tuesday, Nicholas Dix, executive director of the Newport-Mesa Federation of Teachers, said the board’s apparent misunderstanding of the public records act was a longstanding issue. He told board members that the union would test the board’s transparency by requesting the same documents.

Marla Loffelmacher, Caldecott’s former administrative assistant, who has since retired, took the board to task for the firing and for placing Caldecott on paid administrative leave on Thursday — only hours after the writ was filed.

“The actions of the superintendent and the board should be transparent and made public,” she said. “Your sudden termination of John Caldecott’s contract at tonight’s meeting, just after the writ to compel the district to provide public records, raises questions the public should know the answers to.”

In the closed session report, Fluor said Caldecott would be paid the equivalent of 18 months of salary and health benefits for “termination without cause” in accordance with his contract.

Caldecott earned $245,037 in salary and benefits in 2013, according to data compiled by the California Policy Center, a Tustin-based, nonpartisan think tank.

The recommendation to terminate Caldecott was made by Navarro, according to the closed session report. The motion to terminate Caldecott was made by board member Dana Black and seconded by board member Walt Davenport.

In an unusual move, the announcement of Caldecott’s termination was made after the closed-door meeting but before the public had convened for the 6 p.m. board meeting.

Closed session reports are typically delivered at the beginning of the public meeting.