Fired school official offers advice to former colleagues, calls ex-boss’s action ‘callous’

Newport-Mesa Unified School District’s recently fired personnel director sent an email to his former colleagues Tuesday describing how to make a public records request similar to the one he filed before his termination.

The school board fired John Caldecott on Jan. 27, shortly after he asked an Orange County Superior Court judge to compel Newport-Mesa to release internal documents that he argues are public under the law.

Caldecott wanted a copy of a written response to an internal complaint he filed against Supt. Fred Navarro, but a school district attorney denied his request in December on grounds that “the privacy rights of the employee outweighed public interest in the case,” according to Caldecott’s court filing.

The court hasn’t ruled yet, and it remains unclear whether Caldecott’s request, or action in court, caused the school board to remove him from his post.

In a phone interview Wednesday, Caldecott said some of his former co-workers appear interested in filing requests of their own.

“I think generally there’s a consensus that the district should be transparent about the records,” said Caldecott, who held the title of executive director of human resources.

In the letter emailed and posted on Facebook on Tuesday, Caldecott offered previously unknown details about his dismissal and lambasted the superintendent’s action as “callous.”

“My notice of the superintendent’s recommendation for my termination to the board came abruptly in a text instructing me to check my email,” Caldecott wrote. “The email came four hours after the writ of mandate was filed by my attorney with the court.”

A writ of mandate asks a court to reconsider and overrule a previously made decision. Caldecott argued in his email that he believes the California Public Records Act allows access to the materials he requested.

“The writ will compel the district to release records under the California Public Records Act pertaining to my formal complaint to the board about the superintendent’s conduct,” he continued. “To date access to all records has been denied.”

A records act requires public agencies to release most documents, but there are exemptions, such as the need to protect privacy rights, which is what the district stated were at stake in the matter.

It’s unclear what prompted the original dust-up between Caldecott and Navarro. Caldecott said last week that 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.

And Navarro declined to comment on the letter, aside from repeating last week’s response that “this is a personnel and current legal matter that the district has a practice of not responding to.”

Caldecott said the email was prompted by a need to say goodbye to district employees after he wasn’t permitted to go into the human resources office Tuesday to drop off bagels. He said he had arranged with the district to pick up his final check.

“I believe that was designed to intimidate and humiliate me in a public area,” Caldecott said.

He said he sent the email to publicly available addresses of district employees.

In the email, Caldecott described his frustration with the school district’s response to his allegations.

“I made good-faith reports about the superintendent’s actions and about my questions regarding improper district actions to the board under the complaint procedure hoping for resolution,” Caldecott wrote.”As far as I know, the board gave their unconditional support to the superintendent with no action whatsoever except to terminate the messenger.However, I can’t be completely certain the board was fully informed by the superintendent on some facts.”

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

In the writ, filed Jan. 22, Caldecott had asked the court to order the district to provide records related to the October complaint he lodged against Navarro.

Caldecott said he requested the court order after a school district attorney, Spencer Covert, rejected his records act request.

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 complaint 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.

A hearing date has not been set in the court case.