Newport-Mesa district ordered to release documents on Supt. Fred Navarro

A three-judge panel of the Fourth District Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that the Newport-Mesa Unified School District must release dozens of documents related to a former high ranking official’s allegations against Supt. Fred Navarro.

John Caldecott, the district’s former director of human resources, initially filed a lawsuit against the school district in January to compel officials to release internal emails and other documents related to his complaint against Navarro.

While some of the documents requested are connected to Caldecott’s claim that Navarro allegedly created a hostile work environment for employees, many also pertain to Caldecott’s allegations that salary reports to the California State Teachers’ Retirement System or STRS, were completed incorrectly and could inflate pensions.

The school board fired Caldecott shortly after he filed his request with Orange County Superior Court.

In April, Orange County Superior Court Judge Geoffrey Glass decided that because Caldecott is already in possession of the documents he requested, the California Public Records Act request is “moot.”

The district denied public records requests from the Daily Pilot for the same documents.

However, the panel on Wednesday overturned the lower court’s decision, writing that the documents should be released because “there is a strong public interest in judging how Navarro responded to Caldecott’s claims, especially in light of his decision to almost immediately terminate Caldecott without cause.”

“Likewise, there is the same strong public interest in assessing how the school district’s elected board treated the serious misconduct allegations against its highest ranking administrator,” Presiding Justice David Thompson wrote in the decision.

The misreporting to STRS, Caldecott alleged, concerned the salaries of principals and administrators whose jobs require an administrative credential — a category known as certificated management.

He said he suspects the district was considering forms of compensation such as merit pay in pension calculations, a move that may ultimately drive up the cost of pensions for taxpayers.

Caldecott alleged in court documents that Navarro knowingly authorized the misreporting.

The district argued that the school board has not found any of the allegations against Navarro to be true, therefore the documents should not be released in order to protect the superintendent’s reputation.

“There is no requirement that “imposition of discipline or ‘found to be true’ is a prerequisite to release of the complaints to the public,” Thompson wrote. “[The] school district’s repeated description of the claims against Navarro as meritless does not make them so.”

The case will be sent back to Orange County Superior Court, where they will have 90 days to review the documents and determine which, if any, are subject to attorney client privilege. The lower court will also determine the cost of Caldecott’s legal fees, which the district will be required to pay, according to the ruling.

Annette Franco, the district’s public relations officer, said the district plans to release the documents after the court’s review.

Caldecott said in an interview Thursday that he raised issues any Human Resources professional would have brought to the superintendent and school board.

“The appellate court decision completely vindicates the fact that I am not simply a disgruntled former employee,” he said. “I was just doing my job.”