The Paso Robles school board met Saturday at the district office to discuss the recent grand jury report entitled, Paso Robles School District, A Cautionary Tale.
The grand jury investigation into mismanagement by superintendent Chris Willams and his staff produced a report with three sections. School district leadership, district reserve management and the aquatic complex.
Paso Robles school board president Chris Arend summarized his feelings about the tenure of Chris Williams and the performance of the school board which included Field Gibson, Matt Mclish, Kathleen Hall, Tim Gearhart, Joan Summers and Joel Peterson. Chris Bausch who was the only member of the board during Chris Williams administration who opposed his spending.
On Saturday, the board went through the grand jury report point by point, in virtually every case, they each gave thumbs up, agreeing with the findings of the grand jury.
Tomorrow afternoon at four, the school board will meet again and discuss what to do with the grand jury report. Many questions remain to be answered. Should the board ask the district attorney to look into filing criminal charges against the previous school board members, Chris Williams and some of his cohorts? Do they hire an attorney to sue the previous board members to recover losses like the $100 thousand dollar cash pay out they awarded Williams when he resigned? The current board and the grand jury agree, nothing in Williams employment contract warranted a cash payment when he resigned.
There is also the issue as to what to do with administrators like Jennifer Gaviola who supported and enabled Chris Williams during his entire corrupt and financially disastrous tenure? And why did superintendent Curt Dubost, the county office of education and previous school board presidents Joel Peterson and Stephanie Ulibarri try to sweep the entire Chris Williams debacle under the rug? Was it to protect the former trustees who had a fiduciary responsibility to the district and Paso Robles tax payers?
These issues may be addressed at tomorrow’s meeting. More on the grand jury report tomorrow.