This afternoon, the Paso Robles school board resumes discussion of their draft response to the grand jury report. They are required by law to respond to the judge in charge of the grand jury.
At Saturday’s discussion school board president Chris Arend talked about turning over some of the evidence to the district attorney’s office. He says they turned over one case so far, that of Greg Wangared who ran the Culinary Arts Academy and managed food service for the Paso Robles school district. After the DA’s investigation, Greg Wangard was convicted of five misdemeanors for conflict of interest.
At Saturday’s meeting, Berkely Baker talked about Williams and his other senior administrators, many of whom are still working for the district. He says Williams bullied and abused employees, and according to school president Chris Arend, he extorted money from some administrators. Baker says it concerns him that some senior administrators witnessed Williams behavior and abuse and did not file any objections.
Among those six board members who consistently supported superintendent Chris Williams, two called in Saturday morning. Joel Peterson telling the school board to accuse the previous school board trustees is lunacy. Former trustee Joan Summers said the grand jury did not talk to all the former trustees. Both Peterson and Summers voted to award superintendent Chris Williams $250 thousand dollars when he resigned. The grand jury takes issue with that decision, and that may ultimately go to the district attorney.
The board will meet this afternoon at 4:30 to continue crafting a response to the grand jury report. That report is expected in mid-February by the judge overseeing the grand jury.