Huntington Beach School District Ousts Superintendent

HUNTINGTON BEACH — The high school board will meet Saturday to choose a temporary chief administrator after voting unanimously this week to oust Supt. Ronald G. Bennett for what was described only as a difference in management philosophy.

The shake-up comes less than two years after Bennett, 55, took the helm of Huntington Beach Union High School District.

Bennett is the second Orange County superintendent this year to part company with a school district. Reed Montgomery of Laguna Beach Unified School District was fired Feb. 3.

Both Bennett and school trustees interviewed Thursday said the agreement to terminate his four-year contract was mutual. They stopped short of describing the action as a firing.

But the superintendent, whose last day on the job is today, acknowledged that he had not sought to be let out of his contract.

“It is traumatic, and it’s difficult,” Bennett said. “I’m so sad.”

Bennett, who lives in Coto de Caza, had earned $125,000 a year plus benefits. He was named to the post in July 1996.

The district has 13,900 students from grades nine to 12 on campuses in Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley and Westminster.

Trustees Bonnie Castrey and Curt Jones said the five-member school board voted to end Bennett’s contract Tuesday night after agreeing to give him a letter of recommendation and a severance package.

Castrey and Bennett said the package was worth up to 18 months of the superintendent’s salary--a sum approaching $200,000--or less, depending on how soon he finds a new job. At minimum, he will be paid through June.

Castrey said Bennett’s contract, renewed last year, was to have run through June 2001.

Castrey and Jones declined to discuss the board’s decision in detail.

“It’s a personnel matter,” Jones said. “It’s not like there was big turmoil, and things were going downhill. None of that stuff was going on.”

Trustees and the superintendent insisted that the high schools in the district are in good shape, though several campuses are aging and need upgrades costing as much as $76 million.

On Saturday, the board plans to discuss naming an interim or acting superintendent and the search to replace Bennett.

Three trustees are up for reelection this fall--Jones, Castrey and Barbara Johnson.

Nick Anderson can be reached at (714) 966-5975 or via e-mail at [email protected]