The Trustees of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District will meet tomorrow morning at 8:oo a.m. in closed seesion to “evaluate the superintendent,” according to a confidential source.

The evaluation comes approximately four months after Superintendent Frederick Navarro’s last evaluation, at which time he was given his third raise in two months.

So why this sudden evaluation? Several guesses…

  1. The superintendent can’t stand the fact that a subordinate is making about $30,000 more than he is and the board is meeting to give him a raise that will increase his salary to an amount higher that Dept. Super Paul Reed.
  2. The evaluation is a pre-emptive strike. Perhaps the board got wind of some possible plans by the District Attorney to investigate the charges filed by John Caldecott in his sworn statement earlier this month. The “evaluation” would be a way for them to reduce their perceived level of incompetence by acting before the DA does.
  3. Someone on the board has come to her senses (it’s not Walt Davenport) and determined that they need to conduct an internal investigation into the charges by John Caldecott that the super was involved in some financial funny stuff and may have offered Caldecott some dough to keep quiet.
  4. The board is so appreciate of the skyrocketing academic performance in Costa Mesa’s schools that they feel yet another raise is in order. Nah.

Stay tuned.

Steve Smith