Norm Clevenger, former principal at Santa Ynez Valley Union High School, has sued the school board of the Santa Ynez Valley Union High School District, seeking back pay, monetary damages and reinstatement to his position at SYVUHS.

He accuses the school district of breach of contract, failure to deal in good faith, and retaliation in the events that resulted in his suspension in February and then the nonrenewal of his contract for the following year.

Since the lawsuit was filed, Clevenger has been hired as principal at San Marcos High School in Santa Barbara, and he said Wednesday that because of his new job he would not return to SYVUHS even if the school board were ordered to reinstate him.

In an e-mail response to a request for an interview, Clevenger referred all further questions to his attorney, Bob Bartosh of Ventura. Multiple calls to Bartosh over two days were not returned, and Mark Masters, the other attorney for Clevenger named in the suit filed June 17 in Santa Barbara County Superior Court, had no comment.

District Superintendent Paul Turnbull was unavailable for comment Thursday, and calls to Mary Dowell, the school district's attorney, were not returned.

School board president Joe Dugan would not comment on the lawsuit.

“We are letting the lawyers figure everything out, and the board is concentrating on the upcoming school year, happy to make a fresh start,” Dugan said.

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In the suit, Clevenger also claims that the school board violated California's open meetings law, the Brown Act, because it failed to publicly disclose any “complaints and charges” against him in an open meeting even though he exercised his right to have those issues aired in a public meeting.

The former principal also claims that the district's actions caused him emotional distress and the loss of wages and employment benefits.

Clevenger was told in February by then-superintendent Fred van Leuven that he was being suspended immediately, with pay, and escorted off campus. Soon after, the school board voted not to renew his contract for the next school year. Clevenger had been principal of the high school for nine years prior to his dismissal.

In an exchange of several letters, in which Clevenger pressed him for an explanation for the actions, van Leuven said a conversation between the principal and the school board president had caused van Leuven “to lose confidence in your (Clevenger's) ability to represent the district and me in the community.”

The school board's actions spurred a campaign of parents and citizens of the Santa Ynez Valley to organize Reformation of Santa Ynez High (RoSY), which collected petition signatures to recall all five members of the school board.

After one of the two board members whose terms were ending did not file to run again in the upcoming November election, the recall group dropped its campaign but two of its members filed as candidates.

Raiza Canelon can be reached at 688-5522, Ext. 6008, or rcanelon@santamariatimes.com.

August 22, 2008