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On the Record: Kathryn Benson Talks About Conflicts Behind the Scenes at Pajaro Schools, Part II
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On the Record: Kathryn Benson Talks About Conflicts Behind the Scenes at Pajaro Schools, Part II
Why Dr. Mary Anne Mays Quit as Superintendent and the Unresolved Tensions at PVUSD
By Mary Bryant & Michael Thomas
[Editor’s Note: In the concluding installment of this two-part series, The Post looks at the continuing shuffle of top administrators at the County’s largest school district, the breakdown of Pajaro’s Personnel Commission and pending litigation aimed at curbing what one District employee claims to be abuse.]
One trustee refers to the Superintendent’s fallout with three Pajaro Valley Unified School trustees as a marriage gone bad. A school career development specialist and union leader describes the accusations of behind-the-scenes power plays as bizarre. And the District’s board president
believes that rumors and half truths will mean the true story behind Pajaro’s biggest debacle in the last decade will likely never be fully told.
Yet through dozens of interviews, The Post has pieced together many of the events leading to the March resignation of Pajaro Superintendent Dr. Mary Anne Mays, the appointment of veteran business chief Terry McHenry as Interim Superintendent and a growing list of resignations and early retirements at the County’s largest school district. Pajaro serves 18,000 students in schools from Aptos through North Monterey County with an annual budget of nearly $150 million.
Many say that Pajaro personnel director Kathryn Benson’s story is just one of many examples of how political interference can get in the way of educating students, diverting resources and creating angst. Benson’s trouble is directly linked to Dr. Mays’ decision to resign, and has sparked pending litigation.
Dr. Mays cited the Benson issue as the “last straw” in her decision to quit.
Never Wanted the Spotlight
According to Benson, she is the unlikely protagonist in the drama. While she is a manager, she’s not a member of the Superintendent’s executive cabinet or a top official. She doesn’t report to the Board of Trustees. And by all accounts �" from critics as well as fans �"Benson has worked admirably to get along with everyone involved, from personnel commissioners to staff and union representatives. Benson says she believes in the work of personnel commissions, although she admits that commissions can become political.
“If [a personnel commission] is working well it is wonderful. … If it is not working well, it can be difficult,” she said.
She added that she has no idea why allegations were raised that she had embezzled District funds in late 2005 by taking unauthorized pay raises. She says �" and literally everyone else interviewed for the story agrees �" there is no way that she could effect such a scheme even if she had tried. However, Dr. Mays confirmed that a trustee requested that Benson be investigated. The accusations were reviewed by the District’s legal counsel and Benson was entirely exonerated of all claims. However, that interview with Dr. Mays was before a pending lawsuit surfaced, and now Dr. Mays can’t comment or release the name of the trustee who requested the inquiry.
Benson says that during the investigation she hadn’t been made aware of the charges. She didn’t know her records were being checked. She was only told of the investigation after she was completely cleared. That was just before the holiday break. What happened next, she said, changed her life.
“He said that I was in a precarious and dangerous position,” Benson recalled of a meeting between her and Personnel Commissioner Jack Hayes near Christmas.
A Dangerous and Precarious Position
According to Benson, that meeting took place during the holiday break. She was called from home where she was tending to her husband, who was recovering from a heart attack.
At the time, the District’s personnel commission was in disarray. A 25-year veteran, Lupe Gil was president, but Hayes had already made it clear that he was going to object to Gil serving another term.
“She requested to be reappointed,” Benson said. However, Benson said that Hayes refused Gil’s request.
The Commission’s third member, Dr. Jeanne Linsdell said she was frustrated, but remained a member. She supported Gil, but was willing to work with Hayes to find a new third member; the neutral member of the three-member Commission that is selected by the Commission’s other two members.
When Hayes said he had to meet with her, Benson said she was confused. He wasn’t the Board President, nor the District’s representative. But she went anyway.
She said that Hayes presented her with a note in Board President Gray’s writing. The note included Benson’s payroll information. Benson says that Hayes demanded she explain each and every one of the payroll changes, again saying the charges were serious.
“I said I’m not going to respond to that,” she recalled. “I suggested that he contact either the Superintendent or the District’s counsel for a response.”
Within minutes, Benson met with Dr. Mays. Benson said that Mays confirmed that the only discussion of the investigation which had occurred to that point took place in a confidential meeting setting, with Board members present. And Benson said that Mays confirmed that Gray, along with the other trustees, was aware that the investigation had found there was no wrongdoing. In fact, according to Benson, the District’s counsel found that Pajaro had actually underpaid Benson.
How did Hayes get the note? Benson said she doesn’t know.
Gray claims to have no knowledge of the note and says she only spoke to Hayes on one occasion about the personnel commission and that was about an unrelated matter.
“I haven’t spoken with Jack about implementing or changing anything on the personnel commission,” Gray said. “How he got it, I do not know. I did not give it to him. … Maybe it was not my handwriting.”
Gil was startled to learn of Hayes’ decision to confront Benson. Gil said that Hayes had treated the Commissioners poorly, and had already been inappropriate with Benson.
“He was rude,” Gil said. “I wasn’t happy [with] the way I was being treated or the way Kathryn and the other commissioner [were] being treated.”
As Chair of the Commission, even Gil hadn’t been informed about the investigation.
“I didn’t know they were investigating her,” Gil said. She added that she thought Benson did a good job. “Kathryn is above board. … I trust her. As the time went on, she impressed me more with her professionalism, her knowledge and how she managed the office.”
Gil believes that if the Commission was to be notified of the investigation all Commissioners should have been told, and that Hayes was not acting within his authority.
While upset, Benson believed the matter was done. But there was still more to come.
Looking for a Way Out
In late 2005, San Ramon School District posted a job opening looking for a personnel director. Benson was told about the job.
“There are not that many jobs like my job,” Benson said.
Benson said the job at the San Ramon also seemed like a good fit. The position had been open for about six months before Benson applied. Former Pajaro District Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Clem Donaldson had worked with Benson. When he moved to the Pleasanton School District he even brought Benson in to help consult with the Pleasanton District on personnel matters. He said that when he heard of the San Ramon job opening he thought Benson would be a good candidate and recommended her for the position.
“They invited me to come to an initial interview with a panel of 18 people,” she said
Benson said her first interview went great. She was immediately called back for another with the superintendent. She said she was told her job references were good.
“I was feeling really good about it,” Benson added. “They told me they were going to finish doing reference checks.”
Benson drove home after the last interview believing that she was soon going to get a job offer.
“I came home and that was when I got the phone call,” Benson said. “I felt like they are calling me to offer me the job.”
Instead, according to Benson, San Ramon’s Roberta Silverstein said that one of San Ramon’s trustees had gone to San Ramon’s superintendent and said he had been told that Benson was about to be fired from Pajaro. According to Benson, Silverstein went on to say that the San Ramon trustee added “not to pay attention to the [Pajaro] Superintendent [or any recommendation she might give] because she is going to be fired too.”
Benson said she was stunned and didn’t know what to say.
After several weeks, Benson got a call saying that she was not going to be recommended for the job. By that time, Dr. Mays had resigned.
“It was a total shock to everybody,” Benson said. “Not only did it not seem fair, I thought it seemed hostile and clear harassment.”
Now Benson believes she would have trouble finding another job.
“I think it has tainted my reputation,” Benson said “People all over the place have read this and heard this.”
Watsonville’s hometown newspaper, the Register Pajaronian, printed the story in which Benson was named. Benson said the Pajaronian reporter didn’t even call her for a comment before the first story was printed.
“I thought I had a choice of staying there until I retire,” Benson said. “At this point it certainly is not a comfortable environment to be in.”
Questions and Calls Unanswered
For his part, Hayes has refused to answer questions. Literally dozens of calls to his home have gone unreturned. Messages were left with his family members. The Post even contacted Hayes in person prior to a Commission meeting, at which he said he didn’t have time before or after the meeting to speak but he promised to talk that night. He wasn’t home and didn’t return that call either.
The Post additionally went to exhaustive lengths to verify Benson’s story, on and off the record. From all accounts, Benson was completely cleared during the investigation and Pajaro officials have said her employment record with the District is clean and her evaluations good. Unlike Dr. Mays who served at the will of the Board’s majority, Benson’s job was not supposed to be vulnerable to politics.
Benson’s case is difficult. Some of the information leaked �" i.e. the fact that Benson was the subject of an investigation �" was accurate. The allegations that she wasn’t cleared and was about to be fired were, by all accounts, not accurate, which means whoever leaked the information likely defamed Benson.
Reportedly, the Board has been told who talked with a San Ramon trustee. They aren’t saying. San Ramon’s Silverstein also didn’t return calls.
Greg Marvel is a San Ramon trustee and has been elected to the San Ramon board since 2000. He is also the Vice Chancellor of the Contra Costa Community College District. He worked previously as the Personnel Director for Garden Grove School District in Southern California.
“I can’t tell you who I talked to or what I did or didn’t do,” Marvel said. “My name is Greg ‘No Comment’ Marvel on personnel issues.”
He said that San Ramon makes many reference checks before hiring a management employee.
“San Ramon always does reference checks so it’s not unusual for the district to talk to a wide variety of sources,” he said.
Does he know Hayes?
“I do know Jack. I know him from way back,” Marvel said. “He and I were fellow union field representatives together back in the 1970s.”
The position Benson had applied for was withdrawn for a time, but the San Ramon District is again reportedly looking for a Personnel Director.
Benson has an attorney, and an investigator has been making calls to everyone involved. Many people interviewed for this story believe her rights have been violated.
There are also some questions that will never be answered. How did Hayes get a note written by Gray? Can Benson be certain it was in Gray’s handwriting?
And other questions are even more puzzling. One CSEA executive board officer said that she was contacted by a trustee and told Benson was applying to San Ramon and that she might be contacted for comment. Who was the trustee? The CSEA representative didn’t want to answer.
If Hayes was involved in a call to San Ramon and did defame Benson, would CSEA remove him, from the Commission? One CSEA officials said probably not.
“If he did, that would be his opinion and he might have facts we didn’t,” CSEA’s Judy Fuller said. “As long as he was functioning on his own, that was his choice. We didn’t ask him to make any phone calls.”
CSEA’s Vice President was more to the point.
“That’s so bizarre. I could not even believe it,” Robin Butterworth said. “CSEA’s role is not to get involved in that kind of stuff. CSEA’s role is to protect their employees.”
For her part, Board President Gray says she has never had contact with anyone from the San Ramon School District. And she won’t talk about Benson. “I’m not commenting on anything that has anything to do with that.”
She also says anyone should be cautious trying to sort out the details.
“These sorts of things are extremely complicated,” Gray said, adding that rumors abound along with truths and half truths. “It is very unlikely [that] any story printed to be even close to being what happened.”
However, there is one trustee who wants to set the record straight. That’s newcomer Doug Keegan. He wrote a letter stating in no uncertain terms that the Board never considered the termination of either Dr. Mays or Benson. He demanded that all trustees sign the letter. And, on May 24, they did.
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Past stories related to this article...
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