Board to Consider Principal’s Firing

A special meeting to determine whether a former candidate for county superintendent of schools was legally fired is scheduled today, officials said.

The Ventura County Board of Education will hear the opinion of the Ventura County Counsel on whether Supt. Charles Weis acted within his authority when he terminated Dan Flynn’s contract effective July 1.

The county board will meet at 5 p.m. today in the new offices of the county Superintendent of Schools at 5189 Verdugo Way in Camarillo.

The meeting, which is open to the public, is expected to draw supporters of Flynn, a former principal who was fired after challenging the county schools superintendent for election.

The June 23 firing came less than three weeks after the June 7 election, when Flynn lost to Weis in the race for superintendent.

As principal of the county’s three schools for juvenile offenders, Flynn was employed by the county schools office. Weis was his boss.

Weis said at the time the firing was based solely on Flynn’s job performance, not on Flynn’s campaign against his supervisor.

But Flynn’s attorney and some of his supporters have challenged the firing arguing that only the board, not the superintendent, has the right to make such personnel decisions.