CONCORD — The Mt. Diablo school board on Thursday fired its superintendent, who had been on the job for less than a year, and terminated a tentative agreement with the teachers’ union for a new contract.
The board in a closed session meeting Thursday terminated the employment agreement for Robert Martinez, who was approved as the district superintendent last August, without cause. The district will pay Martinez a year’s salary under the terms of his contract.
Under the three-year contract, the board can terminate the agreement without cause upon 30 days written notice to the superintendent and Martinez can receive up to 12 months of his annual base salary — $277,000 — upon termination.
In addition to the $277,000 base yearly salary, Martinez’s contract has allowed him to receive a $2,000 annual stipend for his doctorate. As superintendent, he has received $300 a month for gas mileage and was given a $200,000 term life insurance policy with the district as a beneficiary for $25,000.
Mt. Diablo Unified School District Board President Brian Lawrence reported after the closed-session meeting that it was a unanimous vote by all five trustees that came after a performance evaluation of the superintendent.
“We did not make this decision lightly,” Lawrence said in an email to this news organization, noting that the board has started the search for a new superintendent and will share more details at its June 8 board meeting. In the meantime, other administrators will step up as liaisons between the board and district staff.
Martinez came to Mt. Diablo — one of the largest school districts in Contra Costa County with mroe than 31,000 students — last summer, succeeding former Superintendent Nellie Meyer, who left for the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District. Last July, Martinez was revealed to be the board’s sole finalist for the job, and he was appointed in August.
Previously, he had been with Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District for 30 years, most recently as assistant superintendent of human resources. Before that, he worked as a school psychologist, assistant principal, principal and director.
Martinez did not respond to requests for comment on his termination, but Anita Johnson, the president of the teachers union, the Mt. Diablo Educators Association, spoke out against the timing of his firing.
“The timing of the termination of Dr. Robert Martinez is problematic because of all the work that must be done to reopen schools safely during this COVID-19 pandemic,” Johnson said in a statement. “If this school board truly prioritizes students, then MDEA will be part of the process to find a new superintendent who will work collaboratively with educators to get the best resources and opportunities our students need to succeed.”
Citing looming budget deficits made worse by the state May budget revise, the board also rejected a tentative agreement that district managers had made with the teachers union last December.
That agreement would have provided a 5.5 percent salary increase retroactively for the school years starting fall 2018 through spring 2021. It also would have reduced class sizes, provided stipends for dual-language classroom teachers and school nurses, and reduced school nurse caseloads.
Typically, the board would have ratified an agreement much earlier, Johnson said, but both the district and the union knew the agreement would require cuts to other parts of the budget and were working on that when COVID-19 hit.
“While expected, rejecting the mutually agreed-to tentative agreement is breaking a promise and the trust of Mt. Diablo educators,” Johnson said. “We expect the MDUSD board to send a bargaining team ready to reach a new (tentative agreement) immediately.”
Lawrence, in the meeting, pointed to a May 26 letter from the Contra Costa County Office of Education’s Deputy Superintendent Bill Clark, which notes that the governer’s May budget revision that reduces K-12 education funding would push Mt. Diablo Unified’s projected budget deficit to $47.6 million in the 2020-21 school year and $52.3 million the following school year.
The tentative agreement signed by the teachers union would cost the district an additional $13.1 million, Clark noted, adding that the district “does not have sufficient funds to support this agreement.”
“We have been working without a contract for 709 days. After bargaining for 19 months and spending over 130 hours at the bargaining table, we finally reached an agreement with the Mt. Diablo managers last December. The agreement includes important resources that are investments in our students,” Johnson said, adding that pressure must be put on Gov. Gavin Newsom to provide more funding for education.
“And, while I understand the negative economic projections, I reject the idea that teachers and students must bear the burden. This school board is proposing to increase spending on management in a time when the Contra Costa County Office of education is demanding more cuts, including eliminating educators,” she said.
