Something is rotten on the second floor of the Blanchard Educational
Service Center.
That's a conclusion any sensible observer would reach after
sifting through the sandstorm of charges and rumors about
Portland School District board member Doug Capps.
Late last month, school board members asked Capps to resign
his elected position. The stated reason? A phone conversation
Capps had in late August with a lawyer for Vinh Nguyen,
a district employee who was involved in a dispute with her
employer.
The pressure for Capps to resign was first reported in
WW on Oct. 27. Two days later, The Oregonian
followed suit. The following Sunday, the state's largest
daily newspaper published an editorial urging Capps to leave.
Titled "A Matter of Trust," it said that Capps "acted contrary
to the interests of the board, the school district and the
citizens he represents."
That's a pretty severe indictment for one lousy phone call--a
call, by the way, not initiated by Capps.
There is more to this matter than the school board, Capps
and The Oregonian have chosen to share. And, while
the rest of the story may not exonerate Capps, it does raise
a number of disturbing questions.
Why were Superintendent Ben Canada and the Portland
Public Schools so intent on removing Nguyen ?
It's no secret within the district that Canada, through
his loyal aide, district counsel Bruce Sampson, has been
trying to get rid of Nguyen. The question is whether it's
because she was an annoying dissident or an employee who
was taking liberties with sick leave.
Nguyen had been at the district for 19 years, most recently
as the director of student achievement, one of the district's
15 highest-ranking positions. She has a reputation as one
of Portland Schools' true stars, but she's also been unafraid
to voice dissent. (For example, she has been openly critical
of Linda Harris, Ben Canada's choice to be assistant superintendent.)
In February, Nguyen considered resigning and began to talk
with Sampson about the terms of her departure.
In early September, Sampson asked Sharon Toncray of the
law firm Miller Nash to investigate Nguyen, particularly
as it related to an allegation he'd heard back in July.
The allegation was that Nguyen was faking an illness and
taking inappropriate medical leave and that she had a close
personal relationship with Capps.
Sometime prior to Oct. 15, Nguyen resigned, ending the
need for the Miller Nash report.
Why was Marc Abrams so intent on forcing Capps out?
The board member who acted most aggressively against Capps
was Marc Abrams, the vice-chairman of the school board and
a lawyer as well as former chairman of the Oregon Democratic
Party. On Oct. 15, Capps met in the Blanchard Building with
Abrams, Sampson and school board president Ron Saxton (who
recently announced his plans to run for the Republican gubernatorial
primary). Capps, a lawyer, is hardly a flaming radical,
but he is the board member most critical of Canada's administration
(having clashed bitterly with Canada over desegregation);
he also regularly crosses swords with Abrams. (Capps' wife,
Liz, contributed to the school-board campaign of Carolyn
Sheldon, who ran unsuccessfully against Abrams last year.)
At the October meeting, Capps was asked if he knew anything
about Nguyen's use of sick leave. His colleagues also criticized
him for taking a phone call on Aug. 26 from Greg Oliveros,
who was Nguyen's attorney. (Lawyers are only supposed to
communicate with lawyers for the other side, not their clients.
That Oliveros made the call to Capps is suspect; that Capps
took it is mildly foolish. To his credit, Capps did tell
Sampson of the call within the day and had no further contact.)
At this meeting, Capps was also chastised for not being
diligent enough in returning Toncray's phone calls. Following
that meeting, Abrams and Sampson met with the other school-board
members; the call for resignation soon followed.
Was the school board acting in the public's interest,
or its own?
In the past week, a couple of school-board members have
toned down their rhetoric, aware that they may have overreacted
to Capps--who has said he will not resign. Still, they have
needlessly bollixed up the harmony of Oregon's most important
school district. If they did so out of a zeal to keep the
board beyond reproach, it's an understandable, though bush-league,
effort. If, however, the spirit was to slay a couple of
enemies, to still the voices of those who would challenge
the status quo, then something does indeed smell rotten
at Blanchard.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Willamette Week | originally
published November 23,
1999
|
