Attorneys for former Superintendent McClain send letter to school board

Former Del Mar Union School District Superintendent Sharon McClain has sent a letter to the district board demanding a statement of cause for her March termination.

Her legal team at Gronemeier & Associates sent a letter on June 1 (and received by this newspaper just before presstime) saying that the board’s “stonewalling” on the cause of McClain’s dismissal is taking them down a “dangerous road.”

“Dr. McClain’s position is that there is no good cause for the termination of her employment,” read the letter. “Rather, the three members of the board majority asserted that there was cause simply for the purpose of trying not to make a contractual payment required for termination without good cause.”

On March 31, the board terminated McClain’s contract “with cause” but the cause was never disclosed to the public or to McClain. The board did not discuss the reasons for her firing at the public meeting as it was a “personnel matter.” However, per her attorney’s letter, McClain exercised her right to have the board’s action to dismiss her aired in a public session, waiving any privacy right.

“If the board majority does not articulate the cause(s) for Dr. McClain’s employment termination, it will have to live with the consequences,” the letter states.

Click on each page at right to read the letter.