The Cupertino Courier

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Investigation into teacher's resignation is underway

Finding a factual timeline for why Krieger left is the goal

By ERIN HUSSEY

An independent attorney has been hired by the Fremont Union High School District to determine a timeline concerning the exit from the district of a popular teacher. At the Sept. 19 board meeting, Fresno attorney Barry Bennett appeared before the school trustees and accepted their directive to examine the series of controversial events surrounding the resignation of Monta Vista High School leadership teacher Tim Krieger. After the meeting, Bennett told the Courier he was uncertain whether he will also be looking into the firing

of Superintendent Stephen Rowley.

In June, Krieger wrote a letter of resignation to Rowley, saying he believed he was being thwarted in his application for a position in the guidance counselor's office because of an incident some years earlier in which he had accused now-school board president and then-school board member Avie Katz's daughter of cheating. The allegation was later ruled to be unfounded.

Katz, in a call to the Courier after the Sept. 19 meeting, said he approached Rowley after hearing credits and a credential needed to become a guidance counselor would be waived for Krieger. Krieger, in his letter of resignation, said he had applied to be a guidance resource teacher, a position which has no such requirements and for which no waiver would be needed.

Katz denies being motivated by the cheating allegation. He said he would have approached Rowley no matter who the teacher was. Katz said he didn't know which position Krieger had applied for when he approached Rowley, and that he still doesn't know. He said issues involving guidance counseling have been of interest to the board, and that it's his understanding only the board can grant a waiver. He contacted Rowley, he said, to clarify the issue.

Katz's wife, Cathy, is a guidance counselor at the school, but Katz said that was not why he questioned Rowley. In his resignation letter to Rowley, however, Krieger said after he applied, he was summoned to Monta Vista Principal April Scott's office, where, he said, she and now-acting Superintendent Polly Bove told him that Cathy Katz was not comfortable working with him because of the cheating allegation and suggested he apologize to her. Krieger said he found the politics disappointing and, instead, resigned. Avie Katz told the Courier he doesn't recall whether the cheating issue came up when he spoke with Rowley about the waiver.

Determining the facts is Bennett's challenge. "When you walk into something totally cold, it is sometimes hard to grasp how broad the scope of it is going to be," he said.

Rowley was fired after he wrote an email--intended only for then-assistant supertintendent Bove but inadvertently copied to the school board--that he hoped Krieger and his fellow leadership teacher, Melanie Walczak, would write "a scorcher fingering Avie and Cathy as a primary reason for resigning." Walczak also left the district, moving with Krieger to Seattle.

After the Aug. 22 board meeting, Avie Katz told the Courier Rowley's email played a part in his firing.

The board would like Bennett to establish a factual timeline by the Oct. 17 board meeting. The cost of the 60-hour investigation will be $15,000-$20,000. Bennett said his first step will be to interview the teachers and Bove.

Bennett said he didn't learn of the deadline until the board meeting and that he can't be certain it's enough time to do a full investigation.

Board member Homer Tong said, "The most important point is to have the time to get into this. I would personally prefer that this is a thorough job rather than a hasty job." Board member Nancy Newton agreed, but thought that a month should be sufficient.

At the meeting Oct. 3, Bennett said he should be able to tell the board how much time he'll need.

The Oct. 3 board meeting will take place at the Educational Services Center at 589 W. Fremont Ave., Sunnyvale. For more information or minutes from school board meetings, visit www.fuhsd.org/agendas.htm.