After a trustee admitted to accepting gifts above the legal limit, the San Diego Unified School District board is evaluating what steps it needs to take to make sure this does not happen again.
On Tuesday, SDUSD Trustee and former Board President Marne Foster resigned from her position after she pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of receiving gifts in excess of the legal limit.
An amended form she filed with the Fair Political Practices Commission shows she received more than $3,000 for her son. A $2,000 donation paid for him to attend theater camp in Seattle, and $400 paid for his round trip tickets. The rest of the donations went to plane tickets and accommodations for her son to travel to and from New York for school.
Last summer, a county grand jury issued a report questioning Foster’s “overreach and abuse of power.” It recommended the district do more to prevent actual or implied undue influence by the school board.
Current SDUSD Board President Michael McQuary told NBC 7 when the report was completed, the board felt they had done enough training to prevent wrongdoing.
Now, they are reconsidering that thought.
“We want to establish a forum where we can do a workshop, take a look at our board policies and our procedures, take a look at ethic issues, see what we could have done differently to avoid this,” said McQuary. “Don’t want to go down this path again.”
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They plan to find a replacement for Foster at their next board meeting on Tuesday.
The grand jury report was in response to accusations that Foster caused a staff shakeup at the School of Creative and Performing Arts because her son got a bad college evaluation from one of the counselors.
Foster also held a private fundraiser to raise money for her sons’ college tuition, but she invited guests who presented a conflict of interest for the school district. She later apologized and vowed to give all the money raised back.
Finally, Foster was accused of orchestrating a $250,000 claim against the district for allegedly sabotaging her son’s college options. Foster has denied those allegations, saying her son’s father was the one who filed the claim.
The issues prompted the SDUSD board to call for a civil investigation into Foster’s alleged actions.
But the same night they voted for the investigation, they also honored Foster with a proclamation for the work she has done in the district.
NBC 7 asked McQuary if they still would have held that ceremony, knowing that Foster would ultimately plead guilty and resign.
“No, it was absolutely the right thing to do. It was a person who stood up for her community, who did a number of great things, and she has done a number of marvelous things in her community,” said McQuary.
He told NBC 7 he thinks the board responded correctly with the information they had.
Community activist Sally Smith disagreed, saying she wished the issue had gone to trial to publicly expose Foster’s wrongdoing.
“This school district needs to look closely at itself and the policies so this doesn’t happen again,” she said.
Another activist, Gloria Tran, said while Foster many have done good things, they do not outweigh the bad. She believes as soon as the allegations about the fundraiser surfaced, Foster should have been censured by the board or put on leave until the accusations were proven or disproved.
Honoring Foster on the same day the investigation was called put the whole board in a bad light, Tran said.
Foster’s attorney told NBC 7 Tuesday that Foster is not making excuses and is taking accountability for her actions. She will serve three years of probation, spend 120 hours doing community service and will pay a fine and restitution, the judge ordered. She will not be able to run for any office for four years.
