SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — The debate over who received more applause during a high school softball banquet in Poway last school year led to the Poway Unified School District superintendent's placement on paid administrative leave.
“They can’t do anything to her until the investigation is done,” said Tom Peronto, a former softball coach at Del Norte High School.
Peronto said he lost his job after speaking out at recent board meetings.
“Personally, I think there’s enough testimony and everything to take further action,” Peronto said.
Last November, students, parents and coaches raised concerns about PUSD superintendent Marian Kim Phelps at several board meetings.
Phelps’ daughter is on the Del Norte softball team. That team was under investigation for bullying, but parents say Phelps was behind the investigation and claim.
It came after Phelps felt her daughter didn’t get enough applause at the team’s softball banquet, but she has denied that the investigation was related to applause.
Peronto said he was at the banquet that night and didn’t feel the applause was inadequate.
In the weeks following, one of the players and her father filed a 93-page lawsuit alleging the school’s investigation was biased and resulted in the plaintiff being banned from playing softball her senior year.
The lawsuit included screenshots that, according to the plaintiff, prove Phelps was contacting a softball team member in the middle of the night. It showed a text at 11:04 p.m. asking if the student was up and if she could call, followed by a screenshot of a 32-minute phone conversation.
When ABC 10News asked the superintendent directly back in November if she contacted students around midnight on the night of the banquet with bullying claims, she denied it.
Since all of that, the school board says they hired an outside firm to conduct an independent investigation, which resulted in Phelps being placed on paid administrative leave this week. The school district board released a statement on Thursday:
On November 15, 2023, the Governing Board retained an outside law firm to conduct an independent investigation concerning the Del Norte High School softball program, which included but was not limited to the conduct of staff, students, administrators, and the Superintendent. We have reached a sensitive point in the investigation and received information regarding the impact of this process. In an effort to avoid distraction and to ensure continued focus on the District’s business and commitment to serving our students and community, the Board is placing the Superintendent on paid administrative leave, effective immediately. As the investigation is still pending, and student and personnel matters are at issue, the Board is unable to provide further comment at this time.
