Ex-Washoe County School District Superintendent Pedro Martinez — suddenly ousted this week by six members of the district school board — today sued the district for violating the Nevada Open Meeting Law, for defamation and for breaching the board’s contract with him.
The six members acted when the one Hispanic member of the district board was in California.
Although state law requires that substantive matters be agendized and citizens informed of the agenda item several business days in advance of a public meeting, the six district trustees called Martinez into a sudden meeting Tuesday, and accused him of misrepresenting his credentials as a certified public accountant, and began demanding he resign.
Then, on Wednesday, Board President Barbara Clark said Martinez had been placed on paid administrative leave and that the board would discuss Martinez’s employment contract at its next board meeting on Tuesday.
But on Friday, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal, which has done extensive reporting on the matter “Martinez said the Nevada Attorney General’s Office contacted the Board of Trustees and asked it to pull the agenda item regarding his employment contract. He said the attorney general’s office warned the board that discussing the item would be a violation of Open Meeting Law because the proper notice had not been given.”
For multiple Gazette-Journal stories on the firing, the possible real reasons behind it and more, go to the paper’s website, here.
For an illuminating interview with Martinez done soon after the firing by TV pundit Jon Ralston, go here.