Court strikes down Barrera's lawsuit

SAN FRANCISCO – The election is over, again.

San Francisco Superior Court Judge Peter J. Busch today called the lawsuit by Glenn County Superintendent of Schools Arturo Barrera against the state Commission on Teacher Credentialing a “boiled over political fight,” and denied his demand that the state agency investigate the validity of Tracey Quarne’s administrative credential.

“The judge’s decision signals the election is over; it’s time to move on in a positive direction,” Quarne said after the decision was handed down.

He is scheduled to be sworn in on Jan. 3.

Barrera, in his capacity as Superintendent of Schools, requested the commission investigate whether or not Quarne’s credential was legitimate, or as Barrera claimed, that Quarne had falsified his application for a preliminary administrative credential.

Barrera further asserted that Orland Unified School District Superintendent Chris Von Kleist conspired with Quarne to falsely obtain a bogus administrative position with Orland’s distance learning program.

Von Kleist has strongly denied the allegation.

All the inquiries, filed with the commission during Barrera’s re-election campaign, appear to be funded by the Glenn County Office of Education.

The county Board of Education on Wednesday, adopted a resolution 4-1 with Gene Massa dissenting, stating that Barrera was within his authority as the Superintendent of Schools to review credentials and to call for the investigation by the state agency.

“The Board finds the subject matter of the credential in question is within the lawful duties and responsibilities of the Glenn County Superintendent of Schools, and the filing of the CTC Petition is proper given the CTC’s inaction on a documented complaint on that credential, and accordingly the Superintendent’s filing of the CTC Petition is ratified and approved.”

However, Massa and Director Kathy Perez said they knew nothing about the lawsuit until it had been filed on Nov. 2. The other board members have not commented.

The procedure the state agency uses calls for the staff to review all complaints and determine if a full investigation is warranted.

The commission staff essentially determined Quarne’s credential was in good standing and there was no merit in conducting such an investigation.

Barrera disagreed and filed the lawsuit in an effort to force the commission to investigate.

Busch said his decision was not easy, but decided Barrera’s interpretation of the law guiding such investigations was wrong, and that is was unreasonable to expect the commission to investigate every complaint it receives.

That was the basic argument offered by Deputy Attorney General Cheryl Feiner, who represented the commission at the hearing.

She argued that not only was Barrera’s interpretation incorrect, but impractical because the commission could not possibly investigate all the complaints.

The state agency receives 4,000 to 6,000 complaints annually, Feiner said.

Barrera did not attend the proceeding, and did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Jill Rowe of Cooper White and Cooper of San Francisco, who represented Barrera, also declined to comment on the decision or whether the matter will be appealed.

The resolution adopted by the Board of Education states that it was “appropriate” for Barrera to hire the firm to first ask for an investigation from the commission, and then file the lawsuit to force an investigation.

Barrera has refused to release financial records on how much the lawsuit and related matters have cost the taxpayers even when served a California Public Records Act request