New Sweetwater Superintendent Contract Approved in 3-2 Vote

At a meeting that went past 3 a.m. Tuesday, the Sweetwater Union High School District Board of Trustees voted 3-2 in favor of offering Interim Superintendent Dr. Ed Brand a permanant contract.

No votes came from board president Pearl Quinones and Bertha Lopez. Both are up for reelection in November.

Much of the meeting that started at 6:30 p.m. took place in closed session.

The decision was met with boos from an audience of about 50 people that waited for the vote, U-T San Diego reported.

The paper reported last week that Brand submitted a letter of resignation in July that took effect at the end of August that was not made public.

New state limits pay to individuals receiving state teacher pension funds to $40,011. Brand was being paid $20,000 on a month-to-month basis.

Brand was hired by the school board as an Interim Superintendent in June 2011 on the agreement that he would hold the job until a replacement could be identified, but no search for a replacement ever took place.

Brand was superintendent from 1995 to 2005 and stepped back into the job after Jesus Gandara was fired.

His new two-year contract will pay $252,000 a year with possible increases in the future, about 30 vacation days, health care and other benefits. See the new contract attached here in PDF.

Concern over the superintendent's contract has attracted crowds of teachers, parents, teachers' union and others to recent meetings to oppose a permanent contract.

Some critics said Brand has not reflected the transparency he promised when he took the job last year.

Earlier this month the Prop O Citizens' Bond Oversight Committee voted unanimously to give Brand a vote of no confidence due to a lack of transparency.

At a Sept. 10 meeting, former board member Jaime Mercado offered to act as the district superintendent for free and urged the group not to sign any long terms deals until after possible changes to the board's makeup take place, including charges against Arlie Ricasa and Pearl Quinones and November elections.