Poway Unified School District Superintendent Marian Kim Phelps is on paid administrative leave, effective immediately, the district’s board announced Thursday evening.
The action comes as a law firm is investigating the Del Norte High School softball program following allegations that Phelps harassed members of the team following an end-of-season awards banquet in May.
Phelps has denied the accusations.
The investigation by the Dannis Woliver Kelley firm includes, but is not limited to, the conduct of district staff, students, administrators and the superintendent, according to a statement by Poway Unified trustees.
“We have reached a sensitive point in the investigation and received information regarding the impact of this process,” the board said in the statement. “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.”
Marian Kim Phelps, superintendent of Poway Unified School District.
(Courtesy PUSD)
Alan Stockton, head coach of the Del Norte High junior varsity softball team for 13 years, said the paid leave is “a good start.”
“I don’t know why it took them so long to come to this conclusion,” Stockton said by phone Thursday evening after he heard the news. “This has been going on for seven or eight months now.”
Stockton said the investigation should be focused on the superintendent, not just the softball program.
“I’m glad the girls are going to hopefully see what they stood up for is coming to justice,” he said. “They’re the ones most affected by all of this.”
In November, a softball player filed a lawsuit accusing Phelps of pursuing a campaign of punishment and harassment against her and her teammates because they did not clap loudly enough for her daughter, softball player Jessica Phelps, at the banquet.
And at recent school board meetings, softball players, parents and coaches alleged that Phelps harassed players in the weeks following the banquet in an effort to get them to admit that they had conspired not to applaud Jessica. They have accused her of texting and calling another player late on the night of the banquet.
Phelps said her daughter was being bullied by another Del Norte High student leading up to and after the event.
“Never at any time have I made threats towards any student nor tried to prevent them from graduating,” Phelps said in a statement in November.
Trustees hired the outside law firm in December to do the investigation.
Christine Paik, a Poway Unified spokesperson, said an interim or replacement superintendent has not yet been announced.
“I imagine the board will do so in the coming days,” Paik said in a text message regarding the announcement.
Phelps has been superintendent of the 36,000-student district since April 2017.
