McAteer opposition peters out at ICSOS meeting

Six months after The Inyo Register published anonymous allegations regarding a racist comment made by Inyo County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Terry McAteer during a staff meeting with Bishop High School faculty members, The Inyo Register has proven that the “power of the press” may not be the feared potent weapon many claim, regardless of how many barrels of ink at its disposal. This in spite of the fact that initial allegations quickly escalated to charges of nepotism, cronyism, ageism, misuse of a County vehicle by McAteer’s wife, bullying and intimidation of employees, and charges of extravagant spending on trips and receptions.

At Tuesday’s Inyo County Superintendent of Schools (ICSOS) Board of Trustees meeting in Independence to discuss the budget, the public (based on attendance) continued to show little interest in the newspaper’s allegations as, once again, only three members of the public attended, two of whom were at the Board’s meeting in May, held in Bishop.

Over eight-dozen programs, budget items and initiatives were presented at Tuesday’s meeting, many pioneered by McAteer with the support of the Board, totaling some $30 million ($21 million/Charter Schools and $9 million Inyo County Office of Education), which includes both schools and districts within the County and the YouthBuild Charter Schools in Los Angeles overseen by the ICSOS.

While not outnumbered two-to-one by the press as noted at last month’s ICSOS Board meeting, essentially the same prepared comments were made by Bishop resident Greg Colbert, who was once again accompanied by his wife Becky, expressing displeasure with the Board’s response to their concerns made at last month’s ICSOS meeting asking for a public meeting to ask questions that they and others have about discretionary spending by this government entity.

Colbert further accused the Board of violating the Brown Act by “discussing matters in closed session that the public has clearly requested the right to comment and ask questions about during an open session of this Board.”

Colbert went on to accuse the Board of “hiding behind news releases about Dr. McAteer’s accomplishments,” and to charge McAteer with giving lengthy interviews which are “unprofessional, unethical and insensitive about personnel issues” in apparent reference, at least in part, to comments surrounding their son-in-law Zachary Quintana’s firing by the County School Superintendent last year at the behest of the Bishop Union High School District.

Quintana, a popular ROP/CTE multi-media and graphic design teacher at Bishop High School, was terminated, according to a statement released by Bishop Union School District Superintendent Barry Simpson, stating that “His activities online reflect a serious lack of judgment, a lack of professionalism and an inability to be a positive role model to our students.” The online activity to which Simpson was referring was a photo posted on Quintana’s Instagram account showing a young boy holding a fig leaf with the caption “FTP” (F**k the Police).

Quintana responded that his firing was orchestrated by County Superintendent McAteer, who he claims “had it out for him.” His wife Corrine, a teacher at BUHS, commented online that “It was a joke about the hostility that law enforcement has to deal with on a regular basis.”

Whichever side of the issue readers take on Quintana’s firing, it was the combined fact that The Inyo Register published a political cartoon by Quintana, who had been terminated by McAteer, depicting him as a “Hitler-like figure dressed in a brown shirt talking down to Hispanics” that triggered the outrage at The Inyo Register’s coverage and greatly complicated the issues surrounding the story.

McAteer, the ICSOS Board, and many in the community, including many the newspaper’s readers and advertisers, were deeply offended by the cartoon and the newspaper has faced a firestorm of criticism for how it has handled the issue.

Among several errors with the Register’s continued coverage of McAteer’s alleged misconduct were the use of a photograph of an “ICOS official vehicle” allegedly used by Liz McAteer for “personal use” by yet another anonymous source, but which in fact belonged to a private party; as well as the misstating of facts on the purchase of the official vehicle bought for McAteer’s use; jumping on a report that McAteer was under grand jury investigation without double-checking what is supposed to be a confidential proceeding (which proved untrue); and sharing that story with The Union newspaper, which serves West Nevada County, the former home county where McAteer served four terms as the Superintendent of Schools prior to taking the position in Inyo County.

Not surprisingly, things have become very personal for many involved on both sides of the story.

In further comments to the Board, Colbert argued “There are many unanswered questions,” and that community members want information answers so they can “decide if the Superintendent of Schools has been using his position to make or give jobs to family members of close friends or spending ICOE funds in a way that has benefitted Liz McAteer and the Inyo Council for the Arts, among other things…”

After being questioned by Bishop Resident Jerry Winstead, the only other member of the public present at the meeting, on why McAteer and the Board have not responded specifically to the questions posed by The Inyo Register, McAteer said that he and the Board “simply have no confidence in the fairness of the newspaper.”

Having said that, however, McAteer then turned to the Colberts to say that he would be willing to meet with them and others on his return from summer vacation sometime in August, as well as The Inyo Register, to answer questions.

McAteer also confirmed during the meeting that he plans to leave office at the end of the 2015-2016 school year, although there is a possibility that he might be asked by the Board to remain as a consultant for the administration of the charter schools in Los Angeles, (considered under state law to be Inyo County students).

McAteer is retiring after 14 years with Nevada County and six years with Inyo County. McAteer’s predecessor, George Lozito, also retired two years before the end of his term to help select the next Superintendent, as McAteer intends to do.

The YouthBuild Charter Schools have proven a reliable source of additional funding for many of the programs and activities within Inyo County under McAteer’s leadership. That revenue and other grants and funding sources have provided support to establish free Wi-Fi in downtown Bishop and Lone Pine, add technology and rennovate public libraries used by students, counseling services, provide laptops for high school students, and in the upcoming year, replace Wi-Fi receivers at all schools, fund a new Preschool in Big Pine, create a 50 percent match ($200,000) with the Lone Pine Unified School District for the Lo-Inyo Middle School Science Center, a 50 percent match ($300,000) for the Bishop High Tech Center in the old library, and more.

The 2015-2016 budget also set aside $10,000 towards recruitment costs for a State-wide search for County Superintendent to complete McAteer’s final two years of his office.