San Jose school district’s attorney choice could hit credit rating, tax rates
A decision at a special meeting Thursday could further hurt the shaky credit rating -- and potentially raise taxes -- for the
"I think she knows what she's doing," said trustee
At the last board meeting, trustee
Herrera at the time said he could support either Medina, the firm Lozano Smith, or Rehon and Roberts, which already handles the district's employee negotiations. In an email this week, Ruiz wrote that he has not yet made up his mind. The board is seeking to replace
Medina has served as the attorney for at least eight school districts and cities in the past 16 years. In 2013, Medina was forced out by the
"She wrote up such a faulty contract that benefited Del Terra and didn't do anything to protect our district,"
The same year, the
More recently, the
Medina did not return calls for comment in time for this newspaper's print deadline.
Gundry, who left the county's top education post in November after nearly a year of wrangling with the county school board, declined to comment on Medina.
However, last fall he disputed her contention of harassment.
"Some her claims were just outrageous on the face," he said. He said Medina's claim that he ordered her to address him as "señor" was "laughable" and patently false.
"There's no truth to those assertions," he said at the time.
Nevertheless, Medina appears to have cultivated the support of some Alum Rock board members.
"She understand the bonds, school districts, the county (office of education), she's a resident of Alum Rock and a voter," Tran said.
He said he heard about Medina from fellow trustee
But community critics are alarmed about anyone with links to Del Terra becoming the board's legal adviser.
"The board is following no process whatsoever in qualifying and vetting proposals for this contract," said
The board's choice could affect its credit rating, which already took a four-notch hit in September and could fall further. Administrative as well as school board decisions play a role "particularly in cases where ratings for school districts are in lower investment levels because of management issues," said
S&P also will watch whether the board votes Thursday to issue more bonds for construction -- something that had been on hold with ongoing investigations by the
But "any further delay will lose us millions of dollars" in increased interest and construction costs, said Tran, who wants to issue more bonds.
Last fall, the district's business chief, Kolvira Chheng, noted that without another bond issuance, the district soon would run out of bond proceeds available for construction.
On advice of the
The Alum Rock school board will meet at
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Correction:
An earlier version of this story misstated the name of the law firm of
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