VISTAVISTA — A Superior Court judge on Wednesday refused to ease a temporary restraining order against Escondido Union School District trustee Jose Fragozo, who has been barred from district property after top s said he threatened and intimidated them.
Fragozo has denied the allegations and had asked the court to modify the order so that he can attend district board meetings. In a hearing Wednesday, Superior Court of San Diego County Judge Richard Whitney ruled Fragozo could only call in to the meetings.
In seeking the restraining order, district Superintendent Luis Rankins-Ibarra said Fragozo has made multiple threats against district executives from almost the first day that Rankins-Ibarra assumed the superintendent’s job on July 1, 2014.
“There is credible evidence of threats,” said Gil Abed, the lawyer with the Stutz Artiano Shinoff and Holtz law firm representing the Escondido Union School District.
The 21-page complaint says Fragozo made threats against the superintendent’s life, tried to interfere with district business, and barged into management meetings.
In recent months, Rankins-Ibarra said, he and other district executives have had to be escorted to their cars after late board meetings because they feared for their lives.
Fragozo’s attorney, Kirsten Andelman said the allegations are baseless and likely stem from the fact that Fragozo has been critical of the superintendent and district policies.
“This is all about political differences. Maybe he’s been watching too many ‘Godfather’ movies,” she said of Rankin-Ibarra. “The pleadings read like fantasy.”
Elected to a four-year term in 2012, Fragozo is now the board’s vice president and has said he was in line to become the district’s first Latino board president at today’s board meeting.
“I believe the istration has expressed continuing anger at me since I voted … against a four-year contract extension for the superintendent,” Fragozo said at a news conference in downtown Escondido on Wednesday.
“I still have one year to fulfill as a board member. I need to continue to do the job I was elected to do,” he said. “They still need to focus on curriculum changes, spending education money wisely, and making sure our students are safe. They need to start doing their jobs.”
Last week, Rankins-Ibarra said in a telephone interview that he was intimidated, harassed and bullied by Fragozo.
On one occasion, Rankins-Ibarra said, he became “so consumed with fear as I had this vision of him walking into my office and either shooting me or punching me.”
Three other district executives ed the complaint: Kevin Rubow, assistant superintendent of human resources; Leila Sackfield, deputy superintendent of education services; and Kelly Prins, assistant superintendent of student services.
The document doesn’t list any incidents in which Fragozo explicitly threatened violence, but outlines a number of situations in which the board member allegedly raised his voice and was “very angry and loud.”
Some civic leaders defended Fragozo this week and said the reaction of s seems overblown.
“The restraining order seems to be an exaggeration. I do not believe Mr. Fragozo to be a violent or threatening person,” said Escondido Councilwoman Olga Diaz.
“Maybe my lens is tainted by my own political experience, but it seems he has done nothing more than be curt in expressing his disappointment with district staff and performance,” Diaz said. “It’s his job to provide oversight and being polite, although recommended, is optional in politics.”
Diaz also said she was concerned about the expense being incurred by the district on lawyers and mailers sent to 17,000 parents notifying them of Fragozo’s ban from district affairs.
Don Greene, president of the Escondido Taxpayers Association, said he is concerned about the misuse of taxpayer dollars to file frivolous requests for restraining orders and other legal actions in “a clear attempt to silence Mr. Fragozo’s voice” on the school district’s board.
Greene ran unsuccessfully for city council in 2012, and has been a proponent of cutting city government waste — including pushing for the consolidation of the elementary school district and the Escondido Union High School District.
The temporary order is effective through Dec. 18, when Whitney will decide whether to make it permanent.
