Lenita Powers and Emerson Marcus, RGJ

4:50 p.m. update: Barbara Clark, president of the Washoe County School District Board of Trustees, issued the following statement in an email this afternoon concerning the status of Superintendent Pedro Martinez's contract with the school:

"I have requested that our staff place an item on the next WCSD board meeting agenda, scheduled for Tuesday, July 29, so the Board can consider and take possible action regarding the future of the Superintendent's employment contract with the school district. In the meantime, Mr. Martinez remains on leave with pay until further notice."

2:25 p.m. update: Barbara Clark, president of the Washoe County School Board of Trustees, said Wednesday that she did not mean to indicate that Pedro Martinez had been terminated from his job as superintendent when she discussed holding a meeting in the near future to find an interim superintendent.

"At this time, Pedro Martinez has been relieved of his duties, but he is still being paid," she said.

In a video of Tuesday's press conference, Clark was asked by a reporter if there were any plans to find a permanent replacement for Martinez.

"The board will get together shortly in a future date to decide whether we're going to do an interim (replacement), who that might be and what our next steps will be," she said in the videotape.

HOW IT PLAYED OUT: Martinez recounts day leading up to his termination

Clark said Wednesday she didn't realize the reporter had specifically asked if the board would look for a "permanent" replacement for Martinez. When she responded to the question at the press conference, Clark said she said the board would be looking for an "interim" superintendent to replace Martinez.

"We do need to discuss who is going to be stepping in and taking over those duties," she said Wednesday. "So there are issues regarding relieving him of his duties. That is what I was talking about."

Clark said she could not discuss what those issues are.

1:45 p.m. update: The presidents of Reno's university and community college praised Martinez's devotion to students and the improvements in the school district's academic success made under his watch.

Marc Johnson, president of the University of Nevada, Reno, called Martinez "an excellent leader for the Washoe County School District.

Johnson cited the school district's increase in graduation rates and Martinez's cooperation with colleges and universities to improve high school graduates' access to a higher education.

"He has never shown any motivation other than to improve the educational success of his students," Johnson said.

Maria Sheehan, president of Truckee Meadows Community College, said relieving Martinez from his duties is a devastating loss to the Hispanic community.

"Pedro was uniquely qualified to address the educational challenges of second-language learners," she said.

"The partnerships he built with TMCC provided hope for students previously without aspiration for a better future," Sheehan said. "His time as superintendent has been spent creating those better paths for students to achieve their highest potential."

11:36 a.m. Wednesday update: Washoe County School District Superintendent Pedro Martinez was removed in a unanimous decision Tuesday among six board members present for a closed-door, legal meeting, according to the seventh board member, who says she was left out of the decision process.

Estela Gutierrez, a Washoe County School District trustee since 2008, is in Oakland this week for an academic conference. She was told of Martinez's removal during a telephone call Tuesday after the decision had been made, she said today.

"Our biggest job is to hire and fire a superintendent," she said. "I wish they would have included me."

Through conversations she has had, Gutierrez says she has been told six board members unanimously decided to remove Martinez following an ethics workshop. She did not say if there was a formal vote to remove Martinez and only called it a unanimous decision among the board members present.

In an interview with the Reno Gazette-Journal on Tuesday, Martinez said: "I was accused of something that is basically untrue. They accused me of lying about being a licensed CPA."

"This was not an emergency, because it wasn't criminal," Gutierrez said.

"This is an issue I've been bringing up," she said. "We are not following protocols. It's been an issue for years."

When asked what those protocols were, Gutierrez said communication and procedures concerning the board's agenda were two of the reoccurring issues.

"This is where we as a governing body — it can get us in trouble," she said.

Tuesday update:

A guarded Washoe County School District Board of Trustees unexpectedly announced Tuesday that Superintendent Pedro Martinez is out of a job, providing few details for his departure.

"Effective immediately, Pedro Martinez has been relieved of his duties as superintendent of the Washoe County School District," board President Barbara Clark said during a hastily called press conference. "We are in discussions with Mr. Martinez, and for legal reasons we cannot share the details."

However, in a short interview late Tuesday, Martinez said the board claimed he misrepresented his credentials as a certified public accountant when he was a candidate for the position.

"I was accused of something that is basically untrue," Martinez said. "They accused me of lying about being a licensed CPA."

He said he showed board members that he passed the CPA exam and provided them the documentation.

"I am shocked," he said. "I am heartbroken at the same time."

The fallout from Martinez's departure is still unclear, but he said he is speaking to an attorney. His annual salary was $238,000, and his contract ran through July 31, 2016.

Clark said that while the board of trustees considers its options, the district will be led by Traci Davis, the deputy superintendent, who will be in charge of educational matters, and by Kristen McNeill, the district's chief of staff, who will oversee operations.

Clark said the board members plan to meet soon to discuss finding a new superintendent. She said there are no candidates for the job in mind.

The district first announced Martinez's firing on Twitter at 4:46 p.m., and followed up about 15 minutes later with the news conference attended by Clark and other school board members.

The Reno Gazette-Journal learned that six of the seven board members decided to terminate Martinez during a public workshop Tuesday, but no agenda items specified such a decision was going to be made during that meeting. The RGJ previously reported a vote had taken place, but it's no longer clear if a formal vote took place on Tuesday.

When asked which agenda item allowed the trustees to vote on ousting Martinez, a district spokeswoman responded, "The only information we can release now was already released at the news conference."

'I'm in shock'

When contacted Tuesday, most other board members either declined comment or did not return phone calls.

Estella Gutierrez was the only board member who was not at the Tuesday meeting. Late Tuesday, she said she was "blindsided" by the decision.

She said she never received any information on the possible removal of Martinez. She said she would have been in Reno for such an "important decision."

"I'm in shock," said Gutierrez, who was attending an academic conference in Oakland on behalf of Truckee Meadows Community College President Maria Sheehan. "I couldn't even tell you anything at this position other than I am frustrated, and I was not part of that decision, and it was not part of the agenda as well. If something like that was on the agenda, I would have been alerted." ​

Gutierrez, the dean of student services at TMCC who chose not to run for re-election this fall, said she has had "nothing but a positive relationship" with Martinez.

"He's done a great job," she said. "He's had a good rapport with the majority of community."

The news also caught parents and school district employees off guard. Longtime elementary school teacher Theresa Crowley said she received an email from the district informing her that Martinez was being relieved.

"My sister, a fellow parent of WCSD students, texted me as I was reading the district's official statement on my school email," Crowley said. "Just then, my phone started blowing up from my district colleagues wondering what was going on.

"This has come as a complete surprise to me, to all of us. And now we're all left wondering while rumors fly."

Police chief not connected

During the press conference, Clark said the recent firing of Washoe County School District Police Chief Mike Mieras had nothing to do with Martinez's dismissal.

In an interview Tuesday, Mieras said he was surprised by Martinez losing his job.

"I guess it is one of those things the board of trustees has put a lot of thought and effort into," said Mieras, who was the police chief for 12 years before he was fired last month.

Meanwhile, Clark said Martinez's departure will not affect the students, who begin school next month.

"As I have indicated in my prepared statement, we have 8,000 dedicated employees that come to work every day and do their jobs very well, and they do it on behalf of educating our students," Clark said.

"And we cannot assume that there will be any difference between yesterday, today or tomorrow," she said. "That is why they are employed. They willingly come and help us educate our students, and that's not going to change. The structure is here."

A contentious relationship

Martinez's relationship was not always smooth with the board of trustees.

"Superintendent Martinez, you are a good man, there are no ifs and buts about that," Trustee Howard Rosenberg said at Martinez's review earlier this month. "But you can do better, and we can help if you just keep us in the loop. We can be advocates for you, for our vision and the school district."

During the review, Trustee Dave Aiazzi praised Martinez for working with other boards in the community, but said he thought Martinez needed to do better with his own board. Aiazzi was further critical of some of Martinez's public comments and the public perception that the superintendent had not met with people such as Larry Dailey, father of a child with special needs who has long had issues with his daughter's education.

"You have to step up to some things (that) are uncomfortable, too," he said.

Previously, the superintendent was the only person directly accountable to the board, but that changed in October 2013 when the trustees voted to make the district's legal counsel and the chief auditor report to the elected board.

Aiazzi told the Reno Gazette-Journal earlier this year the move was a way to remove one more layer of bureaucracy.

"We want the public to know what they are doing, and without the superintendent in the middle, that can happen with fewer steps."

Clark also told the RGJ, "Our previous superintendent was such a dynamic speaker that I think he captured all of the people's attention. Superintendent Martinez sees us as a team of eight making decisions."

A brief tenure

In June 2009, Martinez was one of six finalists for the Washoe County superintendent position. At the time, he was the chief financial officer for Chicago Public Schools. Heath Morrison ultimately was hired for the Washoe County position, and in October 2009, he hired Martinez as a deputy superintendent.

In May 2011, Martinez departed for Las Vegas, where he served as a deputy superintendent in the Clark County School District. When Morrison left to take a superintendent job in North Carolina, Martinez was hired to replace him in June 2012.

Martinez pushed Assembly Bill 46 through the 2013 Legislature, which ultimately asked the Washoe County Commission to increase sales and property taxes for school repairs. The commission never voted on the matter, and the proposal died.

Martinez also unveiled a school ranking system during his tenure, creating an "acceleration zone" for the district's lowest-performing schools. Martinez also laid out a goal to increase the high school graduation rate to 80 percent by 2016.

Reporters Siobhan McAndrew, Ray Hagar and Guy Clifton contributed to this report.

What happened Tuesday?

Martinez out: The Washoe County School District Board of Trustees voted to dismiss Superintendent Pedro Martinez.

The reason: Martinez said he's accused of lying about being a credentialed certified public accountant. He denies the allegation.

WASHOE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Six of seven school board members voted to terminate Superintendent Pedro Martinez during a public workshop Tuesday, but no agenda items specified such a decision was going to be made during that meeting. Trustee Estela Gutierrez was not at the meeting.

AT A GLANCE: PEDRO MARTINEZ

Age: 44

Professional experience: Washoe County Superintendent, June 29, 2012-July 22, 2014; Clark County deputy superintendent, May 2011-June 2012; Washoe County deputy superintendent, October 2009-May 2011; Chicago Public Schools chief financial officer, 2003-2009; Archdiocese of Chicago, director of finance and technology, 1995-2003.

Education: Bachelor of science, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana; master's in business administration, DePaul University; Public Education Leadership program, Harvard University; fellowship, Broad Superintendents Academy.

Washoe County history: In June 2009, Martinez was one of six finalists for the Washoe County superintendent position. At the time, he was the chief financial officer for Chicago Public Schools. Heath Morrison ultimately was hired for the Washoe County position and in October of 2009, he hired Martinez as a deputy superintendent. In May of 2011, Martinez departed for Las Vegas where he served as a deputy superintendent in the Clark County School District. When Morrison left to take a superintendent job in North Carolina, Martinez was hired to replace him in June 2012.

Source: RGJ research



