Jose Fernandez, the embattled former Centinela Valley School District superintendent accused of manipulating his pay and benefits one year to nearly $750,000, has died, according to an attorney representing him during criminal proceedings.
His attorney, Vicki Podberesky, confirmed Friday, Dec. 26, that Fernandez had died, but could not confirm the date. A spokesperson for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said the office was informed Fernandez had passed away on Dec. 18. He was 65.
Court documents filed by his defense team, obtained by the Southern California News Group, indicated Fernandez was undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer in October. Once the death is confirmed with a certified death certificate, the case will be dismissed.
Former Centinela Valley Union High School District Superintendent Jose Fernandez speaks with his attorney, Vicki Poderesky, during his preliminary hearing on Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019. (Photo by Brittany Murray, Press-Telegram/SCNG)Though seven of the original 12 charges against Fernandez were dismissed, he was waiting for years to stand trial on two counts of grand theft of money, labor or property, two counts of misappropriation of public funds and one count of grand theft by embezzlement of public funds, court records show. His next court appearance for a pretrial hearing was scheduled for Jan. 9.
Seven other counts, including six for conflict of interest and one for public officer crime against revenue or property of state, had been dismissed, court records show. Three of those counts were dismissed by Superior Court Judge Stephen A. Marcus after a preliminary hearing that stretched over four months in 2019.
The judge noted that while some of the blame fell on school board members who didn’t ask “hard questions” before approving his employment contract, Fernandez was not completely acting in good faith when negotiating for the contract, which was approved in 2009.
“At the end of the day, this is a sad situation for the Centinela school district and the people who live there,” Marcus said.
The other four counts were dismissed in 2020, court records show.
Fernandez’s earnings in 2013 were first reported by the Daily Breeze in February 2014, showing the superintendent that year made $663,000 in pay and benefits, a number that later was increased to $750,000, for leading the low-income district with just three high schools in Lawndale and Hawthorne.
The coverage won the Daily Breeze a Pulitzer Prize for local reporting in 2015.
By comparison, compensation packages for other superintendents of school districts in Torrance, Redondo Beach and Palos Verdes were all in the $200,000s. And the superintendent of the massive Los Angeles Unified School District, which enrolled 650,000 students at the time compared to Centinela’s 6,600, made less than $390,000 in total compensation.
Following reporting of his earnings, Fernandez in a March 2014 school board meeting announced he would cut many of the perks in his contract, bringing his salary down to $295,000, to a chorus of jeers. He also said that night that the total amount of compensation in 2013 had been exaggerated by the media.
The school board fired Fernandez in August 2014 after reviewing a lengthy investigative report based on an internal investigation conducted by the district into his compensation.
Fernandez, in 2015, filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the district demanding it reinstate him as superintendent while claiming the district used him as a scapegoat when it fired him in response to public outrage over his salary and compensation.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office began investigating Fernandez after it received a copy of the Daily Breeze articles. He was arrested in August 2017.
In a court filing on Oct. 9, one of Fernandez’s attorneys, Dillon Malar, said Fernandez was undergoing treatments for pancreatic cancer, had surgery on July 17 to remove a tumor from his pancreas, and was back in the hospital to determine whether the cancer had spread.
Fernandez, who also served at one point as an Inglewood City Council member, had also dealt with a serious heart condition.
This Ladera Heights home owned by former Centinela Valley school Superintendent Jose Fernandez was purchased with a loan of $910,000 from the school district at 2% interest. (File photo by Brad Graverson)Among the benefits in the contract was a $910,000 home loan at 2% interest that Fernandez used to purchase a $1.6 million house in Ladera Heights and a $750,000 life insurance policy that Fernandez took out before the school board could approve it.
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Former Centinela Valley superintendent ordered to stand trial on corruption charges Lawyer questioned ‘unusual’ home loan in former Centinela Valley superintendent’s contract Testimony: County office questioned ex-Centinela Valley superintendent’s contract long before pay scandal How ousted Superintendent Jose Fernandez turned short work calendar into cash Centinela Valley schools chief amassed $663,000 in compensation in 2013Some of the pay perks were buried within four large binders sent to board members with proposed changes to district bylaws and revisions, according to testimony at the hearings. At least one board member said she tried to plod through the material, but felt overwhelmed and gave up.
A former Centinela Valley school board member who initially defended Fernandez during the public outcry testified during his preliminary hearing that she “felt used” by Fernandez and his administration. Maritza Molina said the ordeal was largely responsible for her decision to step down from the board in 2016.
“I felt so disappointed in the system and the loss of trust,” she said at the time.
Fernandez also kept board members from accessing the district’s attorneys and forced all communication to go through him.
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