A San Diego-area school district superintendent was fired this week, nearly a year after students say she threatened to ban them from graduation ceremonies after inappropriately applauding her daughter during a banquet.
The board that oversees the Poway Unified School District, which has about 35,000 students, voted unanimously to fire Marian Kim Phelps during a closed meeting Tuesday.
In a statement read by President Michelle O’Connor-Ratcliff, the board said it “has lost all confidence in Dr. Phelps’ ability to continue in his role as superintendent.”
The vote followed a board-initiated investigation into Phelps’ actions, which began Nov. 15 and ended April 18.
“The investigation uncovered previously unknown evidence with witnesses with direct first-hand knowledge that contradicted Dr. Phelps’ statements and assertions to the board, district staff and the public,” the board’s statement said.
The commission said it would not comment further or provide additional information regarding the investigation because minors were involved.
The school district did not respond to an email or phone call seeking additional comment this week. A phone call to a number listed for Phelps was also not returned.
Players, coaches and parents allege that Phelps intimidated and harassed members of the softball team at Del Norte High School, a Poway Unified campus in San Diego, during a post-season team banquet. season on May 30, 2023. Phelps, according to players, was upset. that his daughter, who was named team MVP that night, did not receive the applause from her teammates that Phelps deemed adequate.
According to players, the perceived levity prompted Phelps to launch an investigation — and threaten to ban seniors from their graduation ceremonies.
Parents, a player and two softball coaches raised the issue with the school board November 9 Board of Directors Meeting – alleging wrongdoing on the part of Phelps. The commission then launched its investigation.
Senior shortstop Miranda Mosqueda was flanked by six teammates that evening as she initially described the banquet as the best she had ever attended.
Mosqueda said the superintendent’s investigation “made 10 seniors’ lives hell, threatening to forbid them from getting their own diplomas” unless they said they deliberately did not applauded Phelps’ daughter. She said no one realized a player “didn’t get enough applause.”
Tom Peronto, then Del Norte’s softball coach, called the investigation launched by Phelps “flawed” and questioned how it could be considered legitimate or complete.
“As coaches presenting the awards, we had the best view of the events of the evening,” he said at the Nov. 9 meeting. “Yet not a single coach was consulted about the events of that evening.”
An unnamed minor student sued Phelps, the high school, the school district and the board of trustees in San Diego County Superior Court, alleging intentional and negligent emotional distress, neglect of proper training of district employees and violation of his rights under the 1st Amendment.
The student alleged that she and Phelps’ daughter were competing for the same position on the softball team. Phelps and her daughter felt offended when they thought members of the softball team were more supportive of other players than Phelps’ daughter, according to the lawsuit.
Phelps believed there was a conspiracy against his daughter to withhold applause, according to the lawsuit.
The banquet ended that evening around 9 p.m. Phelps texted a female player about two hours later and talked to her for more than half an hour, trying to prove his theory, according to the lawsuit.
That summer, according to the lawsuit, Phelps followed the social media accounts of private travel softball teams that the plaintiff also played for, ultimately leading those teams to block Phelps.
The end result of Phelps’ investigation, the lawsuit states, was to offer the plaintiff the opportunity to admit that she bullied Phelps’ daughter or else be banned from the team’s softball team. high school for his senior year.
Phelps reportedly followed through on the threat. The lawsuit includes correspondence from Del Norte’s principal to the plaintiff on Aug. 15, in which she indicated she was banned from extracurricular activities for not signing an “Other Means of Correction” document, in which she would agree to refrain from “intimidation, intimidation, harassment, threats and derogatory remarks.”
Ultimately, the plaintiff said she signed the form under duress to join the team.
Phelps was placed on paid administrative leave in February. The named district Associate superintendent. Greg Mizel to the position on an interim basis the same month.
Phelps was hired at Poway in 2017after four years as superintendent of the Westminster School District.
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