CUSD elects next board president after district-wide controversy

CARMEL, CALIF. (KION-TV)- The Carmel Unified School Board District elected its next board president Wednesday night.

Previous Board Clerk Sara Hinds will now take over.

Hinds originally stepped in as the Interim Board President after Tess Arthur resigned last month amidst serious tension within the school district community regarding the dismissal of former Carmel High School School Principal Jonathan Lyons, and frustrations against Superintendent Ted Knight.

Hinds was the acting board clerk until she won a three-to-one vote for the board president position.

Her second in command will now be Karl Pallastrini. Who also won a three-to-one vote.

Board President resigns and Superintendent being investigated at Carmel Unified School District

The Carmel Unified School District held its weekly school board meeting Wednesday night with people looking to express their concerns with the district.

Before that happened, Board President Tess Arthur made a surprise announcement.

“I am resigning from the Board of Education,” Arthur said.

Once she was done with her announcement, she left the meeting, and all responsibilities were given to the next in line Sara Hinds.

This didn’t stop parents like Shelly, and Mia Bagliedo from being concerned over the dismissal of Jonathan Lyons…but also their frustration with Superintendent Ted Knight.

“With Ted Knight making comments saying concerned parents are trying to ruin public education, I question the board if Ted Knight is upholding his Superintendent responsibilities,” Shelly said.

“He has mercilessly destroyed a man's career,” Bagliedo said. “For what exactly? We’ll never know the whole story. The situation with Mr. Lyons could’ve been so much better and certainly with more humanity.”

Even Lyons himself took some time to speak to the board and the public. His message being to be given a chance to fix his mistakes.

“You may have uncovered things that I was unaware of and that’s on me because I’m the principal and at the end of the day that stops with me and Karl you can speak to that,” Lyons said. “And I understand that it’s my responsibility to manage my staff, to keep track of things, and it's my responsibility to do that. I’m asking for the chance to keep doing that.”

Ted Knight did send out a statement regarding the investigation. He says that he stands behind the decisions and processes that he, his staff, and board have made.

Knight also says he advocates bringing in a third-party reviewer to audit the actions and decisions made by the district.