At a special closed meeting held on Tuesday afternoon at the district office, San Marino’s Board of Education rejected a claim presented last week by one of its members, Chris Norgaard, which cited civil rights violations, defamation of character and a demand to immediately cease and desist releasing any false incriminating information, including allegations of sexual assault or battery.
The other four board members; Shelley Ryan, Lisa Link, Nam Jack and C. Joseph Chang, voted unanimously to reject the claim at the 90-minute meeting and released the following statement:
“The Board of Education received statements from employees regarding alleged harassment and inappropriate conduct by School Board Member Chris Norgaard. Based on the information provided and on the advice of counsel, the District was advised that the law requires that such allegations must be taken seriously and investigated regardless of who is accused, even a School Board member.
The Board of Education’s first and foremost duty and responsibility is to the District it serves and is deeply disappointed by Mr. Norgaard’s claim against the District. This is an active legal matter and we therefore cannot offer more details other than to state that we fully support the actions of the District, Superintendent Alex Cherniss and Assistant Superintendent Linda de la Torre and intend to vigorously defend against his accusations.”
Norgaard told The Tribune on Tuesday that, through attorneys, he has been asked to recuse himself from closed session meetings of the board called specifically to discuss his legal claim against the district. At the time, however, Norgaard said he was not aware of Tuesday’s meeting. Norgaard has agreed to recuse himself from closed session meetings specifically to discuss his legal action. However, Norgaard on Wednesday was asked to recuse himself from closed session meetings regarding the evaluation of Superintendent Cherniss. (See related story, Pg. 1)
“It is very unfortunate, and we are disappointed that it took School Board action to comment upon the false statements made by Dr. Cherniss and Ms. de la Torre to the press and to law enforcement and to clarify that the District has never received any allegations of sexual harassment, sexual assault, or battery by Mr. Norgaard,” said Guy Glazier, Norgaard’s attorney. “In today’s climate, obviously the actions of the superintendent and assistant superintendent had far-reaching and devastating consequences to Mr. Norgaard, consequences for which the District, Dr. Cherniss, and Ms. de la Torre must be held accountable.”
GlazieralsosaidthattheschoolboardanddistrictdidnotsendacopyofthestatementtoNorgaard.
“NeitherMr.NorgaardnorhiscounselhavebeenadvisedofanySchoolBoardactiononMr.Norgaard’sclaim,butrathercontinuetohearDistrictcommentaryonlythroughthepress,”GlaziertoldTheTribune.
InhisclaimagainsttheSanMarinoUnifiedSchoolDistrictwhichwasdeliveredlastMonday,NorgaardstateshewasdefamedbytheSMUSDwhenhisnamewasmentionedinapressreleasethatstatedNorgaardwasbeinginvestigatedforsexualharassment.
San Marino Police Chief John Incontro confirmed to The Tribune that his department did investigate the claims brought to their attention by the school district.
“We did a very thorough investigation,” Incontro said during a telephone interview this week. “We investigated potential witnesses, potential victims. We contacted some people that didn’t want to talk to us. We spent a good amount of time on this. I consulted with my lead detective and we decided there was nothing to be gained by interviewing Mr. Norgaard. We decided to present our investigation to the District Attorney to see if they wanted us to do anything further, like interviewing Mr. Norgaard.”
On Tuesday, April 24, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office announced it had declined to prosecute Norgaard due to “lack of sufficient evidence” according to the DA’s charge evaluation worksheet, which The Tribune requested and received.
In the narrative for the DA’s declination, it reads, “Victim, a San Marino school district employee, reports that a district board member, the suspect, contacted her in two separate occasions, in an inappropriate manner. The first incident occurred in October 2015 at which time suspect hugged and kissed vic[tim] on the lips. A second and similar incident occurred in 2016/2017. Victim reports that she did not believe the contact was for sexual gratification. Victim is non-desirous of prosecution. Victim signed a Refusal to Prosecute form. Victim requests confidentiality. No criminal filing recommended, therefore. San Marino Police Department concurs.”
Assistant Editor Steve Whitmore contributed to this story.
