Tucson Weekly: High School Confidential (January 14

High School Confidential

Former Principal Ed Arriaga Is Demanding Tax Dollars Because Someone Leaked TUSD's Sex-Harassment Settlements On His Behalf.
By Chris Limberis
BROKE AND NO longer a Tucson Unified School District bigshot, Edward R. Arriaga is demanding $150,000 from taxpayers because confidential information about sexual harassment complaints against him was leaked to The Weekly and The Arizona Daily Star last year.
Arriaga, whose 31-year TUSD career ended with a stint as interim principal at Sahuaro High School, was the target of two sexual harassment complaints that TUSD settled for $50,000 and $17,900 in 1996 and 1997.
Arriaga did not return a call from The Weekly. He has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
Currents Settlement papers, investigative reports and attorney recommendations leaked last year touched off a flurry of media coverage sparked by TUSD's costly and failed court battle to block the Star from publishing a story on the harassment complaints and investigation details. While the Star hesitated, The Weekly published a story about complaints against Arriaga and details of the subsequent cash settlements.
As a result, Arriaga's lawyer, Stephen M. Weiss, said in the claim that Arriaga, "a fifth-generation Tucsonan, suffered severe emotional distress and substantial and irreparable damage to his person and professional reputation. Additionally, TUSD's conduct caused Mary Arriaga to suffer emotional distress as she witnessed her husband's humiliation and found her name published in various periodicals in connection with items detailed in the confidential documents."
It remains unclear who released the documents. They were sent by mail to the Star last summer and in the fall to The Weekly. Included in material provided to the Star was damaging information from attorneys that TUSD ignored state and federal law by failing to fully investigate the complaints against Arriaga.
Arriaga was left at Sahuaro High while then-TUSD Board President Joel Tracy Ireland was able to get approval to order an investigation into who leaked the documents. But that effort also appears merely to have added to the waste of tax dollars already spent trying to conceal complaints against Arriaga and the settlements. TUSD administrative sources say the investigation did nothing to provide answers. Board President Mary Belle McCorkle said this week there is no evidence that documents were leaked by the TUSD Board or staff.
Weiss, a talented and experienced defense lawyer, said the Arriagas will accept $150,000 to settle their claims of invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, intentional interference with contractual relations and breach of contract."
The magnanimity ends there, according to Weiss. If the offer is rejected, Weiss said: "I do not feel bound by this figure and will seek a higher verdict from a jury."
The Arriagas could use the money. They filed for bankruptcy protection on September 1, listing $380,025 in assets and $166,044 in debts. Weiss isn't their only high-priced lawyer. Arriaga and his wife, Mary Agnes, a real-estate agent, also are entangled in a Superior Court suit that alleges she mishandled assets and misspent funds from an aunt's estate.
The TUSD Governing Board has one more month to decide what to do with Arriaga's claim before Weiss could file a lawsuit. The Board, with lame ducks Brenda Even and Gloria Copeland ending their terms, discussed the Arriaga claim in a closed session last month. Voters replaced Even, who did not seek re-election, and Copeland with Carolyn Kemmeries and Rosalie Lopez. Kemmeries is a retired TUSD administrator who once worked with Arriaga.
DON AWERKAMP IS an employment law specialist who represents two women--Paula Morris and Sue Carda--who were paid after they filed complaints against Arriaga and TUSD. Told of Arriaga's claim for $150,000, Awerkamp said TUSD should pay Arriaga so that he could pay Morris and Carda.
When Ireland and Copeland sprinted to Arriaga's defense last fall, Morris' and Carda's complaints weren't just discounted. They were trashed. Awerkamp then offered a novel solution for Morris: Ireland, who has two years remaining in his term, Copeland and Arriaga could resign or Morris would seek $150,000.
Awerkamp said this week that he's preparing to resubmit an offer and added he's hopeful the addition of Kemmeries and Lopez to the Board would lead to more favorable consideration. When the Arriaga matter erupted into a campaign issue last year, Kemmeries and Lopez made it clear they would handle the case much differently.
Morris, a teacher, worked for Arriaga when he was principal at Rincon High School. She filed a suit alleging Arriaga and two of his administrators harassed her and discriminated against her. TUSD paid her $50,000 to settle the claim in 1996. The settlement agreement was kept secret and the Star unsuccessfully sued for its release.
The Ireland-led Board then promoted Arriaga to executive director of TUSD Human Resources. There, Arriaga allegedly sexually harassed another subordinate, according to a complaint filed by class and compensation manager Sue Carda. In another secret agreement, TUSD reached a settlement with Carda that totaled $17,900 in 1997.
Arriaga resigned that year in a move that, despite his long career, was seen as abrupt. He cashed out nearly $90,000 in pay for sick time.
But it wasn't long before Ireland and Copeland got TUSD administrators to lure Arriaga back, first as interim principal at Santa Rita High School. He then moved to Sahuaro to fill the vacancy created when Principal Joan Richardson was promoted to Arriaga's former job as head of TUSD Human Resources.
Because of repeated delays by the Board in selecting a permanent Sahuaro principal, the Arriaga issue added to parents' complaints. Arriaga and his supporters contended last year that he was not a candidate for the permanent post.
But in the claim he filed for Arriaga, Weiss says the release of information surrounding the harassment complaints came at a time when Arriaga "was actively seeking to continue employment with TUSD as principal of Sahuaro High School" and "interfered with his employment agreement with TUSD and interfered with the (settlement) agreement."
Arriaga also has begun a quiet campaign to shore up community support, according to Pima County Supervisor Raul Grijalva, a Democrat who served three terms on the TUSD Board ending in 1986.

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