School Board Reduces Buyout Offer to Official

The school board, which recently agreed to pay Supt. Linda Gonzales $180,000 to resign, has reduced the amount of the buyout to $150,000.

The board voted 3-2 Tuesday to amend the buyout contract of Gonzales, who earns nearly $100,000 a year. Among those voting for the buyout were Toni Giafoglione and Alfred Cobos, Gonzales supporters who were ousted from office Nov. 4. Their successors, who will take office next month, have said they will seek to remove Gonzales.

Five months ago, Cobos, Giafoglione and another board member voted to extended Gonzales’ contract two years until 2000.

“Gonzales’ friends on the board extended her contract this summer so she would get a big payout if she was forced to leave,” said board member Brenda Johnson, who voted against the buyout.

Gonzales did not return telephone calls.

She came under criticism this summer when she tried to expel 17-year-old student Joe Neal for distributing a leaflet criticizing her. After the American Civil Liberties Union came to his aid, a federal judge ruled Neal could graduate.

The board had earlier rejected a $126,400 claim by Gonzales for legal expenses stemming from a conflict-of-interest probe against her.