Chula Vista school board renews superintendent contract after contested debate, 3-2

The Chula Vista Elementary School District Board of Education renewed Superintendent Eduardo Reyes’s employment contract in a 3-2 vote after a lengthy public and board discussion about contract dates, salary language and transparency. The board meeting included requests from trustees for legal review and a pause to correct what some members called inconsistencies with previously approved figures.

Board members questioned several elements of the draft contract, including differing effective dates compared with the version the board had approved previously and a salary provision that ties future increases to percentages negotiated for represented employees. A trustee said the contract’s start and end dates did not match the version the board approved in May and asked legal counsel to examine whether the discrepancies required an amendment. Another trustee said the superintendent’s pay increase should not be linked to the teachers’ bargaining outcome because the positions are in different categories.

Board counsel and staff said the contract had some clerical and numbering errors that could be corrected; they advised that an inadvertent date or signature mistake does not necessarily void an otherwise binding agreement. Staff also explained that a formula to align nonrepresented administrators’ increases with settled agreements for represented employees has precedent in past board practice and in local district policy. The board discussed whether to delay action to allow public review of the redlined contract; members were told the district had made copies available and that the negotiation reflected prior board direction.

After discussion the board moved to vote. The motion to renew the contract carried 3-2. The board recorded the outcome as a formal renewal for a three-year term with annual reviews; staff said the district will correct typographical errors and will return any necessary amendments for ratification if legal review finds substantive discrepancies.

No public speakers addressed this specific item during the discussion; several trustees asked that staff provide corrected contract language and documentation to the public and to the board prior to the next meeting.

The board scheduled an annual review and said it will circulate corrected contract documents and a summary of edits to the public record.