EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OUSTED; SIX ON PALMDALE EDUCATION FOUNDATION BOARD RESIGN.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer

The Palmdale Education Foundation board ousted embattled Executive Director Diana Beard-Williams during a 1-1/2-hour closed session, after which the resignations of six board members were submitted or announced.

The 10-6 vote behind closed doors came after foundation President Kathleen Duren rejected a request by Beard-Williams' attorney to hold deliberations in public and threatened to have a sheriff's deputy remove the attorney and Beard-Williams' husband from the room.

Beard-Williams, who did not attend the foundation meeting Thursday night, said Duren and Palmdale School District Superintendent Nancy Smith had decided the outcome of the vote before it took place.

``I had to be vilified in the press in order to destroy my reputation and the image people had of me,'' Beard-Williams said Friday. ``Nancy Smith and Kathleen Duren had to orchestrate this vilification approach in order to get to the final act of last night, which, according to the bylaws, common sense and protocol, should have been the first act.''

The foundation board voted to dismiss Beard-Williams ``without prejudice,'' meaning without accusing her of any wrongdoing.

The six board members who voted against dismissing her were Ruby Flowers, Emmanuel Ikharebha, Boyd Johnson, Madeleine Tattoon, Barbara Walsh and Michael Williams. Smith was not present but voted by proxy to release Beard-Williams.

Six members submitted their resignations or had their resignations announced. They were Johnson, Tattoon, vice president Walsh, treasurer Bill Hunt, Annamarie Johnson and Helen Acosta, who also is a Palmdale School District trustee.

With no executive director, the remaining board members will form a task force on reorganization to discuss whether to replace Beard-Williams or eliminate the executive post, Duren said after the meeting.

The vote was preceded by two other motions that failed, the first to place Beard-Williams on leave and the second to place her on leave pending the outcome of her status with the Palmdale School District.

Beard-Williams was placed on paid leave in December by Smith from her $59,347 district job as public relations director.

Smith charged Beard-Williams with misconduct and harassing district employees, though Beard-Williams complained that she has not been told exactly what she is accused of doing wrong. Beard-Williams said that one of the complainants is Duren.

District trustees said last week that Smith is scheduled to make a recommendation to the school board in early April after an investigation is completed by school district attorneys.

Before the board adjourned to closed session, Beard-Williams' attorney, Dawn Reichman, requested the board hold its discussion on her client in open session, but Duren refused and asked the crowd of more than 30 people to leave the room at the Palmdale School District office.

``Are you saying I can't represent my client?'' Reichman asked.

``I have nothing under (Beard-Williams') signature that authorizes you to act on her behalf,'' Duren said.

Reichman and Beard-Williams' husband remained in the room after everyone else departed but left after Duren said she was going to ask the sheriff's deputy in attendance to clear the room.

Outside, Reichman said Beard-Williams did not attend the meeting because she felt it was going to be a ``kangaroo court. As you can see, that's what it is,'' Reichman said.

About 10 minutes before the closed session ended, board member Tattoon left the room, saying as she departed the district office lobby that she resigned, and ``I pray for the whole valley. The valley has a problem, and they don't want to face it. You don't know you are Sodom and Gomorrah.''

Several board members on both sides of the vote refused to comment afterward on their decision.

Beard-Williams said Friday that she was told by board members that no charges of misconduct were aired against her and that the discussion had a ``political'' focus and was ``scripted.''

``There were no charges of misconduct. It was a witch hunt from the beginning,'' Beard-Williams said. ``It was a political conversation that was really led by a couple of people. My understanding was that the issue was, she (Beard-Williams) needs to go so that the foundation can move on.''

Beard-Williams maintains that Smith sought her ouster for filing a grievance against the district last October and refusing to participate in the attempted defrauding of the Head Start program.

Smith has denied the charges of retaliation.

Duren had obtained a court order Jan. 12 banning Beard-Williams from transacting business for the foundation after she said in court papers that foundation money was missing.

The ban was lifted Feb. 25 after Duren's attorneys withdrew their request for a preliminary injunction against Beard-Williams.

An accounting firm hired to conduct an audit of the foundation said it could not do so because of the lack of financial documents.

Accountant Gary Cox told board members at a special meeting March 3 that the foundation lacked regular financial statements, documentation for its revenue and expenditures and an established system of internal controls that would indicate its financial statements are accurate.

A further inquiry ordered last week by the foundation board into whether Beard-Williams' office computer contained missing records turned up nothing other than what accountants already had, officials said.