Schools
District Pays $2 Million in Contract Dispute
Saddleback Valley Unified's trustees approved the payment Tuesday night. They could have settled for $474,000 before they lost in court.
The Saddleback Valley Unified School District’s board voted unanimously Tuesday to write a $2-million check to a contracting company involved in a long-running dispute over renovations at Esperanza Special Education School.
The action marks the end of a .
The board approved the final judgment without discussion as part of its consent calendar.
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The lone comments about the case during Tuesday’s meeting came from Rob Lange, a parent in the district.
Lange chastised the board for spending $1.5 million more than the original offer to settle and then waiting 48 days after the final verdict was rendered before paying up, accruing more than $25,000 of new interest. The final judgment in the case was entered April 28, and the district was being charged $539.27 per day that the settlement went unpaid.
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“I would hardly say that is an example of good stewardship of school funds,” Lange said.
The district was represented in the case by the firm Bergman & Dacey. District spokeswoman Tammy Blakely said she could not immediately say how much the district paid its own attorneys in the case.
