Montebello superintendent offered position in Lynwood

Edward Velasquez

By MARISELA SANTANA, Staff Writer

Story Created: May 13, 2010 at 10:53 AM PST

Story Updated: May 13, 2010 at 10:53 AM PST

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MONTEBELLO — Superintendent Edward Velasquez of the Montebello Unified School District has been offered a similar position with the Lynwood Unified School District, but has of Tuesday had not submitted his resignation to the Montebello school board.

The Lynwood school board, in a special meeting May 6, voted 3-2 to offer Velasquez a three-year contract at $245,000 a year. The contract has not been finalized.

In a brief interview Wednesday afternoon, Velasquez said he is leaving Montebello on a high note.

“That is the time you leave,” he said. “When things are going well in the district. You don’t want to go when you’re in trouble or about to be fired. You want to leave when things are going well.”

That comment seems ironic considering that Velasquez and the MUSD are being sued by a district administrator for employment discrimination, a hostile work environment, retaliation, wrongful termination and sexual battery.

Irving Bartikofsky, an administrator in the district’s special education department, filed the suit in Los Angeles Superior Court in March after the school board denied a claim for damages last year.

The suit alleges that Velasquez harassed and sexually assaulted Bartikofsky and then demoted him last year after he filed the claim against the district and replaced him with Velasquez’s personal divorce attorney.

Velasquez has been with the Montebello school district for more than 30 years, serving as a teacher, assistant principal, principal and associate superintendent before being named superintendent in 2004.

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