Orange Unified School District interim superintendent quits, leaving parents questioning board

ORANGE, Calif. (KABC) -- Orange Unified School District's interim superintendent has stepped down, weeks after taking charge of the school district.

Weeks into Edward Velasquez's contract, he announced in a letter to the district that he was resigning.

"The District will continue the work of providing high-quality educational programs for our students with the leadership of Executive Cabinet while the Board of Education begins the process of hiring a permanent superintendent," he said.

His last day was Thursday, Feb. 16.

Some parents are worried the district's school board is making haphazard decisions that could jeopardize students' learning.

For instance, Lee Tousignant has three kids in elementary school at Orange Unified School District.

"The biggest concern is the transparency aspect of things," he said.

Tousignant said he tries to stay involved in what takes place at the district as much as possible.

"Our experience for our own kids at our own school has been phenomenal," Tousignant said. "Our kids I believe are getting a great education."

However, after former superintendent Dr. Gunn Marie Hansen was abruptly fired by the district's school board at the beginning of the year, Tousignant is concerned about what is happening.

"To this day no reason has been given why the action was necessary other than to say that people voted for change," he said.

Some community members want to recall some OUSD board members with hopes of calming parents' fears over what is happening at the district's leadership level.

Michelle Weisenberg is the co-chair for OUSD Recall, a group that is working to remove some, if not all, of the current board members.

"It's just more chaos that has been caused by our irresponsible board members who fired our superintendent without cause and without a plan," Weisenberg said. "I think if we can remove some of the people who are most egregiously trying to cause disruption within our district, we can get some more people on the school board who are there for the kids and for education."

Tousignant added, "It's a little bit scary as a parent to sending my kids every day to school not knowing what direction the district is headed."

He hopes the district's board will be more transparent in their search for a new superintendent.

He also wants to see some sort of town hall to take place where they can have an active discussion with board members.