Hours after a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled there is enough evidence for Jeffrey Hubbard to face trial for allegedly misappropriating public funds, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District Board of Trustees voted to suspend their superintendent of schools.
Trustees meeting behind closed doors approved paid administrative leave for Hubbard, who reportedly earns between $280,000 and $300,000 per year.
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The board vote was 6-1, with Trustee Katrina Foley voting in dissent, reports the Daily Pilot.
- Jeffrey Hubbard, Newport-Mesa Schools Chief, Denies Affair, Claims Trustees Approved $20,000 Stipend
The Pilot reports one parent in open session questioned the board's decision to grant paid leave to Hubbard.
The administrator faces two felony counts of misappropriating public funds while leading the Beverly Hills Unified School District. He allegedly paid that district's facilities director a $20,000 stipend without his board's knowledge and upped the woman's car allowance.
Karen Ann Christiansen, with whom Hubbard exchanged racy e-mails, is also charged in the case for allegedly receiving the funds and conflict of interest.
Hubbard, who moved over to Newport-Mesa in 2006, could get up to five years in prison if convicted of the charges against him. He has entered a not guilty plea.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.