GILROY—A founder and former board member of the respected Navigator charter schools in Gilroy and Hollister has called for removal of its director if allegations of mismanagement, nepotism and skirting state law are true.
In a presentation to the board of Navigator Schools, former board member James Garguilo said he has lost confidence in the schools’ management team and listed a litany of “possible mismanagement and questionable ethical behavior” issues.
Chief among them: to save money, Navigator skirts state law related to special education students and that the man in charge put his own wife on the payroll.
“…people less friendly to Navigator might call it a violation of trust,” Garguilo told former board colleagues. “If…these things are true then I request the removal of James Dent from the role of Executive Director,” he concluded.
Garguilo gave as reasons for his criticism the fact that Navigator is “entrusted with our children and taxpayers dollars” and should be “accountable to a higher standard of transparency.”
Dent—an innovative, highly respected former Gilroy Unified School District principal who now heads a two-school charter operation bent on expansion—rejected most of Garguilo’s assertions as untrue.
But he conceded the business side of Navigator has been in disarray compared to academics and that Navigator, which he heads, hired his wife.
“It was a bonehead maneuver,” Dent said. “I was inexperienced and made a mistake in allowing it to happen.”
He confirmed Garguilo’s assertion that his wife, Rosario Dent, was hired without board knowledge and was dismissed when the board president found out from, Garguilo contends, “internal whistleblowers.”
Dent said his wife, who is bilingual, had volunteered for the school since its beginning then was hired last October to help build support among Spanish-speaking parents for new Navigator schools in Salinas.
Navigator’s attempts to open in Salinas and Morgan Hill were turned down by those school boards.
Dent said his wife was paid $20 per hour and was let go after three months. He said he will repay all she earned, calling the amount small and “immaterial.
“It was naiveté,” he said, “and it’s a hard lesson to learn. I did question it a few times, but I did not ask enough people (whether it was acceptable).”
His lapse, he said, happened because he was focused on getting good results in Salinas rather than on “common sense.” Other husband-wife teams work at Navigator, he said.
Responding to Garguilo’s assertions of possible violations of labor and special education laws, Dent said no laws have been violated and that the schools’ special ed programs are monitored, audited, robust and successful.
As for poor management and business practices, Dent conceded those aspects of running Navigator suffered because energy was so focused on building the schools’ solid academic program since opening three years ago.
He said it a common issue in charter schools statewide but that remedies, including hiring new finance staff, are in place or planned at Navigator.
“It’s the growing pains of an organization that is growing its business capacity now that its education capacity has been shown to be highly effective,” he said.
Navigator students consistently exceed state and local average test scores.
Garguilo’s children attend Gilroy Prep School and he said he still believes completely in the Navigator’s academic programs in Gilroy and Hollister Prep School.
He acknowledged that he at one time tried for the executive director job, before Dent was promoted to that post from GPS principal, but was turned down.
