El Dorado County board of ed seeks some say in how superintendent could be disciplined
By Kathryn Reed
El Dorado County Office of Education’s board has called for a special meeting with the sole agenda item being a discussion about Superintendent Jeremy Meyers.
Meyers is an elected official, so the board does not have control over any discipline or sanctions.
“On the surface, and my reading of the Education Code and of the law we don’t have any authority to have those kinds of policies about the superintendent,” board member Heidi Weiland told Lake Tahoe News.
Jeremy Meyers when he was booked Aug. 22.
This means Meyers was allowed to continue to earn his $196,837 a year salary when he was on house arrest for five days, it means the board’s not being able to mandate he get any type of treatment or that members have oversight of it, nor can the board even discuss the situation in closed session because he is not an employee.
Because the board doesn’t meet in July, the Aug. 27 meeting was the first time the board had met since Meyers was cited June 9 by the California Highway Patrol for driving under the influence. Meyers usually attends all board meetings, but he was not at the Aug. 27 meeting. No reason was given for his absence.
It was at last week’s meeting that Weiland requested the Sept. 15 special meeting, to which her colleagues agreed, though none of them spoke to the issue.
The unadopted minutes from the Aug. 27 meeting summarize Weiland’s desire for the special meeting to have discussions include “but not limited to laws pertinent to the relationship between the elected superintendent and the elected board, the elected board’s ability to put in place systems or protections, and legal counsel as it relates to a possible conflict of interest.”
The current attorney, who works on a contract basis, works for the board and county office of ed so there is a potential conflict.
Board member Georgie Knight told Lake Tahoe News, “It needs to be very public out there what we can and cannot do. It’s important we know what our roles are and then adjust whatever that might be.”
She said if the board thought programs were being compromised or kids put at risk, then the board likely would have called for a special meeting sooner.
Board member Rich Fischer, who represents Tahoe on the board and is the vice president, did not return a phone call.
Requests to speak to Meyers are deferred to his criminal attorney.
While Meyers let the board know of his DUI shortly after it occurred, the public didn’t become aware of it until last month when he had to be booked into the El Dorado County jail in Placerville as part of his sentencing agreement.
Meyers eventually pleaded no contest to driving under the influence at just more than the legal limit. His five-day jail sentence was converted to house arrest. He is on probation and must complete court-mandated courses.
A California Highway Patrol officer found Meyers asleep in a construction zone on Highway 49 at 2:45pm June 9. He had attended a board meeting earlier that Tuesday that lasted about 15 minutes and ended at 11:59am. People who were at the meeting said he did not appear to be impaired.
Meyers’ blood alcohol level, according the CHP report, was 0.15 percent – nearly twice the legal limit. In addition to DUI, he was cited for being in possession of hydrocodone, a synthetic narcotic often prescribed for pain. It is along the lines of vicodin. That charge was later dropped when he produced the prescription.
Meyers, who is a long-distance runner, seriously hurt his foot about a year ago.
Instead of being taken directly to jail, Meyers was released to the custody of his wife. While the CHP has the authority to make that judgment call, others in law enforcement have told Lake Tahoe News it is “highly unusual” for that to have occurred.
—–
Notes:
· The special meeting is Sept. 15 at 1pm in Placerville at the county education office.
I think we all made our comments one way another, he did a bad thing and should be fired, that would happen to you and I hands down, in a split second to be exact!
Local2
First you can’t fire an elected official. You can recall him and I would think it has no chance of passing. Found on the side of the road sleeping while intoxicated. I would certainly not vote to recall him for that. I would hope his community service should be to council to kids on his foolish mistakes.
Hopefully this could be something positive out of this to teach others from his mistakes and no most employers would not fire an employee hands down for this type of offence.
Who cares? I honestly don’t give two pinches about this guy drinking and popping pills. Most Americans do exactly the same nightly. Ya’ll got ur own judgements coming and right so.
What is key is his blood alcohol and use of opiates combined equals trouble. Where did he become alcohol intoxicated if he was on his way home and he was asleep on the side of the road? There is likely a lot more to this than publicly known and reported. Old injuries don’t account for all of this and he should be held accountable by the people whom he works for.
Who cares. Let the man do his thing.
As far as I can tell, you wasn’t on the job. He apparently knew he should pull over off the road and sleep it off. Let the law do the punishing (and his insurance company). He has been throughly publicly embarrassed. Time to move on. You can vote against him at the next election, but until then let the courts provide justice.
We all know friends and neighbors who have made similar mistakes. Doesn’t make them bad people or make it right, but we all make mistakes.
I cannot believe some of you..the man left work at noon and was passed out/tanked on the side of the road 3 hours later. People are lucky he didn’t hurt anyone.
Tahoeblue — I don’t care if he does it in his home. If he does it on the road then I have a big problem. At that point he puts others at risk.
Liberule — I’m all about letting people do their thing but drunk driving should not be taken lightly.
Les — Really? “We all make mistakes” This was a choice that he made. He is supposedly an “educated individual”
Drunk drivers kill people. Drunk drivers are bad selfish people. They knowingly put themselves, their families and other at risk.
/hops off soapbox
What a ridiculously high salary for a school district position ! Decadence at its best !
Most people are allowed to make mistakes. When you work with children there has to be a higher standard. This is pathetic, and nothing short of his resignation is really acceptable. There is NEVER an excuse for drinking and driving, and with that ridiculous salary he could have easily called a cab. How are our children supposed to take us seriously regarding the dangers of alcohol and driving when school officials are acting like this?
Passed out drunk at the side of the highway in a construction zone on a workday payday during working hours, not the type of person I want to set an example for my kids as the head of the office of education. And way overcompensated, like so many bureaucrats with too much time on their hands.
Just as bad, this clown and the office of education tried to keep this hidden and quiet for months.
Out of town, clown. Take your bad habits and poor example somewhere else.
No doubt that Meyers was given special treatment because he was the star witness in a suit against the county that day and the D.A. wanted to keep it quiet. Saying this treatment is ‘highly unusual’ is the understatement of the decade. Seems elected official always end up with some kind of ‘special treatment’ not available to the rest of the county’s residents when they make choices to break the law and endanger people’s lives with their behavior.
Law enforcement does this all the time. At least the guy pulled over to take a nap before killing anyone. He’s no different than any other public official in this county that does this kind of thing. To think that our elected officials are more law abiding is ridiculous.
He could have been taken in for public intoxication very easily or DUI but because, it appears, he identified himself upon contact, other choices were made. Many people in their own homes and on THEIR private property and NOT while working for the public and out in public driving do whatever and endanger only themselves. When they are on official business and out in public it is an entirely different and serious matter to be taken to the voters and the Board for action. Any intoxicated public employee or elected official in public is a very serious concern and usually a termination or resignation or removal. It isn’t something to be swept under and it being concealed for months was a bad idea as well.
Les Wright is right—
Get on with your lives or whine about something else.
This guy is likely washed up on a number of fronts so let the system handle it and don’t vote for him if he chooses to run again.
tahoe mom: why should there be a higher standard when your children are involved? you chose (or maybe not) to reproduce, underwriting as a consequence the essential and overarching issue: overpopulation.
Alansmithee.. Nobody cares what you think kid.
Tahoeblue — Never assume.
/name calling really adds validity to your comment.
This is why educators should never be allowed to serve on a jury. Too liberal, too lenient, most of us grew out of this type of behavior in our 20’s. Definitely not a good role model for the kids to look up to. Shameful and disgraceful.
Ladies and Gentlemen
Understand that the lawsuit Mr. Meyers and EDCOE were involved in was against an active duty service member and his family which involved the death of an unborn child of the active duty service member.
love tahoe-
what does the lawsuit have to do with Meyers being drunk and passed out behind the wheel of his car ?
Steven
Great question. Mr. Myers and El Dorado County Office of Education (EDCOE) elected officials chose to allow and hide the fact that during the trial against EDCOE and Dr. Vickie Barber/ Jeremy Meyers unopposed for election after his attorney was able to delay this case(from Jan 2013 thru Feb 2013 after the time allowed for candidates to apply for election) this was not the only delay by EDCOE during this trial. Mr. Meyers was cited/arrested for a DUI almost 2 times over the legal for a DUI and was caught with illegal narcotics when he testified that his organization was stellar and adhered to all laws/regulations which has proven false. This case came to trial in June 2015 almost 4 years after being filed despite repeated request to the office of Supertindent to actually investigate this matter.
I believe I saw this man buying alcohol yesterday afternoon in Meyers ………..or someone who looked just like him