I have read with great disappointment the statement of the ABC Unified School Board concerning the findings of the Committee appointed by ABC relative to the Artesia High School basketball program. The Committee's findings are unsupported by the facts and are the product of a highly partisan committee engaged in a lawless process.

I am advised that it is the law of the State of California that when inquiries are being made into public employee discipline, the public employee has the right to be informed of the allegations and the potential charges against him and he is entitled to such notice in writing. No such notice, either in writing or orally, was ever provided, notwithstanding several requests for such notice.

While the Committee was ostensibly inquiring into the Artesia High School basketball program, neither I as the Artesia coach nor my lawyer were ever advised of the nature of the charges into which the Committee was inquiring. We made several requests of the Committee to advise us of the allegations which they were investigating including any allegations of misconduct on my part. The Committee and its counsel refused to provide such information.

On one occasion, when the Committee finally agreed to identify the focus of its inquiry with respect to me, I agreed to testify. Immediately the questioning began into an area other than that specified. At that point my lawyer advised the Committee that it was acting unlawfully and that I would not continue to testify.

This was a secret proceeding, conducted in secret by a Committee which failed to disclose information to my lawyers to enable us to refute any specific charges. At the same time the Committee was stonewalling our requests, it was leaking confidential matters to the press, thereby compromising privacy rights of students presently or formerly enrolled at Artesia High School.

Additionally, the inquiry apparently purported to investigate matters of U.S. Immigration law even though such inquiry was contrary to U.S. law. The Committee is neither expert in, trained in nor familiar with immigration law. The Committee then presumed to adjudicate in this highly complicated area.

In sum, I am not surprised at the conclusions arrived at by this investigative Committee. It is clear from their refusal to provide me notice sufficient to enable me to defend myself, by their willingness to compromise the rights of students, by their cavalier treatment of students' privacy rights and by their willingness address [sic] matters well beyond their competence, that they would not come to any other conclusion.

This was a lynch mob from the beginning and it was only thinly disguised as a lawful board of inquiry. Its conduct and its conclusion speak for themselves. I am exploring my legal remedies with my lawyers.