Garcia letter attributes ousting to rezoning pressure

'It was the right stand and I would do it again'

Email | Print By Amy Griffith

A document school board vice chair Ed Kindall says he received from former Director of Schools Pedro Garcia indicates that Garcia believes pressure was placed on him to leave the district as a result of his rolling back a proposed rezoning plan.

“I know that the situation I find myself in today, and the pressure exerted upon me by Marsha Warden, is the direct result of my decision to fight against her desire to move the African American children from the Hillwood cluster so she could be reelected,” reads the document, which is dated Jan. 16 – two days before the board formally received a resignation offer from Garcia.

“I took the stand to oppose re-segregating the district. It was the right stand and I would do it again.”

Kindall said Monday the three-page document was e-mailed to him by Garcia shortly after it was written. Garcia could not immediately be reached for comment Monday afternoon. Kindall said he spoke with Garcia recently, and that Garcia indicated that he was not opposed to the document being distributed publicly.

The document outlines rezoning-related interplay between the Metro Nashville Public Schools administration and Board of Education members in the months before Garcia’s departure. It refers to a December meeting with Warden, in which she allegedly told Garcia that he had lost the confidence of Mayor Karl Dean, the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce and the school board.

Neither Warden nor Dean could be immediately reached for comment Monday afternoon.