Capistrano Unified School District Superintendent Kirsten Vital Brulte will leave her post by Dec. 31, following a special meeting Wednesday night, Dec. 22, in which school board trustees voted 4-3 to end her contract.
In a Thursday letter sent to district staffers, administrators and teachers, school board president Krista Castellanos announced the decision to “release” the superintendent from her contract, saying, “It is important to mention that the action taken was not for cause. We are grateful for her leadership and wish her the best in her future endeavors.”
Castellanos said Vital Brulte will be replaced by Deputy Superintendent Clark Hampton as of Jan. 1. Hampton will assume the role of interim superintendent while the district begins a new search.
Vital Brulte’s contract – where according to Transparent California, she earned $366,398 in 2021 – was originally through June 30, 2026, and includes a severance provision.
Counsel for the district and for the superintendent are working on an agreement to implement that provision, Capistrano Unified spokesman Ryan Burris said. Vital Brulte’s severance should come out to about $550,000, per the contract’s language.
Capistrano Unified is the largest school district in Orange County, home to about 47,000 students and nearly 4,000 employees across 50 schools.
Vital Brulte was hired by Capistrano Unified in 2014 and her tenure has overseen its share of controversy in the south Orange County district, including more recently anti-mask protests and debates over the content in sexual health lessons and library books.
Capistrano Unified Trustee Judy Bullockus, who with trustees Lisa Davis and Gila Jones, supported Vital Brulte and opposed her removal, said she was surprised when the special meeting on Wednesday was called, and even more so when the decision came down.
Bullockus described the board majority’s decision as “a vote of no confidence in the skill set they think she has for going forward with the vision for the district.”
“I felt it was a horrible time to do this, but the majority thought it was best to ‘rip the Band-Aid off’ and move one,” she said.
Castellanos, Michael Parham, Amy Hanacek and Gary Pritchard supported the move to release Vital Brulte.
Bullockus credited Vital Brulte for her skill in navigating the pandemic and keeping the district afloat during the last few years.
“To get the seventh largest school district in the state back into the classroom was a huge lift,” she said. “The parents, they were thrilled with CUSD again. This is quite a shock to many of them. We’re kind of in a shock wave today.”
Bullockus said she and the other two opposed board members were not completely surprised because “it’s known we have different views on education and development for children.”
Bullockus credited Vital Brulte for being skilled at working with the board and its different viewpoints.
“She would come up with different views to present,” Bullockus said. “I thought she was a fabulous strategic critical thinker and I think she did quite well in managing the board.”
Board members who supported releasing Vital Brulte declined to comment beyond the announcement sent out by Castellanos or could not be reached Thursday.
“As you know, personnel matters are highly delicate, so I will not be providing any additional information about the rationale behind this decision. I look forward to beginning the process to identify a permanent replacement, a process which will include public input and a thorough search to attract the best candidates from around the state,” Parham said in an email.
Some of the district’s future concerns include passing bond initiatives to fund campus improvements – Aliso Viejo voters defeated a $114 million ask on the November ballot – and more organic issues such as an aging-out population and diminishing enrollment. A capacity analysis is being done for the district’s 50 school sites, Bullockus said.
Capistrano Unified has had a stormy history at the helm, reaching back to Superintendent James Fleming’s “enemies list” of discontented parents, which got him indicted in 2007, then exonerated on appeal in 2010.
The district had several superintendents in close succession until Vital Brulte came on in 2014. Her tenure was longer than a lot of superintendents last in a lot of districts, Jones said, adding that Vital Brulte did a lot to help the children of Capistrano Unified.
“She accomplished some amazing things that brought us into the 21st century,” Jones said.
Vital Brulte built up programs to better serve the district’s English learners and higher-need students, she dove into the science of reading and oversaw the expansion of a career education program that truly improves outcomes for all children, Jones said.
Since news broke of the ouster, both Bullockus and Jones said they’ve received dozens of emails and texts from concerned parents.
Now, given the decision that’s been made to find a new superintendent, the board needs to move on to choosing a replacement, Jones said. “I have to believe there are others out there that have the same talents. You get another one, and they’re good in different ways.”
“We are a diverse board – some are very conservative, some are very liberal, some are in between,” she said. “I hope we find a superintendent who will recognize that diversity and the diversity it reflects in our community and be able to work with that.”
