KELSEYVILLE – The board chair of the Kelseyville Unified School District has offered some insight into why the board decided not to rehire a popular high school math teacher Thursday.

Board chairman Peter Quartarolo, who spoke with lakeconews.com Friday morning, said it was KUSD Superintendent Boyce McClain’s recommendation that led to the board of trustees' unanimous decision in executive session not to rehire David Blair.

The decision not to vote again on the matter last night was “entirely based on the rationale he (McClain) lays out,” Quartarolo said.

Quartarolo commented that he was impressed with the passion and courage of those who got up to speak in front of a large group of people at Thursday night’s meeting in support of Blair.

“I felt sorry that they see it as losing a fine educator,” Quartarolo said.

McClain is “in charge of evaluations” and “I have to pay attention to Boyce’s concerns,” Quartarolo said.

“We went over everything,” Quartarolo said, including “the documentation that Boyce had given us.”

“I’ve come to respect Boyce because he’s really thorough,” he commented.

But the school board chairman said he couldn’t offer a clue as to what the documentation was except that “Boyce collects data ...then advises us,” and added, “it has nothing to do with the complaint policy.

“I’d love to tell you,” he added, “but my hands are tied.”

Citing the nature of the situation and the need to protect both the district and Blair, Quartarolo wouldn’t comment further, except to say, “We all lost a lot of sleep over this.”

Quartarolo confirmed that Blair will not be returning to the district next year and that a search for a new math teacher has begun.

E-mail Maile Field at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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