School board fires superintendent in wake of rooftop desk prank, bullying allegations

A California school board fired its superintendent on Wednesday, months after it was disclosed that a mid-level supervisor and friend of the administrator’s allegedly played a cruel joke on a subordinate by putting his desk on a roof.

Trustees of the Antioch Unified School District, which is about 45 miles northeast of San Francisco, met behind closed doors and emerged to announce they had ended the contract of Superintendent Stephanie Anello.

The superintendent’s job had been on the line since April when NBC Bay Area revealed that Kenneth Turnage II, director of facilities and friend of Anello’s family, allegedly had subordinate Jim Kesser’s desk moved on top of a maintenance yard structure.

Applause broke out Wednesday night when board President Antonio Hernandez announced the change in leadership.

“The board took action in closed session to terminate the superintendent’s employment agreement effectively immediately,” Hernandez announced (at the 1:12:50 mark of this footage). “The vote was as follows, 5-0.”

Four of the board members voted in person while one participated remotely, having tested positive for Covid.

Turnage had made national headlines four years ago, when he was chairman of Antioch’s planning commission and said the impacts Covid-19 were being overstated.

He wrote on social media that the illness’ spread “allows the sick, the old, the injured to meet its natural course in nature” and that the death of homeless people could at least “fix what is a significant burden on our society.”

Anello was not at Wednesday’s meeting. She and Turnage, who remains on administrative leave, could not be immediately reached for comment on Thursday.

Anello was paid a little more than $307,000 in 2022, according to records published by the public employee data base Transparent California. With overtime and fringe benefits, her total compensation package was more than $324,000.