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Amador Valley High School’s former principal, who was on a mysterious leave of absence for almost a full year, is poised to participate in a slew of administrative hearings involving the district slated to start in August and end in October, according to the state’s Office of Administrative Hearings.
The reason behind these hearings and contents of the case pertaining to Jonathan Fey are unknown at the time of publication – although the online OAH calendar listings for the Fey matter mention teacher tenure and the associated Stull Act.
OAH, according to the state website, is a “quasi-judicial tribunal that hears administrative disputes” by providing independent administrative law judges to conduct hearings to government agencies and school districts.
Fey, who led Amador Valley from the start of the 2022-23 school year until being placed on administrative leave abruptly in August 2024, is scheduled for a remote pre-hearing conference and a settlement conference on Aug. 8 in the afternoon, according to the OAH calendar.
After that, there are 10 scheduled hearings with Administrative Law Judge Michael Starkey. These hearings, which will be held at the Pleasanton Unified School District offices, are scheduled to commence on Sept. 29 and will proceed consecutively until Oct. 10.
“While the District can confirm that this is a pending personnel matter before the Office of Administrative Hearings, at this time the district has no further comment,” Lanita Villaseñor, executive assistant to the superintendent and Board of Trustees, told the Weekly on Wednesday.
According to the OAH calendar, the case for these hearings was submitted on May 19.
News of Fey’s leave of absence first broke on Aug. 14, 2024. Since then, PUSD officials have not provided any reason for Fey’s sudden and unexpected departure. The Weekly has submitted public records requests to the district on the matter, but those have so far turned up with little to no information on Fey’s abrupt leave.
According to emails obtained by the Weekly, Fey had been actively sending emails from his work email up until Aug. 12, 2024 — the last email he sent was around 7:30 a.m. A little over an hour later that same day, his email began sending out automated responses saying he was out of the office.
Following Fey’s absence, a number of former administrators stepped into a temporary leadership role before Jr Yee — a technology services coordinator at the district — took over and served as the acting principal until the end of the last school year.
The district ultimately hired former Foothill High School vice principal Malcolm Norrington to return to Pleasanton as Amador Valley principal starting in the 2025-26 academic year. Norrington had left the district in August 2023 to take the principal position at El Cerrito High School.
