Superintendent Appoints Interim For Embroiled School Executive

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published August 13, 2007 at 3:30 PM PDT

This story was published more than 17 years ago.

Carl Cohn, Superintendent of San Diego City schools, has sent board members a memo appointing an interim chief administrative officer. The school district's CAO, Jose Betancourt, has been under scruti

Carl Cohn, Superintendent of San Diego City schools, has sent board members a memo appointing an interim chief administrative officer. The school district's CAO, Jose Betancourt, has been under scrutiny for weeks, since being convicted on federal conflict of interest charges.

School district spokesman Jack Bradais cannot confirm that Betancourt has been laid off.

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Bradais : At this time he is still employed by the district, he is on leave today, a vacation day. There is nothing I can say beyond the fact the superintendent has designated Bill Kowba, who is the chief financial officer, as the interim chief administrative officer, effective today.

Betancourt was a former Navy Mayor. He went to work for a defense contractor after leaving the navy. Less than a year later was convicted of illegally lobbying for a $300 million Navy contract on behalf of his new employer.

Betancourt has been the school district's CAO since the fall of 2005.

Alison St John

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.