Carmel Unified superintendent, still on leave after four months, sues over public records.

For students in the Carmel Unified School District, life has moved on since March 31. They took final exams, had summer vacation and returned to a new school year that started Aug. 9.

For Superintendent Ted Knight, it’s been over four months of waiting. The board of trustees placed Knight on leave on March 31 pending the outcome of a third-party investigation into his actions related to his removal of the former Carmel High School principal.

It remains unclear whether the investigation by School & College Legal Services has been completed. Meanwhile, Knight remains on leave; Sharon Ofek, formerly the deputy superintendent, remains acting superintendent.

In Knight’s absence, he’s been seeking a paper trail about some of what transpired leading to his departure. Representing Knight, attorney Gregory Rolen of the San Francisco firm Haight, Brown & Bonesteel submitted a request to CUSD on April 28 seeking documents under the California Public Records Act, including text messages and emails exchanged with board trustees; documents related to a sexual harassment survey; and communications pertaining to Knight’s resignation. (Knight has not resigned.)

CUSD had produced some records in response to Rolen’s request, mostly calendar invitations, group emails and a copy of a lawsuit filed by a parent; district officials have indicated that they intend to hand over more documents. But for Knight’s legal team, it’s been too slow, and they believe a “vast number” of documents should be turned over. “It appears that the district is stalling,” attorney Donald Velez, Rolen’s colleague, wrote in a July 20 email to Erin Dervin, an attorney representing CUSD.

Knight sued the district on July 24 in Monterey County Superior Court, seeking a court order forcing CUSD to produce more records.

District officials declined to comment, but in an email to Knight’s legal team, Dervin wrote: “The district is surprised at your litigious stance.”