VISTA - When Leo Fletes was removed as baseball coach at Rancho Buena Vista High School in October, it didn't seem to be particularly big news.

Still, within a couple of weeks, it became the latest flash point in the highly politicized and often divided Vista Unified School District, not really because of Fletes' dismissal, but more because of who was involved.

The fallout of Fletes' dismissal pitted the powerful Vista Teachers Association, who came to his aid, against longtime union critic and school board Trustee Stephen Guffanti, who had encouraged parents in e-mails to gather evidence of Fletes' alleged wrongdoing.

In the end, Fletes was brought back as coach after two months in limbo.

Randy Wiens, a former union president who represented Fletes, said he thinks it's important for the union to intervene as a "watchdog" when administrators may not be following proper procedures.

"If we don't question it, who will," he asked rhetorically.

The conflict was startlingly familiar to some, who recalled the two sides battling over whether Vista High School baseball coach Rick Lepire should keep the position or not five years ago.

Guffanti and Wiens, who was then union president, have different takes on what happened back then, as they do about what's going on now. Both sides have also blamed the other for politicizing a routine personnel decision.

Some district parents and educators have said they became concerned even before Fletes was removed as coach.

Eyebrows were raised in July, when a handful of upset parents met with Guffanti, Superintendent Joyce Bales and Chief Academic Officer Sandy Gecewicz at the home of Guffanti's political ally, Dan Piro.

Piro said he arranged the meeting after hearing complaints from a couple of parents about the way Fletes was running the baseball program. Though he said he expected mostly complaints about playing time, he said he was surprised to hear more serious allegations about how Fletes and the team's booster club were managing money.

"I didn't go into that meeting with an ax to grind," he said last month. "I thought I was holding a meeting where there were going to be people discussing baseball issues."

After the meeting, the district hired a private investigator to look into some of the allegations. That's when people in the wider district community started wondering exactly what was going on. District officials have been mum on the topic, saying it's a personnel matter.

Fletes' supporters questioned why Piro was even involved, since his son won't be attending Rancho Buena Vista until next year.

Piro said parents came to him for help because of his heavy involvement in adult and children's baseball.

For more than a decade, Piro has been involved in nearly all things baseball in North County. He publishes HardBall Magazine, a publication for amateur adult players, and he has played on and coached amateur teams for 15 years.

Coach garners support

A few months later, parents and teachers supportive of Fletes held a meeting of their own.

In November, Randy Reznicek, whose son is on the Rancho Buena Vista baseball team, organized a meeting at his home for parents and players to discuss what Reznicek called "wild accusations" about the coach and to rally people to speak up at a school board meeting the following week. They even offered to help students draft statements for the meeting.

The turnout at the Nov. 15 meeting was larger than normal, with more than 100 people crowding the board room and watching from a TV outside.

A handful of people praised the district for removing Fletes and voiced their concerns about him, with accusations ranging from mismanaging money and bullying to favoritism and conflicts of interest.

However, many more spoke in support of the coach, complaining that the whole brouhaha ultimately was caused by a few parents who were upset that their sons weren't getting enough time on the field.

While some of those parents have admitted that playing time was an issue, they said their complaints went far beyond that and mostly centered on how the team's booster club was set up and the fact that players were buying equipment at a store owned by Fletes' wife.

Fletes and others involved have said that there were some inadvertent mistakes with the organization of the booster club, which they say have been corrected. Also, team members are no longer allowed to buy equipment from his wife's store.

At a school board meeting on Dec. 13, the same day Fletes got his job back, Superintendent Bales read a statement about the steps the district has taken to address potential problems with booster clubs and conflicts of interest, seemingly ending the six-month saga.