By Allen D. Payton

During Thursday night’s graduation ceremony for Antioch’s Dozier-Libbey Medical High School (DLMHS) Class of 2024, held in the Deer Valley High School quad amphitheater, Antioch Unified School District President Antonio Hernandez, a DLMHS graduate, offered remarks to the graduates.

He shared of his own experience at the high school then in college, and now in grad school saying, “Setbacks and failures will take you to unexpected routes…that can take you to where you want to go.”

“I know that you all have been through so many struggles and serious challenges. It’s important to celebrate these moments you have…with friends and family and all those who supported you along the way,” Hernandez stated. “We can change the world, overnight, immediately. How long are you going to wait to make that change?”

The first student speaker was Alexandra “Alex” Brewer followed by DLMHS Class of 2024 Valedictorian Belinda Reyes Barreras. She spoke with her fellow graduates saying, “Crossing this stage will honor every challenge we faced. We graduate on behalf of any loved one who has shown us support. Our high school journeys have reached their final growth phase. We are the upcoming generation of adults. We can invoke immense change. We must persevere and take on any challenge. I’m sure DL has prepared us to take on any challenge. Congratulations Class of 2024. We did it!”

Alina Nguyen Duong was this year’s Salutatorian for DLMHS.

Principal Karen Clark spoke to the graduating class next. “Today is a day filled with excitement, joy and pride as we gather here to celebrate the culmination of four years of hard work, dedication and growth,” she said. “It is an honor to stand before you as we reflect on the challenges you have overcome, and we look forward to the journey that awaits you beyond these walls.”

“When you entered Dozier-Libbey Medical High School, you knew you were embarking on a unique educational path by choosing a high school with a focus on health and patient care,” Clark continued.

She then spoke of the COVID lockdown and distance learning.”

“The challenges you faced…have forever shaped all of us. You adapted to a new normal…and you forged ahead with determination. Your parents and teachers became your allies,” Clark stated. “Your sophomore year we were granted the opportunity to return to in-person learning. We realized the significance of human connection and face-to-face interactions.

“As you prepare to step into the world beyond high school, it is our hope that Dozier-Libbey Medical High School has instilled the importance of compassion, empathy and understanding, the very qualities that will define your success in navigating the complex world of healthcare or other professions,” she continued.

“Be the change. Congratulations. The future is yours to shape. Go forward with compassion, excellence and an unwavering commitment to your future goals,” Clark concluded.

Acting Superintendent Dr. Rob Martinez accepted the class saying, “On behalf of the Antioch Unified School District, it is my distinct honor to accept the 2024 graduating class from Dozier-Libbey Medical High School. Upon the recommendation of the faculty and on behalf of the…Board of Education, I certify that each of you has completed the graduation requirements set forth by the…District.

“Having completed these requirements, I confer upon each of you the high school diploma with all its rights, honors and responsibilities.

Henceforth you are to be considered high school graduates and alumni of Dozier-Libbey Medial High School in the Antioch Unified School District.

Congratulations.”

The graduates’ names were read by DLMHS Leadership Advisor Heather Pool as Board President Hernandez and Vice President Mary Rocha presented each with their diploma. One graduate, Alexandra Guevara, received the greatest applause from both her classmates and the audience as she was helped by her mother, Maria to receive her diploma. During a traffic collision on May 15, 2022, Alexandra experienced a traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Her older sister Samantha Guevara shared what Alexandra said to her saying, “She went through a difficult time following the accident.” It was “a year of recovery. She proved to others and herself that she could manage to graduate and on time with her class. She will continue to move forward to become a better version of herself and spread awareness to other TBI patients.”

“This is Ms. Clark’s last and final commencement,” Pool stated.

Class President Matilda McCarthy then presented the principal with a gift from the Class of 2024 in the form of a T-shirt signed by each of the graduates.

Clark then said, “I’m certifying the Class of 2024 graduates.”

“Let’s take a moment to remember what we’ve overcome,” McCarthy said to her classmates. She then shared something her mother taught her. “Work hard, now so it will pay off later.”

“Don’t stop here. Keep going,” she added.

McCarthy then led her classmates in the turning of their tassels, signifying the end of their high school career, followed by cheers and the obligatory tossing of caps into the air.

The Herald congratulates the Dozier-Libbey Medical High School Class of 2024 graduates. May God bless you in your future!

Statewide sampling includes data from 99 incidents at 2 schools in Antioch Unified from Antioch PD Jan. 15 to June 30, 2023

Plus, data from 9 schools, 882 reported incidents in 7 other Contra Costa school districts and from 8 police departments

EdSource Special Report & Analysis

Every school day, police respond to thousands of calls from schools across California. Along with the patrols and security checks are thousands of serious incidents, some of them violent. In this continuing investigation, EdSource offers a rare view of what goes on inside schools that the public rarely gets to hear about because of the state’s strict laws related to disclosing information related to juveniles.

This unprecedented look at school policing reveals the vast presence of police in schools and comes at a time when some school communities, in the years following the police murder of George Floyd, are debating how much and what kind of policing they want and need.

An analysis of nearly 46,000 police calls from 164 police agencies involving 852 school sites – data which EdSource gathered through the state’s Public Records Act – reveals that nearly a third of all calls were about serious incidents that reasonably required a police presence, a definition obtained from experts. Of the serious incidents, more than a third involved violence which is defined as anything involving a violent act.

According to Managing Editor Adam Eisenberg, what EdSource obtained – a sample of all of the police calls daily affecting California schools – offers a raw first blush look at why school staff summon police, reasons that sometimes lead to student arrests, but also reasons that reveal eye-opening issues affecting students like bullying, sexual assaults, unwanted touching and weapons, drugs, physical assault and fights.

EdSource’s analysis, which included tagging every call record, reveals that about a third of all calls were deemed serious, according to the definition from experts, as those incidents that reasonably required a police presence. Just less than a third of all serious incidents involved violence, including self-harm.

The database, which is fully searchable online at, Calling the Cops (edsource.org), includes information from 57 of the state’s 58 counties but does not include all schools or districts in those counties. 

The data can be accessed by category, which offers the best insight into disturbances and incidents in local schools.

When California schools summon police

EdSource analysis: Nearly a third of all calls for police were for serious incidents including violence

By Thomas Peele & Daniel J. Willis, EdSource.org

Middle schooler allegedly attacks classmate twice, choking him severely. Police recommend attempted murder charges to district attorney.

School staff calls police to report squirrel with injured leg in school courtyard.

Unknown man in swimsuit briefs adorned with Australian flag trespassing at high school pool. Lifeguard sees a man follow boys 9 and 12, into the locker room. Man strips, pulls back the shower curtain to see the boy and asks: “Does this make you uncomfortable?” Man flees. Police list indecent exposure and lewd acts as possible offenses.

Officer dispatched to investigate ringing school alarm. Burnt English muffin found in teachers’ lounge. 

From Crescent City, Weed and Alturas in the far north to Calexico and El Cajon nearly 800 miles south, all along the Pacific Coast, across the sprawling Central Valley and up into the High Sierra and down into the Mojave Desert, police are dispatched to California schools thousands of times on any given day classes are in session.

Reasons are myriad: Students bringing guns and knives — and even a spear and a bow and arrow — to school, sexual assaults and “perversion reports” and fights. Then there are lost keys, malfunctioning alarms, and dogs — even cattle — loose on school grounds. Once, police were called for help with a swarm of bees.

Cops rush to reports of students attempting suicide and overdosing on drugs, bullying, sexual assault and unwanted touching. They surveil high schoolers leaving campuses for lunch. They break up fights between parents over spots in elementary school pickup queues. They haul drunken adults from the stands at school sporting events. They once investigated a teacher’s claim that someone stole $10,000 from her classroom desk. 

Mostly the call logs capture the anguish of youngsters with mental health challenges, victims whose nude photos are showing up on social media for all to see and parents turning to school administrators to deal with it all.

Such details emerged from nearly 46,000 police call logs and dispatch records EdSource obtained from 164 law enforcement agencies in 57 of California’s 58 counties as part of a sweeping statewide investigation into school policing.  

The data offered a raw, first-blush look at why school staff summon cops, reasons that sometimes lead to juvenile and adult arrests.

All incidents included in the police logs largely remain out of public view due to state laws that shield juveniles and allow police to withhold information on investigations. As a result, the data collected as a representative sample of the state is also clearly an undercount of what routinely occurs in California schools.

An EdSource analysis found that nearly a third of all calls for police were for incidents deemed serious. After consulting police experts, EdSource tagged the data with a definition for serious incidents as those that reasonably required a police presence. Included among serious incidents are those tagged as violent, which include anything involving a violent act, including self-harm.

The share of serious incidents increases to 4 out of 10 when police patrols are set aside. They make up about a third of all records, but most have little detail on what police were doing at or near the school.

The analysis also showed that high school students in districts with their own police departments are policed at a higher rate than in districts that rely on municipal police and sheriffs. 

School police calls across California

Four years after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd, igniting a national revolt and the defund-the-police movement, only about 20 of California’s 977 public-school districts made significant changes to school policing.

Most that acted ended contracts with municipal police departments to post cops — commonly called school resource officers — in schools. And three districts that made changes reversed course and brought police back after short hiatuses. 

EdSource’s investigation sampled records showing calls from and about schools to city and school district police departments and county sheriffs. In some cases, officers stationed in schools dispatch themselves to a problem by radioing their dispatcher. Schools without campus police often call 911. Typically, police record their activity as “patrol” or “school check,” vague descriptions that raise questions about the use of public resources.

Whenever a school resource officer ran along a corridor, one hand on a radio microphone, or a sheriff’s deputy raced along a country road with lights and sirens on to reach a distant rural school, they contributed to what data showed is a vast, continuing police presence in California’s pre-K to 12 public education, EdSource found.

The records resurfaced a debate lingering years after Floyd’s killing about how much policing schools need and if deploying armed officers does more harm than good.

Similarly to police debates at the municipal level, school policing can be polarizing. Across California, the issue emerges as a political divide, with some seeing the police as necessary to ensure safety and others seeing them as agents of racial injustice.

In 2021, the ACLU of Southern California issued a scathing report that recommended an end to school policing in the Golden State, calling it “discriminatory, costly, and counterproductive.” In schools with regularly assigned cops, students across “all groups” were more likely to be arrested or referred to law enforcement, researchers found.

A 2020 University of Maryland study published in the journal Criminology and Public Policy, found school districts that increased policing through federal grants “did not increase school safety.” Researchers recommended improving safety through “the many alternatives” to police in schools.

In California, school policing is “a structure. It’s part of the budgets, it’s part of the vocabulary of the schools. It’s part of what the expectation is from the parents and the students,” said Southwestern Law School professor Jyoti Nandam, who has researched school policing for 25 years and calls it “completely unnecessary,” adding, America is the lone civilized country where it is practiced.

In rural California, school policing is seen as routine, allowing students to become “comfortable interacting with someone in a uniform, wearing a badge, and carrying a gun, so that as they grew older, they see those people as a friendly face, a resource that they could go to as opposed to someone that they should be afraid of,” Tulare County School Superintendent Tim Hire told EdSource. The practice is spreading in Tulare, where three small districts recently agreed to share a resource officer to travel among them. 

Such decisions are often couched as safety matters, a vigilant effort to prevent the next school shooting and avoid the failure of Uvalde, Texas police to stop the gunman who slaughtered 19 students and two teachers in 2022.

When state Assemblymember Bill Essayli,  R-Riverside, introduced legislation in February to require an armed police officer in each public school with more than 50 students, he described the need in base terms: “We need good guys and girls with guns, ready to act.” 

Essayli’s idea is “a step backward,” Assembly Education Committee member Mia Bonta D-Alameda, said at a hearing where the bill died in April. “We know it to be true that there’s a disproportionate impact on Black and brown students when police officers are in schools.” 

A matter of local control

The state Department of Education offers no guidance or best practices, calling policing a local matter, a spokesperson said. There’s little consistency statewide in whether police are deployed in schools. Nineteen school districts have their own police departments, including Los Angeles Unified, which refused to release its police call data, some with only a handful of officers.

Los Angeles Unified cut its police department’s budget by 35% in 2020 and banned officers from being posted in schools. Following reports of escalating violence, the district recently reinstated police to two schools through mid-June. Superintendent Alberto Carvalho had informed the school board that he was planning to return police to 20 schools, but he got community and trustee backlash.

Oakland Unified disbanded its police department in favor of non-police staffers to keep peace in schools and respond to emergencies. Principals were trained on when to call city police only as a last resort. Still, data shows eight of the district’s 18 traditional middle and high schools combined to call city police 225 times, with nearly half of them serious, between Jan. 15 and June 30, 2023. Reasons include assault with a deadly weapon, suicide attempts, battery and terrorist/criminal threats.

Retired Long Beach and San Diego school Superintendent Carl Cohn, who served on the California State Board of Education from 2011 to 2018, said Oakland’s model of deploying people to talk students through peaceful resolutions of disputes can work. In the early 1990s, he ran the Long Beach schools anti-gang task force, hiring people with “street cred,” including former gang members. 

They “could stop instantly what was going on on a campus by their mere presence,” Cohn said.  “Their credibility with youngsters that might be on the verge of gang affiliation was really powerful.”

Yet Cohn’s “not on board with this notion of ‘let’s abandon the school police altogether.’ It’s the type of thing where ultimately there’s enough bad things from time to time happening that the safety of children has to be front and center.” Police must be well-trained, and school officials must cooperate with them, he added.

Shutting down the Oakland Unified police department of 11 officers and changing its policing culture is tough and ongoing, said a leader of a racial-justice group that pushed for the change.

 “There’s still the ideology of policing that exists on campus and is embedded in the infrastructure of schools that we’re also up against,” said Jessica Black, a Black Organizing Project activist. “The criminalization of young people, implicit bias, and anti-Black racist practices” still need to be confronted. 

It was only after Floyd’s murder that Dr. Tony Moos, a physician, learned that her four children who had each attended high school in the affluent Santa Clara County city of Los Altos had “negative interactions” with school resources officers “that they’d kept to themselves,” she said. 

Moos was motivated to act and got the city to examine school police practices and make changes.

After hearings that included a Black high school teacher saying a resource officer had once pushed her to the ground, the city pulled police from the high school. The city also replaced its police chief in 2022. The new hire, a Black woman, came with much-needed experience. 

Out of public view

California law grants police wide powers to withhold documents, including investigatory records, requested under the Public Records Act without revealing how many such records are being withheld. Many departments withheld from EdSource some — or even all — of the school calls they received. 

The same is true about what information police can reveal in news releases or public statements about individual school incidents, especially involving juveniles. The public is often then not informed about police activity in schools.  

That means that the serious incidents — weapons, death threats, rapes, assaults, fights, drugs — that police are responding to in 3 out of 10 calls often remain confidential.

Police in Crescent City, Del Norte County, for example, didn’t release information about the attempted murder of a student at Crescent Elk Middle School by a classmate who allegedly repeatedly choked him on Jan. 23, 2023, until EdSource asked about the incident more than a year later.

When EdSource asked police in Avenal, Kings County to elaborate on a call record of a late-night report of “shots fired” at the city’s high school, a lawyer responded claiming the information was exempt from disclosure.  

“The problem is that (the exemptions) apply to virtually everything law enforcement does. They never expire. So, every police report is potentially covered by the investigatory records exemption,” said David Loy, legal director of the First Amendment Coalition, an open government group. The lack of disclosure of police activity in schools makes it all the harder to determine what the correct level of policing should be, he added. 

Given the importance of the issue, the lack of information is troubling, Loy said. The debate over school policing “should be held on the basis of full and complete data and not driven by anecdote.”

A day of policing

The one-day record of police responding to a school for serious incidents was 10, the data sample shows. 

That was May 17, 2023, at Burroughs High School in the Sierra Sands Unified School District in Ridgecrest, a desert city of 28,000 in eastern Kern County near Death Valley.

The first occurred at 8:38 a.m. when a school resource officer arrested a student for battery and released him to his parents. District Assistant Superintendent Brian Auld, who’s in charge of security, told EdSource the student “didn’t even go to the police station.”

That was followed at 9:09 a.m. by reports of two students who appeared to be under the influence of drugs. They were evaluated and returned to class. Another report of two students apparently under the influence came in at 10:26 a.m. One student was impaired and released to their parents, Auld said.

Less than 10 minutes later, the resource officer responded to a student in “mental distress” who was taken for a psychological evaluation. 

At 1:23 p.m., police were alerted to a terrorist threat that ended up involving a student threatening to beat up someone, Auld said. 

About 20 minutes later, two girls began fighting in art class. 

One grabbed what Auld called “an art project” — apparently a ceramic object — and allegedly swung it at the other girl’s head. Police called it assault with a deadly weapon, arresting the aggressor. “Deadly weapon sounds like a knife or a gun. The officer made the decision that (the object) could have done serious bodily harm,” Auld said. “I’m not downplaying it.”  

At 3:14 p.m. a report of disturbing the peace came in. No details were provided.

At 10:26 p.m, a vandalism report to the police turned out to be benign — police found that soon-to-graduate seniors had decorated the school with toilet paper.

Ridgecrest is “a unique, isolated community” near a military base. The school district considers its relationship with the police as a successful partnership, Auld said.

District officials “have some, or even total, discretion regarding whether or not an arrest is made,” he added. The district has 15 counselors, mental health therapists and a registered behavioral therapist, Auld said. It’s also implementing restorative practices and social-emotional learning to “change behaviors before they result in suspensions, expulsions and arrests.”

The Kings of calls

The most total call and dispatch records in the data for one school that relies on calling 911 was Lemoore High School, in Lemoore, a city of 26,600 in Kings County with 471 calls over a nearly six-month period.

Lemoore police, which refers to school police as youth development officers, provided scant detail on the reasons for the calls, listing hundreds in records as premises checks. 

In an interview, Lt. Alvaro Santos, who supervises Lemoore’s school policing, attributed the numbers to the department’s practice of having all available officers “drop what they’re doing” during the times students arrive at school and leave for lunch and later go home, basically surrounding the buildings, some on side streets out of view of students.

“They’re around the school. They could be either parked on a side street or they could be driving by looking for vehicle code violations or anything that would pose a danger to the students,” Santos said. He said the schools are near a main road through the city and that there are concerns about drunk drivers in the area.

More serious calls

Sampled data shows that middle schools have a higher rate of serious incidents reported to police than high schools. At Cesar Chavez Middle School, in East Palo Alto, 41% of calls to police reported violent incidents, threats and sexual misconduct, data shows.

In one of two calls that East Palo Alto police labeled “perversion report,” a student allegedly used a phone to make “a TikTok” of another girl using the restroom, according to a recording of a heavily redacted 911 call to police from a school official. Police refused to release any details.

Fresno’s Gaston Middle School is in a neighborhood plagued by violence, gangs and drugs, all of which follow students through the school doors, both police and Fresno Unified Superintendent Bob Nelson said.

“I would love for there to be no acts of any physical harm on another person, but that’s impossible,” Sgt. Anthony Alvarado said.

Fresno Unified has been debating what level of policing to have in its schools for several years. In 2020 police were pulled from the district’s middle schools but remained in high schools. After several violent incidents, police were returned to some middle schools in 2022 and the rest in 2023. 

School “feels like a prison” 

The daily presence of Kern High School District police at Mira Monte High in Bakersfield “feels ghetto,” sophomore Jose Delgado said.

The school “feels like a prison. It’s like they don’t trust us at all.”

Still, Delgado said, he understands the need for police, noting a lot of fights at the school. “It’s for the best, but it makes us feel ghetto.”

Data shows 163 police call records at Delgado’s school for the five-and-a-half month period. They describe incidents including assault with a deadly weapon, an irate parent, out-of-control juveniles and resisting a police officer. 

Delgado’s sense of school as a prison and not being trusted are among the reasons why the negatives of school policing “completely outweigh the positives,” Nandam, the Southwestern Law School professor said. 

The students who police typically interact with “are not the children that are doing well in school,” Nandam said. “Part of why there isn’t an outrage, a global outrage, is because it’s not impacting the people that are in power, the people who have agency.”

Children seeing police in schools can be akin to going to an airport and encountering armed officers at a security checkpoint, said University of Florida education professor Chris Curran, who has studied school policing extensively. “It’s natural to wonder what’s wrong, why are there people with guns?” he said.  “You find yourself saying, ‘What do I not know about? What’s this danger that has necessitated assault rifles?’”

No state guidance

When he was a state Assembly member in 2020, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Assemblymember Mia Bonta’s spouse, clearly came down on the side of removing police from schools when he spoke at a forum after Floyd’s murder.

“It’s just really important to call out this incredible moment,” he said, lauding districts, including Oakland, that ended policing. “There’s a general dehumanization of children of color, a belief that they need to be surveilled and monitored and watched and policed.” 

“The outcomes don’t make our students safer,” he said. School policing is “not achieving what we’re seeking,” a video of the forum shows. It was hosted  by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond. 

Asked recently if Bonta’s position on school policing as the state’s top law enforcement officer mirrors what he said in 2020, his press secretary replied “no” via email.

Bonta, who’s expected to enter the 2026 governor’s race, “has always believed that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution for school safety, and that schools need to work towards data-driven policies that fit their community,” Alexandra Duquet wrote.

“School resource officers can be an important component of ensuring students and school personnel safety,” Duquet wrote. “Their primary focus should be ensuring the safety of all on campus — not discipline — and they be given tools such as implicit bias training that ensure the equitable treatment of all students.”     

Thurmond, a declared 2026 gubernatorial candidate, took no position on school policing during the forum. He recently told EdSource he favors “well-trained school resource officers to handle serious situations.” He also called for “more training of school staff so they’re not calling police for something that’s a student discipline matter.”    

Thurmond also said that during his time as a member of the West Contra Costa Unified School District board from 2008-2012 he saw police officers help students, calling them “some of the best social workers I’ve worked with.”

State Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, who during Thurmond’s forum praised Oakland’s shuttering of its school police department, said in an interview that school districts should consider alternatives to police the way some cities have started using trained civilians to respond to 911 mental-health-crisis calls.

“Kids are emotional. Kids don’t have impulse control the way adults should, and to bring an officer in, especially since all of our officers are armed, can, rather than defuse the situation, make it worse,” Skinner said. Kids can act out what they experience at home or on the street, she added.

Skinner, the author of several major police accountability bills, also said she saw value in the data EdSource obtained and published.

Police logs can help officials decide if civilian staff should deal with more school incidents at a time when California’s suffering a police shortage, she said. That could leave sworn officers available for “real public safety needs. We never want to prevent a school from calling 911 if that’s needed. However, there might be some appropriate guidelines or boundaries that cities and schools could work out.”

Stopping a police chase

The executive director of the Alabama-based National Association of School Resource Officers, Mo Candy, a retired cop, said districts would be mistaken to remove resource officers from campuses. Police will always be needed to respond to schools, and “we need for students and faculty to be able to feel like this officer is more than just a law enforcement officer, that they really are another trusted adult in that school environment.” A trained and well-known officer, “may be the person who comes into a situation with the coolest head,” he said.

Loretta Whitson, executive director of the California School Counselors Association, has seen what can happen when police approach a student situation lacking the cool-headedness Candy described.

As a school counselor in the Monrovia Unified School District in Los Angeles County, she once worked with a child who ran away from school multiple times. Finally, an exasperated principal called the police, who chased after the student.

“The principal didn’t stop them. I felt as (officers) went on in their rant this kid is getting more damaged. So, I said, ‘Stop, stop,”’ Whitson said. “We already had a very damaged kid, and this wasn’t helping.” The student was later found to need special education services, she said.

Tom Nolan, a retired Boston police lieutenant turned sociologist who’s taught at several universities and studied school policing, said when law enforcement officers are called into a school situation, “they become the shot callers,” deciding what to do whether it is in the child’s best interest or not. Too often, principals are calling them for minor problems like lost keys and disciplinary matters, he said.

“The research is unequivocal in demonstrating that the police coming into schools, or police being assigned to schools, is almost always a bad idea. It has bad outcomes for children. It has bad outcomes for school safety.”

Nolan said police are not school counselors and shouldn’t play that role. “That’s something that’s a very specific skill set that is attained through years of graduate level study by mental health practitioners and clinicians.”

The California Police Chiefs Association declined to make anyone from its leadership available for an interview. In an email, its executive director described school policing as a matter best discussed at local levels. 

Brian Marvel, president of the Peace Officers Research Association of California, a powerful federation of police unions, wasn’t available for an interview, a spokesperson said. In a statement, Marvel, a San Diego police officer, said cops assigned to schools “play an important role in” schools. They act as “educators, emergency/crisis managers, first responders, informal counselors, mentors, and model the kind of behavior that builds trust and respect between law enforcement and the communities they serve.” 

Data shows that sometimes, regardless of who might be available to counsel or advise a student, one may just do something dumb, like putting a death threat in writing. 

On June 15, 2023, James Morris, the county administrator who also acts as Inglewood Unified superintendent, received a death threat via email, police call records show. Morris, a veteran administrator, was brought on to lift Inglewood out of years of state receivership because of fiscal woes.

“I can just say, generally, it was a student,” Morris said when asked about the threat. Police took a report, but Morris said he didn’t want charges filed.

“I’ve been doing this for 44 years. It takes a lot to rattle me,” he said. “It was a young person who just needed help.”

No SRO’s in Antioch Unified

As previously reported, in December 2020 the Antioch City Council voted on a split, 3-2 vote to rescind the previous 3-2 vote to approve acceptance of a U.S. DOJ COPS Hiring Program Grant of $750,000 for six School Resource Officers (SRO’s). They would have been assigned to three of the district’s high schools and three middle school campuses.

Contra Costa County School Police Call Log Data for Jan. 15 – June 30, 2023

Following is the data from the police call logs from eight districts in Contra Costa County included in a sampling of schools representing California for the period Jan. 15 to June 30, 2023. The database does not include all schools or districts.

Antioch Unified School District – 99 incidents at two schools, Antioch High School and Dallas Ranch Middle School

Acalanes Unified School District

John Swett Unified School District

Lafayette Elementary School District

Liberty Union High School District

Mt. Diablo Unified School District

Pittsburg Unified School District

West Contra Costa Unified School District

Data from the Contra Costa County school districts included 11 schools, nine police departments ad 981 incidents reported.

Thomas Peele is an investigative reporter at EdSource.

Daniel J. Willis is an EdSource data journalist.

Allen D. Payton contributed to this report.

Antioch Unified to receive $522.5K directly, more from $1.775 million grant to CCC Office of Ed Consortium

By Emma Gallegos, EdSource.org

California has made good on a promise in the 2022 budget to invest in programs that simultaneously prepare students for both college and career. 

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office announced Friday that the state has released $470 million to 302 school districts, charters and county offices of education to fund the Golden State Pathways program.

The program allows students to “advance seamlessly from high school to college and career and provides the workforce needed for economic growth.”

“It’s an incredibly historic investment for the state,” said Anne Stanton, president of the Linked Learning Alliance, a nonprofit that advocates giving youth opportunities to learn about careers.

Both the state and federal governments previously made big investments in preparing students for college or career at the K-12 level, but the Golden State Pathways program is different in that it challenges school districts, colleges, employers and other community groups to create “pathways” — or a focused series of courses — that prepare K-12 students for college and career at the same time. These pathways aim to prepare students for well-paying careers in fields such as health care, education and technology, while also ensuring that they take 12 college credits through dual enrollment courses and the A-G classes needed to apply to public four-year universities.

“By establishing career technical pathways that are also college preparatory, the Golden State Pathways Program provides a game-changing opportunity for California’s young people,” State Superintendent of Public Instruction Thurmond said in a statement.

The Golden State Pathways are an important part of the new master plan for education — Newsom’s vision to transform career education in California — which is expected by the year’s end.

The state is distributing the vast majority of the funding — $422 million — to enable schools to implement their plans in partnership with higher education and other community partners. The remaining $48 million will assist those who still need grants for planning.

All sorts of schools throughout the state — rural and urban, large and small — benefited from the funding.

Schools in the rural Northern California counties of Tehama and Humboldt — whose K-12 enrollment is under 30,000 students — jointly received about $30 million to implement and plan pathways to help students stay on track for college and careers with livable wages.

“That’s a big deal to have that kind of influx going to that many small schools,” said Jim Southwick, assistant superintendent of the Tehama County Office of Education, which plans to expand career pathways in education, health care, construction, manufacturing and agriculture.

Schools in Tehama had previously begun to implement career pathways at the high school level in concert with local employers and Shasta College. However, many students struggled to complete the pathways because they were ill-prepared in middle school, Southwick said. 

But one middle school pilot program did successfully introduce students to career education, he added, leading to an influx of funding through the Golden State Pathways that will expand the program to other middle schools. 

Long Beach Unified, the fourth-largest district in the state, received about $12 million through the Golden State Pathways program. District spokesperson Elvia Cano said the funding will provide counseling and extra support for students navigating dual enrollment, Advanced Placement courses, college aid, externships and other work-based learning opportunities.

The district also plans to increase access to dual enrollment through partner Long Beach Community College and to create a new pathway in arts, media and entertainment at select high schools.

Advocates are celebrating the governor’s commitment to the program despite the uncertainty surrounding the budget this year.

Linda Collins, founder and executive director of Career Ladders Project, which supports redesigning community colleges to support students, said, “It’s an impressive commitment at a time that it’s desperately needed.” 

Newsom said in a statement that this funding will help students even if they don’t go to college , saying it “will be a game-changer for thousands of students as the state invests in pathways to good-paying, high-need careers — including those that don’t require college degrees.”

UPDATE:

A total of almost $7.7 million in Implementation and Planning Grants were awarded to schools in Contra Costa County.

Antioch Unified Awarded Funding

Asked if the Antioch Unified School District has or will be receiving any of the funding, Acting Superintendent Dr. Rob Martinez shared, “While the District has not received formal notification as of yet from the California Department of Education, the information below has been listed on the CDE websites as reports of funding allocations. 

The first link is for fund to districts as direct funding, which shows Antioch Unified School District receiving $522,500” for an Implementation Grant.

“There will also be an award to the Contra Costa County Consortium Grant which we opted to be part of which is listed at $1,775,000 (We anticipate that we will see a portion of those funds, to be determined by the consortium),” he added.

Other Contra Costa Districts, One School Also Awarded Grants

According to the CA Department of Education’s Implementation Grant Funding chart posted last month, the West Contra Costa Unified School District received the greatest amounts in the county with two grants for $2,680,000 and $2,050,000, respectively for a total of $4,730,000.  John Swett Unified School District also in West County was awarded $465,100.

In addition, the Aspire Richmond California College Preparatory Academy qualified for $199,955 in funding for a Planning Grant,

Allen D. Payton contributed to this report.

For Antioch residents or AUSD students; deadline Aug. 30

The YOCH Internship program is designed for teens ages 12-15 and is a unique opportunity offering a chance to engage in meaningful work while gaining valuable skills and experiences. Some participants may even qualify for a stipend based on their age, making it both rewarding and financially beneficial.

At present, our internship focuses on tutoring younger Antioch youth in Math & Reading, serving as mentors and role models to support academic growth. To ensure the success of this initiative, applicants must have a GPA of 2.9 or higher when applying for the internship. This program is open to both AUSD students and Antioch residents, providing a platform for local youth to make a positive impact in their community while furthering their own educational development.

To apply visit antiochca.gov/register Activity Code #11422. For more information, please email us at youth@antiochca.gov or visit antiochca.gov/youth. Join us in empowering the next generation of leaders and scholars!

Protect Kids California’s effort would require schools to tell parents if their child signals gender changes, prevent biological males in girls’ sports and ban sterilization of children

Claim Attorney General’s ballot title and language change hurt signature gathering effort, lawsuit filed

“Our message is simple. Schools shouldn’t keep secrets from parents” – Protect Kids CA

By Allen D. Payton

California activists seeking to empower parents over their children’s decisions to identify as transgender failed to place a trifecta of restrictions on the November ballot known by the organizers as the Protect Kids of California Act of 2024. Attorney General Rob Bonta changed the ballot title to Restricts Rights of Transgender Youth. Initiative Statute and he changed the ballot language, as well which hampered the signature gathering efforts organizers claim.

According to Students First: Protect Kids California, the initiative will: (1) repeal the California law that permits students to compete in female’s sports and students to be in females’ locker rooms and bathrooms; (2) prohibit schools from deceiving parents about their student’s gender identity crisis and stop them from secretly transitioning a child; and (3) stop sex change operations and chemical castrations on minors.

The organization started late last fall to consolidate their three separate initiatives into one, and its signature-gathering efforts supported by 400,000 voters fell short of the 546,651 verifiable signatures that had to be collected within six months to make the presidential election ballot. The goal was to collect 800,000 signatures to be safe.

Organizers posted their complaint about Bonta’s ballot language changes on the group’s Facebook page on April 2. Initiative committee Executive Team member Nicole C Pearson wrote, “Every Californian, regardless of whether they agree with the initiative, should be concerned about an attorney general who ignores the law and uses his power to sabotage ballot initiatives. We plan to hold Bonta accountable for allowing his political agenda to get in the way of doing his job.”

The post included a link to an opinion on the Orange County Register website  decrying the changes which reads, “As required by California law, proponents submitted the measure to Bonta to receive a neutral official title and summary to use in petitions. Bonta then returned the measure with a new title with a negative and misleading slant: the “Restricts Rights of Transgender Youth Initiative.” And he gave it a summary that was not only completely prejudicial and designed to mislead the electorate — it also contained lies.”

Then on Tuesday, May 28 the group issued a press release announcing the setback in a post on their Facebook page which reads, “We want to thank our tens of thousands of supporters and volunteers for this truly historic effort!Together, we collected over 400,000 signatures – an unprecedented achievement for a 100% grassroots effort. You really are amazing! While it is unfortunate we did not have enough signatures to make the 2024 ballot, we will build off this momentum to continue to fight for the principles set forth in the Protect Kids of California Act.”

The press release reads, “Protect Kids California announced on Tuesday, May 28, 2024, they collected an impressive 400,000 signatures for their proposed ballot measure but fell short of the 546,651 required to be collected within a 180-day timeframe to appear on the ballot.

Tens of thousands of volunteers gathered signatures from every county in California. The largest collection areas were Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Clara and Alameda Counties.

A completely grassroots effort, Protect Kids California raised close to $200,000 from over 1,200 donors. This equates to less than 50 cents per signature, a fraction of the amount standard ballot measure committees spend.

“While we are disappointed we didn’t meet the threshold to qualify for the ballot, we are encouraged by the amount of support from every sector of the state. We gathered more signatures for a statewide initiative than any all-volunteer effort in the history of California.” “We had severe headwinds from the beginning. California Attorney General Rob Bonta issued a false and misleading Title & Summary for our initiative. That made our fundraising efforts more difficult. While we sued the Attorney General, a Superior Court Judge denied our motion in April. We plan to appeal the Superior Court Judge’s decision, at which time we will decide how to proceed in the future. If we had a little more time or a little more money, we would have easily qualified for the ballot.”

But battles over transgender issues will continue to burn bright in courts, school districts and the Legislature. Despite a setback, initiative organizers were buoyed by the 400,000 signatures that thousands of volunteers collected. They are confident that they will attract more donations and enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot two years from now — and find more support than leaders in heavily Democratic California assume exists.  

“We’re very confident that voters would pass this if it gets to the ballot box,” said Jonathan Zachreson, a Roseville City school board member, co-founder of Protect Kids California and an official proponent of the initiative. “We gathered more signatures for a statewide initiative than any all-volunteer effort in the history of California.”

“We started around the holidays which didn’t help,” he added. “It was an all-volunteer effort. It usually takes about $7 million to get something on the ballot. We raised just under $200,000 which covered our costs. But we didn’t have money to pay signature-gatherers. We had around 25,000 to 30,000 volunteers. Our efforts really took off in the past two months. In the past few weeks, we were collecting so many signatures it was hard to keep up.”

The organizers proposed language for the three-pronged initiative read:

• REQUIRES schools to notify parents regarding children’s mental health concerns identified in school settings, including gender identification issues.
• PROTECTS girls’ competitive sports and school spaces to be for biological girls only.
• PREVENTS the sterilization of children by prohibiting the use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, mastectomies and genital surgeries for minors

But Bonta’s ballot language for the initiative was changed to read instead:

• Requires public and private schools and colleges to: restrict gender-segregated facilities like bathrooms to persons assigned that gender at birth; prohibit transgender female students (grades 7+) from participating in female sports. Repeals law allowing students to participate in activities and use facilities consistent with their gender identity.
• Requires schools to notify parents whenever a student under 18 asks to be treated as a gender differing from school records without exception for student safety.
• Prohibits gender-affirming health care for transgender patients under 18, even if parents consent or treatment is medically recommended.

The second issue has sparked a firestorm within the past year.

Last week, a Democratic legislator introduced a late-session bill that would preempt mandatory parental notification. Assembly Bill 1915, by Assemblymember Chris Ward, D-San Diego, would prohibit school districts from adopting a mandatory parental notification policy and bar them from punishing teachers who defy outing policies of LGBTQ+ students.

Last year, Assemblymember Bill Essayli, R-Corona, introduced a bill that would require parental notification, but AB 1314 died in the Assembly Education Committee without getting a hearing. Committee Chair Al Muratsuchi, D-Torrance, reasoned the bill would “potentially provide a forum for increasingly hateful rhetoric targeting LGBTQ youth.”

Ward cited surveys of transgender and gender nonconforming youths that found most felt unsafe or unsupported at home. In one national survey, 10% reported someone at home had been violent toward them because they were transgender, and 15% had run away or were kicked out of home because they were transgender.

The California Department of Education has issued guidance that warns that parental notification policies would violate students’ privacy rights and cites a California School Boards Association model policy that urges districts to protect students’ gender preferences.

But Zachreson argues that even if children have a right to gender privacy that excludes their parents, which he denies exists, students waive it through their actions.  “At school, their teachers know about it, their peers and volunteers know about it, other kids’ parents know about it —  and yet the child’s own parent doesn’t know that the school is actively participating in the social transition,” he said.

In some instances, he said, schools are actively taking steps to keep name changes and other forms of gender expression secret from the parents.

“What we’re saying is, no, you can’t do that. You have to involve the parents in those decisions,” he said.

Ward responds that many teachers don’t want to be coerced to interfere with students’ privacy and gender preferences. “Teachers have a job to do,” he said. “They are not the gender police.”

A half-dozen school districts with conservative boards, including Rocklin, Temecula Valley and Chino Valley, have adopted mandatory parental notification policies. Last fall, California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued Chino Valley, arguing its policy is discriminatory. A state Superior Court judge in San Bernardino agreed that it violated the federal equal protection clause and granted a preliminary injunction. The case is on appeal.

Last July, U.S. District Court judge for Eastern California threw out a parent’s lawsuit against Chico Unified for its policy prohibiting disclosure of a student’s transgender status to their parent without the student’s explicit consent. The court ruled that it was appropriate for the district to allow students to disclose their gender identity to their parents “on their own terms.” Bonta and attorney generals from 15 states filed briefs supporting Chico Unified; the case, too, is on appeal.

While some teachers vow to sue if required to out transgender students to their parents, a federal judge in Southern California sided with two teachers who sued Escondido Union School District for violating their religious beliefs by requiring them to withhold information to parents about the gender transition of children. The judge issued a preliminary injunction against the district and then ordered the return of the suspended teachers to the classroom.

No California appellate court has issued a ruling on parent notification, and it will probably take the U.S. Supreme Court for a definitive decision. Essayli pledged to take a case there.

The National Picture

Seven states, all in the deeply red Midwest and South, have laws requiring identification of transgender students to their parents, while five, including Florida and Arizona, don’t require it but encourage districts to adopt ther own version., according to the Movement Advancement Project or MAP, an independent nonprofit.

Two dozen states, including Florida, Texas, and many Southern and Midwest states ban best-practice health care, medication and surgical care for transgender youth, and six states, including Florida, make it a felony to provide surgical care for transgender care. Proponents cite the decision in March by the English public health system to prohibit youths under 16 from beginning a medical gender transition to bolster the case for tighter restrictions in the United States.  

California has taken the opposite position; it is one of 15 like-minded states and the District of Columbia with shield laws to protect access to transgender health care. They include New York, Oregon, Washington, Colorado and Massachusetts.

Twenty-five states have laws or regulations banning the participation of 13- to 17-year-old transgender youth in participating in sports consistent with their gender identification.

Not one solidly blue state is among those that have adopted the restrictions that Protect Kids California is calling for. But Zachreson and co-founder Erin Friday insist that contrary to the strong opposition in the Legislature, California voters would be open to their proposals. They point to favorable results in a survey of 1,000 California likely voters by the Republican-leaning, conservative pollster Spry Strategies last November.

• 59% said they would support and 29% would oppose legislation that “restricts people who are biologically male, but who now identify as women, from playing on girl’s sports teams and from sharing facilities that have traditionally been reserved for women.”
• 72% said they agreed, and 21% disagreed that “parents should be notified if their child identifies as transgender in school.”
• 21% said they agreed, and 64% disagreed that “children who say they identify as transgender should be allowed to undergo surgeries to try to change them to the opposite sex or take off-label medications and hormones.”

The voters surveyed were geographically representative and reflective of party affiliation, but not demographically, The respondents were mostly white and over 60, and, in a progressive state, were divided roughly evenly among conservatives, moderates and liberals.

Two Versions of Protecting Children

Both sides in this divisive cultural issue say they’re motivated to protect children. One side says it’s protecting transgender children to live as they are, without bias and prejudice that contribute to despair and suicidal thoughts. The other side says it’s protecting kids from coercion to explore who they aren’t, from gender confusion, and exposure to values at odds with their family’s.

Zachreson and Friday wanted to title their initiative “Protect Kids of California Act of 2024.” But Bonta, whose office reviews initiatives’ titles and summaries, chose instead “Restrict Rights of Transgender Youth. Initiative Statute.” Zachreson and Friday, an attorney, appealed the decision, but a Superior Court Judge in Sacramento upheld Bonta’s wording, which he said was accurate, not misleading or prejudicial.

“The ballot title was obviously biased and the summary was intentionally meant to deceive voters and hampered our efforts to get this on the ballot this year,” Zachreson continued. “The statutory requirement is to be impartial and factual. He did the opposite. He was biased and he had descriptions that were false. Bonta claimed there were no exceptions for student safety when notifying parents. But that’s not correct. It’s already in the law.”

Zachreson is appealing again. A more objective title and summary would make a huge difference, he said, by attracting financial backing to hire signature collectors and the support and resources of the California Republican Party, which declined to endorse the initiative. That was a strategic mistake in an election year when turnout will be critical.

“The people who support the initiative are passionate about it,” he said.

The organizers may have to start over but a lawsuit about the biased title and summary was filed asking for a change in the language, to use the signatures already gathered and to grant an extension.

“The appeal won’t be heard until after the November election,” Zachreson shared.

Effort for November 2026 Ballot Continues

If a judge rules in their favor it will make it easier for the group to complete the signature gathering to qualify for the next General Election ballot which will be in November 2026.

Political observer Dan Schnur, who teaches political communications at USC, UC Berkeley and Pepperdine University, agreed that the gender debate could have motivated Republicans and swing voters to go to the polls. 

“There’s no question that the Attorney General’s ballot language had a devastating effect on the initiative’s supporters and it could have almost as much of an impact on Republican congressional candidates this fall,” he said.

“Our message is simple. Schools shouldn’t keep secrets from parents; we should protect girls’ sports and private spaces at school; and we should protect kids from unproven, life-altering and often sterilizing medical procedures. We vow to continue fighting for these principles,” the group’s May 28th press release concluded.

To learn more about Protect Kids California, visit http://www.protectkidsca.com.

John Fensterwald who writes about education policy and its impact in California for EdSource.org contributed to this report.

While Anello out on medical leave; oversaw internal investigations of bullying complaints

By Allen D. Payton

The Antioch School Board appointed the school district’s Chief Human Resources Officer, Certificated HR, Dr. Robert Martinez as acting superintendent, Wednesday night, May 22, 2024, to serve while Superintendent Stephanie Anello is out on medical leave.

Following their closed session meeting, which also included a performance evaluation of Anello, Antioch School Board President Antonio Hernandez announced, “The Board has selected Dr. Robert Martinez as acting superintendent on a 3-2 vote.”

However, Anello was not in attendance and Hernandez did not mention anything about that agenda item.

Martinez, who goes by Rob, oversaw the recent internal investigations of the complaints against Kenny Turnage by district maintenance employees. The results of the investigations have not been satisfactory to those employees, nor Hernandez who has publicly called for Anello’s resignation in spite of not having provided her with an annual evaluation for at least two years. Two additional investigations of the complaints using outside individuals are underway. Plus, Hernandez has called for a separate, board-led “investigation on the policies, practices, and culture of the Antioch Unified School District that impact our employees and students.” (See related article)

At the beginning of the Superintendent’s Report agenda item of the meeting, Martinez said, “First off, let me just say thank you to the board for the trust that you’ve placed in me to serve as the acting superintendent.in Superintendent Anello’s absence,” Martinez. “I will hold that responsibility with great care, compassion and commitment for all of our students, staff, families and community.”

About Dr. Rob Martinez

According to his LinkedIn profile, “Dr. Robert A. Martinez is currently the Chief of Human Resources for the Antioch Unified School District (in which he has served since June 2022). He previously served as Superintendent/CEO of Griffin Technology Academies, and the Mt. Diablo Unified School District. He was the Assistant Superintendent in the Fairfield-Suisun Communities where he worked for 32 years. Dr. Martinez has continually focused on improving and expanding educational opportunities for students. He strives to advance understanding of resiliency research for all his employees, students, and their families. He seeks to support all District personnel with advancing their personal and professional skills, knowledge, and expertise in working with children as unique individuals with unlimited capacities. He has served as a Board Member of the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA), ACSA President-Elect of for Region 4, Past-President of Solano ACSA Charter, as a Board Member for the California Association of Latino Superintendents and Administrators (#CALSA/Greater San Francisco, Bay Area, Region 1) and is currently the Vice President of Legislative Action for ACSA Region 4. He was awarded ACSA’s most acclaimed Personnel/Human Resources recognition in 2019. Dr. Martinez holds a B.A. in Psychology and an M.A. in Education, both from the University of California, Davis. He is extremely proud to have earned his Educational Doctorate Degree in Educational Leadership and Management with a concentration in Human Resources, from Drexel University.

His new book, “Recipes for Resilience, Nurturing Perseverance in Students and Educators” was recently released and is available on @Amazon. He shares messages from his life and lessons learned. His life’s work has focused on helping others live courageous, resilient lives. He previously authored “The Story of Sparkle and Shine,” a story of positivity and action for good.

He is available to provide keynotes, consultation, and training on building resilient cultures that create powerful safe places for our children and adults to learn, grow and develop in peace. He believes building resilience in each person, in equitable safe places is of paramount importance.

You can follow him @ResiliencyGuy @Twitter, @Instagram, @Facebook @Youtube.

Educator, Superintendent, Past CALSA Board of Director, Past ACSA Board Member, ACSA Region 4 Board Member, Solano ACSA, Life-long Learner, Dr. Rob often says, “Let the lives we help others live be the measure of our success.”

Martinez earned his Master of Arts Degree in Education in 1992 from U.C. Davis and his Doctorate of Education Educational Leadership, Human Resources Concentration from Drexel University in 2013.

Two investigated, two more under investigation

Calls out school board president’s claims complaints were mishandled although board hadn’t heard about response by HR Dept until May 8

Superintendent not involved, still on medical leave; board must choose acting supe

CSEA questioned on claims of vote of no-confidence in AUSD cabinet

By Allen D. Payton

In an email to Antioch Unified School District staff on Wednesday, May 15, 2024, the District’s Chief Human Resources Officer, Dr. Robert A. Martinez informing them of the “recent media coverage regarding certain personnel matters within our organization” and “to provide clarity and address some of the concerns that may have arisen as a result.” He was referring to the claims by some district employees by Kenny Turnage, the Director of Maintenance and Operations, including placing a desk on the roof of a district building and the display of a sign pointing up to it that it’s the location of an employee’s desk. Turnage was recently placed on administrative leave pending the completion of the investigations.

In response to the matter, AUSD Board President and Area 1 Trustee Antonio Hernandez called for Superintendent Stephanie Anello’s resignation claiming she and the District had mishandled the investigation, amid complaints her husband and Turnage are close friends. Hernandez also held a Closed Session at the beginning of the regular board meeting last Wednesday, May 8 in which a vote to terminate her contract failed two-to-three.

The board president also attempted to evaluate Anello, but she did not attend the closed session or regular meeting, as she was out on medical leave. (See related articles here, here and here)

Martinez went on to write his May 15th letter, “First and foremost, I want to assure you that the District takes all employee matters seriously and handles them with the utmost care and diligence. Any complaints or issues brought forward are thoroughly investigated by our Human Resources Department or a third party, independent firm, in accordance with established protocols, procedures, board policy, and applicable law.

“Two of the four complaints recently highlighted in the media coverage, were in fact processed consistent with the District’s practices, protocols, procedures, board policy, and applicable law in that they were investigated by Human Resources and the complainants were responded to with the Confidential Administrative Determination letters that contained findings. In addition, under the Superintendent’s (Stephanie Anello’s) direction they were subsequently reviewed by an outside, third-party, independent investigator which found that the internal investigations and appeal processes were appropriately conducted, finding no irregularities in the investigation processes or the findings of the investigations. The two more recent complaints are under investigation and will go through a similar process. If and when there is a need for employee discipline, based on the evidence and findings, such discipline would be assigned by the Human Resources Department, again based on appropriate protocols, board policy, collective bargaining agreements, and applicable law.”

Calls Out Board President Antonio Hernandez for Falsely Claiming Process Was Mishandled

Martinez’ letter continued with, “Last month, the Board President spoke to the media claiming the District mishandled certain employee complaints. However, it was not until last Wednesday, May 8th, that the Board first heard about the steps the Human Resources Department took to investigate and respond to the complaints. Moreover, the District and subsequently the Board has also been informed by an outside, third-party, independent investigator who reviewed the District’s handling of the complaints, that the District acted appropriately and in accordance with the law.

It is important to understand that personnel matters are confidential in nature, and as such, we are limited in the information that we can disclose publicly. While we understand that this may lead to speculation or misinformation, we want to emphasize that the District remains committed to protecting the privacy rights of employees while being transparent where possible.

We also want to make it clear that Superintendent Anello was not directly involved in the investigation, findings, or disciplinary actions related to these matters. This is consistent with the District’s practices, policies and procedures.

“We  understand that media coverage can be unsettling, especially when it involves our organization. However, we encourage you to focus on the important work that we do every day to support our students and the community.”

Martinez then offered some encouraging words about Measure B and other district matters.

He concluded his letter with, “Superintendent Anello is currently on medical leave and looks forward to returning once her doctor releases her to return. The Governing Board is working to identify an acting superintendent in her absence. More information will be shared once that person has been determined by Board action.” (See AUSD May 15, 2024 letter)

April 24 District Press Release

Previously, Martinez announced the two initial investigations in a press release issued on April 24, 2024, which was only sent to media who requested information. It wasn’t received by the Herald until May 8, although information about the matter was requested of District personnel on Saturday, April 27th.

In that press release he wrote, “We wish to provide an update with regard to recent developments within the Antioch school district that garnered public attention.

“To ensure transparency and accountability within our district, two separate investigations have been initiated to look into concerns raised publicly by an individual board member. The first investigation will review the overall situation, providing a comprehensive understanding of the circumstances involved. The second investigation will specifically address the two recent complaints that have been filed against an employee within the district.

“Furthermore, in the interest of maintaining the integrity of the investigative process and obviate any concerns, Superintendent Anello has voluntarily removed herself from direct involvement. Moving forward, I will be assuming responsibility for overseeing the investigations and working with the Board of Education regarding this situation.

Upon completion, the Board of Education will receive results of the investigations and will address any issues that may arise with the utmost diligence and transparency. It is important to understand that individual board members do not have authority to take action and provide direction, board authority rests with the majority of the body. To this point, decisions regarding the District, including decisions about leadership, must be made collectively by the Board as a whole.

“While this situation is understandably causing concern and questions, I am confident that the remarkable professionals in our schools and across our organization will continue to keep the wellbeing of our students as a top priority.” (See AUSD April 24, 2024 media release)

April 19 Antioch CSEA Chapter 85 Press Release, President Claims Vote of No-Confidence in AUSD Cabinet That May Not Have Occurrred

Earlier, on April 19, the California School Employees Association (CSEA) local Antioch Chapter 85 issued a press release – which was also not sent to the Herald but received this past Monday,  May 13 – about the bullying claims and Board President Antonio Hernandez’ unilateral call for Anello’s resignation.

The press release read, “CSEA chapter 85 is aware of the allegations of bullying and harassment against employees, we are working with our members to ensure their rights aren’t being violated. We do not condone any bullying or harassment of any employee or students. We stand by our members and appreciate everything they do daily for the students and the community. We encourage the school board to thoroughly investigate all the allegations and stand up for what’s right, as is their role as elected officials. CSEA Chapter 85 – Antioch.” (See CSEA April 19, 2024 media release)

In addition, as previously reported, the chapter president, Brian Atkinson, announced at the May 8 school board meeting that the executive committee held a vote of no-confidence in the superintendent. However, whether that vote ever occurred has come into question.

The chapter was sent an email on Wednesday, May 15, 2024, asking when that vote occurred, for the names of the executive board members, how many members were in attendance, for the actual motion, and the vote count, plus, a copy of the minutes of the executive board meeting during which the vote was taken.

According to the Chapter 85 website, there are eight members of their executive committee, including Atkinson, 1st VP Linda Rambeau-Jaime, 2nd VP Luis Sandoval, Chapter Secretary Anna Hernandez-Guzman, Chapter Treasurer Lilian Morataya, Communications Officer Joan Burke, Site Rep Coordinator Laura Dickerson and Sergeant at Arms Michael Brisco. The website’s Contacts page also lists Chief Steward Marcos Valdez and Stewards Erik Pitschner, Levon Edwards and Thomas Sellers.

In addition, both Board President Hernandez and CSEA Chapter 85 were emailed asking for a response to today’s letter from Dr. Martinez.

No responses were received prior to publication time.

Please check back later for any updates to this report.