By Eduardo Rueda / Investigative Reporter
The San Diego County Board of Education placed long-time County Superintendent Randy Ward on administrative leave as they initiate a forensic audit in the wake of a lawsuit claiming Ward was engaged in self-dealing.
At the monthly meeting of the County Board of Education on Wednesday, July 13, several teachers spoke about concerns raised in a lawsuit filed last week by the California Taxpayer Action Network (CalTAN). The lawsuit alleges that Ward asked for and received an amendment to his contract in 2014 that connected his pay raises to those given to teachers and classified employees of the County.
By Eduardo Rueda – Investigative Reporter
The San Diego Grand Jury released a report critical of past actions of the San Ysidro School District, citing missing funds, destruction of documents, and an overall lack of financial accountability spanning several years.
The report calls attention to the District’s lax financial controls and lack of oversight by the school board members sitting between 1997 and 2014.
The report lays most of the blame on “staff”, meaning the superintendent and his administrators. The bulk of the inappropriate activity occurred during the tenure of Superintendent Manual Paul who headed the District from 2007 to 2013.
Several members served for long tenures during that period, including Yolanda Hernandez and Jean Romero, who each served over a dozen years on the board. Other members that served during this period were Raquel Marquez Maden, Paul Randolph, Jose Barajas, and Jason Wells.
By Eduardo Rueda
taken to jail after sentencing in 2014
The Sweetwater Union High School District approved two legal settlements at a special board meeting Thursday that will bring the District $8.5 million and end the last remaining lawsuits stemming from a 2012 corruption scandal that led to 15 indictments.
The settlements resolve a series of lawsuits and cross complaints involving contractors that participated in what prosecutors called a “pay-to-play” scheme that led to the prosecution of several school board members, contractors, and then-Superintendent Jesus Gandara.
The District sued several contractors in 2014 to invalidate their contracts and demanded more than $14 million in refunds, claiming the contracts were illegal because they were awarded through the contractors’ use of campaign contributions and illegal gifts to school board members which violated state law.
Photo: Mario A. Cortez
By Eduardo Rueda – Investigative Reporter
Two current Trustees and one former Trustee of the San Ysidro School District dispute the District’s official position that it properly voted to settle an employee settlement last year.
All three Trustees say that no vote was taken to approve a separation agreement that paid out over $100,000 to an employee that had been terminated by Superintendent Julio Fonseca. That employee felt he was fired only after he talked about Fonseca’s hiring of a woman he was dating.
Three other current Trustees refused to comment. Antonio Martinez, Irene Lopez, and Board President Rosaleah Pellasigue did not return repeated requests for comments.
Board president Rosaleah Pallasigue,
A local taxpayer watchdog group has filed a lawsuit against the San Ysidro School District Superintendent alleging he illegally spent school district money.
The local non-profit, San Diegans for Open Government, known as SanDOG, claims Superintendent Julio Fonseca misused public money when he paid $113,433 to a terminated employee back in May 2016. That payment was connected to a settlement agreement with the employee that SanDOG argues was never properly approved by the District’s Board of Trustees.
“At this point, [Fonseca’s] fraud against the taxpayers cannot be ratified by so-called stewards of the public trust a handful of trustees who do not care how unethical their soldier is as long as he carries out their will,” said Cory Briggs, SanDOG’s lawyer who filed the lawsuit.