Two public commenters allege special-education failures and retaliation at Etiwanda School District; request county action
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Summary
During public comment, two speakers accused Etiwanda School District and outside counsel of mishandling special-education evaluations and of retaliatory behavior; they asked the county superintendent’s office to investigate and to produce records.
At the June 18 meeting, two members of the public used the matters-brought-by-citizens period to directly criticize special-education practice at Etiwanda School District and to ask the county superintendent’s office to intervene.
Des Alvarez told the board he believed the county superintendent’s office had not held Etiwanda accountable after an "inappropriate" psychoeducational evaluation of his son. Alvarez said the psychologist evaluated the child while the child was medicated and that he had informed the psychologist of a negative medication reaction; he called the resulting report inaccurate and ‘‘defamatory’’ and said that he had been denied records he requested from a SELPA office. Alvarez said the evaluation described behaviors that did not match his son’s school records and that he had removed his child from site-based school because of the report. He asked the county office to remove the report from his child’s record and to produce related SELPA records.
Antoinette Jensen said she had reported abuse by staff in her classroom at Etiwanda and experienced retaliation. Jensen said she filed a Williams complaint; she alleged the district admitted to no wrongdoing and that conditions persisted for young students in special education (no changing tables, unsanitary conditions, lack of staff). She raised concerns about conflicts of interest and asked the board to investigate.
The county superintendent’s office did not take formal action during the meeting but was addressed directly by the speakers. The board did not make a motion; county staff note these were public comments and follow normal channels for complaints (complaint investigations and records requests) rather than immediate board intervention.
What the speakers said is recorded verbatim in the transcript. The board’s public-facing response at the meeting was limited to receiving the comments; staff did not announce any special investigation or formal next steps on the record during the meeting.
Follow-up: The county office’s normal process for special-education and Williams complaints is to accept a submitted complaint, review jurisdiction and records, and, where appropriate, investigate or coordinate with the SELPA/district. Complainants in this meeting specifically named Etiwanda School District, the Weston SELPA (as spelled in public comment) and an outside attorney; staff said publicly that an investigation pathway exists but did not describe open investigative steps at the meeting.
