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Parent says board has not responded to classroom abuse allegations and urges higher pay for special-education staff
Summary
A Santa Rosa parent told the Atascadero Unified School District board she provided a written timeline of alleged abuse in her child’s classroom and said no board member had responded; she also urged the district to raise special-education and paraeducator pay to retain staff and avoid service gaps.
A parent told the Atascadero Unified School District Board of Trustees on April 22 that she had submitted a written timeline of alleged abuse in her child’s classroom and received no responses from board members, and she urged the district to raise pay for special-education staff and paraeducators to retain personnel and meet legal obligations.
The parent, Lindsay Olivera, said she emailed the board a timeline of alleged incidents on March 19 and wrote that “Not a single board member responded to my email.” She told trustees she later received a call from Superintendent Sam Butler but said the family still does not have an official explanation of what happened: "It has been 188 days and that we still do not know in any official capacity what happened to our children at Santa Rosa," Olivera said in public comment.
Why it matters: Olivera linked the unresolved allegations to broader operational concerns, saying the district risks failing to provide legally required services to students with disabilities if it cannot retain qualified staff. She cited regional pay differences and a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistic, saying autism diagnoses have risen and special-education staffing needs are increasing.
What she asked for: Olivera urged the board to raise pay for special-education teachers and paraeducators, noting comparable job postings in neighboring districts pay substantially more. She said Atascadero must “find a way to pay their special education staff a higher wage because you will lose them to surrounding school districts,” and warned of legal exposure if services required by students’ individualized education programs (IEPs) are not provided.
What district leaders said: Superintendent Sam Butler acknowledged the comment in his superintendent’s report and thanked Olivera for attending. Butler also thanked staff for supporting families following a separate, tragic student death that the city police department recognized earlier that day.
Context and board record: Olivera’s remarks were delivered during the meeting’s public comment period. The district and board did not provide further details or a formal response at the meeting; the transcript shows Butler acknowledged the comments and said district staff are preparing documentation. The parent specifically tied her concerns to staffing and pay, referencing job postings on EdJoin and noting rate differences she said make retention difficult.
Next steps: The parent requested the district “sit down and find a path forward” on special-education wages and staffing; the board did not vote on any policy changes at the April 22 meeting. The district’s negotiation and budget items that night included other personnel actions (summarized in the board’s votes), but Olivera’s central request for targeted pay increases for special-education staff was not immediately adopted as a motion or directive at the meeting.
