Parent and staff speaker raise discipline and contract-payback concerns during public comment

Two public commenters addressed the board during the call-to-the-public period, raising substantive concerns about student discipline and employment contract liquidation damages.

Ruth Yanez told the board her daughter was assaulted at Casa Grande Middle School in February and said the school did not report the incident to police or investigate. "My daughter was the victim of the assault," Yanez said and said her daughter was subsequently charged with assault and "carrying and using an explosive weapon at school." Yanez told the board she provided the superintendent with a police report and court documents she said prove her daughter was the victim and that she also received an email from an assistant superintendent — she identified the assistant superintendent in her remarks — saying the accusation regarding an explosive weapon was a clerical error. Yanez said her child was placed in long-term suspension, has been unable to enroll at another middle school, and "has lost the school year and is behind one year in life." She asked Superintendent Dr. Lecky to review her child's hearing result.

Later in the call-to-the-public period, a speaker identifying herself as Kimberly (last name transcribed in the record as Bridal Baldinia/Bridal Baldinia) addressed liquidation damages the district was seeking after she submitted her resignation. She said she planned to fulfill her school-counselor duties through May 29 and questioned the district's basis for a repayment requirement because the contract language appeared written for classroom teachers rather than counselors. She said she had been told the board adopted an updated certified salary scale at an April board meeting that would increase her base pay and that the contract she signed in April therefore did not reflect her true forthcoming salary. "I just ask that to be fair, that it be waived," she said, adding that she is leaving "for financial reasons." The speaker said she had spent many years in education and asked the board to consider waiving the liquidation damages.

Board members did not announce a formal response during the meeting. The public-comment items were recorded by name in the minutes; board staff did not present a staff report or motion in response during the meeting.

Ending: The speakers asked for administrative review and board consideration; no board action was recorded on these matters during the meeting.