Parents allege repeated inappropriate touching by school janitor; family says employee was returned to site after internal probe

Parents and a family representative told the San Juan Unified Board of Education on Monday that a male janitor at a charter site repeatedly engaged in unwanted touching of third-grade students this school year and that district human resources removed the employee from the site after an internal investigation but later returned him to campus.

"In October was the first incident. November was the second incident. . . January was a third incident," said Josiah Ferguson, who told the board the episodes occurred this school year and described them as "proven incidents." Ferguson said San Juan Unified HR removed the employee from the site after an internal investigation but that "as of today that employee is now back and no comment was given to the family."

Brianna D'Agostini, who identified herself as the mother of one of the children described, told the board she and other parents reported repeated incidents, that she asked the principal to review video, and that HR placed the janitor on leave but did not notify families when he returned. "My daughter came running back, alarmed, that said janitor was back. No one told us that he'd be returning," D'Agostini said. She urged the board to intervene to keep the employee away from students or reassign him to an adult program.

Board members listened but did not announce any immediate board action during the meeting. Another speaker, David Pagos, said his son, who has an individualized education program, had alleged mistreatment by an aide at his school and requested a one-time retention for the student; Pagos said site administrators removed the aide from campus when allegations were raised and urged formal charges so the person could not return.

The commenters said they had reported incidents to site administrators and to district HR. The transcript records the parents' allegations and their requests to the board; it does not include a spoken response from district HR or from site administration during public comment. The board did not vote on any personnel matters in open session.

What the board heard may prompt staff follow-up. Under the Brown Act, the board cannot respond to or take formal action on items not on the posted agenda during public comment; the superintendent may refer concerns to staff for follow-up.

Next steps noted by speakers: parents requested that the district remove the employee from campus or reassign them to duties away from students and asked for better family notification about personnel decisions affecting student safety. The transcript includes no formal district reply or explanation of investigative findings during the meeting.