Parents and advocates urge board to act amid allegations against special-education leader

Several parents and a teacher at the Corona-Norco Unified School District board meeting accused the district's special education leadership of systemic failures and retaliation, and urged the board to take personnel action.

"This is a toxic environment," a woman who identified herself as an upset mother told the board, saying she had a "meticulously documented" formal complaint ready to file against the district's SELPA director and a separate licensure complaint under development. She said the complaint alleges violations of California Education Code Section 56046, cancellation of a critical ADR meeting, failure to comply with a California Department of Education noncompliance order, and repeated delays in providing prior written notices. "I urge you to terminate Don Rust," she said.

Other parents described long delays, repeated denials and the cost of hiring advocates. "For the past seven years, my family has fought to obtain appropriate special education services," said Miriam Broke, who said her family spent nearly $20,000 to obtain an independent educational evaluation. Another parent said the department's leadership had not followed through after meetings and that families were left "completely stranded." Several speakers linked the problems to leadership conduct and asked the board to review the special education department and its director.

Board members did not take public action during the public comment period. Board leadership later reported closed-session personnel actions that included certificated management reclassifications and introductions of newly hired assistant principals, but none of those publicly announced motions referenced removal or discipline of SELPA leadership.

Board members heard parents' claims about financial implications as well as programmatic harm. The upset mother told the board that "75% of the money spent on attorneys in this district is coming from SPED issues" and said nearly $7 million was being spent on legal fees she described as "total waste of taxpayer dollars"; the board and staff did not provide an immediate response to those figures during public comment.

The board has established procedures for complaints against district employees; during public comment the meeting chair reminded speakers that personnel complaints can be pursued through the district's written complaint process. The transcript shows critics asserting both procedural noncompliance and retaliatory conduct; the board did not announce any formal investigation or timeline in open session following those remarks.

The meeting later moved to closed session where multiple administrative reclassifications were approved and several assistant principals were publicly introduced; the transcript does not show any public action related to the SELPA director during open session.

What happens next: speakers said formal complaints are ready to be filed with the district and with licensing authorities; the board may respond by referring the matter to its staff, opening an independent review, or addressing the concerns during closed session. The transcript does not record a board decision on next steps regarding the complaints.