Parents and students at LAUSD meeting urge firings, allege staff misconduct and press safety concerns

A wave of public commenters at Monday’s Los Angeles Unified special meeting urged the board to take immediate personnel action, demanded improvements in school safety, and raised repeated allegations of intimidation and misconduct by district staff.

"You took them out. You changed them. And that is breaking the law," Diana Guillen said in Spanish as she accused district staff of censoring parents’ comments and criticized decisions she said harm English learners.

Multiple callers named district employees and alleged misconduct. A remote speaker identified as Core Singh accused Antonio Placencia, Dr. Eric Elward and Ms. Rocher of lying to parent advisory bodies, intimidating parents and students, and obstructing information; he said an investigation had been launched and asked that it be conducted thoroughly. Jamila Fontu, who identified herself as a student and community advocate, said at least two named employees "aided and abetted the sexual abuse of every student and pled guilty," and demanded immediate suspension and firings.

Breanna Hernandez similarly described alleged mishandling of sexual‑abuse cases and called for firings of named employees, saying a pattern of protection for staff had left victims without accountability. Those allegations to the board were voiced as public comments; no district representative offered a public rebuttal during the comment period.

Other public remarks focused on safety and staffing. Maria Daisy Ortiz urged restoring school police and criticized a proposal to spend on Safe Passages contractors she described as untrained; Karina Lopez Zuniga and several others described concerns about insufficient security at school entrances and along routes to campus. Isabel Aguirre warned against outsourcing services for students with special needs and urged more in‑district trained staff.

Board members did not take personnel actions in public during the meeting; some of the issues raised — including personnel matters and litigation — were scheduled for discussion in closed session. The district did report later that the board had authorized non‑re‑election of 11 certificated probationary employees and voted to appoint Andres E. Chait as superintendent after closed session.

What the record shows: the allegations presented in public comment were stated by commenters and remain allegations on the record. Several callers said investigations were underway; the transcript reflects the claims, the targets named by speakers, and an absence of public denials or formal responses in open session.