Hiring A Superintendent Behind Closed Doors Has A Price

Passing The Trash: “Enabling teachers who sexually abuse students to pursue another job with no record of their sexual misconduct, is common practice for K-12 school district administrators who fear legal liability and tarnished reputations.”
- National Library of Medicine

“Keep This Between Us” is a multi-part documentary about Cheryl Nichols reexamining “her past relationship with a trusted teacher, exposing an epidemic of widespread grooming in U.S. high schools.” In the third episode, “Passing the Trash,” Heaven Rubin gets to tell her story about how she was violated by Jason Meyers, a teacher in the Miami-Dade County Public Schools. While Meyers was charged in 2016 with three felony counts of engaging in sex with a minor, his lawyers have managed to delay his trial so that he has not yet faced a trial. He denies the accusations against him.

The most disturbing part about Rubin’s story is that she was not the first person to say that she was victimized by the teacher. The first accusation against him was made in 2008 and two years later it was alleged that he had sex with a student while chaperoning an overnight field trip. Instead of reporting him to the authorities, he was transferred to another school where he had the opportunity to assault Rubin. The Superintendent of the school district during this time period was Alberto Carvalho.

The accusations made about Carvalho in the documentary were damning. One former teacher, Tom James says:

“Alberto Carvalho plays the part well, but it’s all about money. We have a school system where bad things don’t happen. That way they can get more money from the state or the feds.”

Another alleges:

“For those who worked in the school district we call it ‘a mafia.’ Miami-Dade County Public Schools, they don’t like sniches. Stay Silent. You want to keep your job, you look the other way.”

James sums up”

“It’s a failure on the part of the district, from the Superintendent to the school board and the principals involved.”

Did the Los Angeles Unified School Board (LAUSD) consider these accusations before hiring Carvalho? The public will never know because Board President Kelly Gonez conducted the hiring process entirely behind closed doors. Almost three months before the selection was made, a “jury ordered that the [Miami-Dade] school board pay Heaven $6 million in damages” due in part to Carvalho’s inaction and the stakeholders of the LAUSD have no idea if Carvalho was even asked how he will protect our students from these types of crimes in Los Angeles.

Carvalho was not the first Superintendent that Gonez voted to hire in secrecy. The hiring process for Austin Beutner triggered a complaint that the board violated the Brown Act. When Board Member Scott Schmerelson revealed what happened behind closed doors, a complaint was filed against him with the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

Both Board District 2 candidate Rocio Rivas and District 6 challenger Marvin Rodriguez have committed to an open process that complies with the Brown Act if the Superintendent position becomes vacant during their terms. They will also give parents a voice before a final vote is taken to extend a contract to the selected candidate. Incumbent Board President Kelly Gonez and Monica Garcia’s hand-picked successor, Maria Brenes, refused to answer the question. The stakeholders of the district should expect more of the same if either of them wins the November 8th election.

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Carl Petersen is a parent advocate for students with special education needs and public education. He was elected to the Northridge East Neighborhood Council and is the Education Chair. As a Green Party candidate in LAUSD’s District 2 School Board race, he was endorsed by Network for Public Education (NPE) Action. Dr. Diane Ravitch has called him “a valiant fighter for public schools in Los Angeles.” For links to his blogs, please visit www.ChangeTheLAUSD.com. Opinions are his own.