Good Schools For All By Voice Of San Diego

“The culture of the district was basically based on retaliation, intimidation. Those are the two words that I can think of,” said former Sweetwater school board member Bertha Lopez. Exactly six years have passed since Sweetwater schools superintendent Jesus Gandara was terminated at 2 a.m. on June 21, 2011 following seven hours of closed door meetings. A raucous crowd of 500 people gathered in a high school gymnasium the evening before to attend the Sweetwater Union High School District board meeting, many to demand better from their school district leaders. Some hoped Gandara’s departure would close a dark chapter in the district’s history dominated by stories of malfeasance. But what was supposed to be the end was only the beginning of the end for leaders of California’s largest secondary public school district, which spans from the city of San Diego to the U.S.-Mexico border. An investigation of Gandara’s activities, as well as the Sweetwater school board and contractors by the San Diego County Distric