Category Archives: FONTANA, Calif.

San Bernardino County Board of Education Candidate Maria Isabel Arias Reveals Info about SANDABS

FONTANA, Calif., Nov. 6, 2024 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — “When I became involved with San Bernardino County Board of Education issues, I learned about an underground organization called SANDABS, funded and controlled by the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools. This was one of the many issues that prompted me to run for a seat on the San Bernardino County Board of Education,” says Maria Isabel Arias, a candidate for San Bernardino County Board of Education, Area C. Area C includes, Fontana, Chino, Chino Hills, parts of Ontario and The Cucamonga School District in California.

Maria Isabel Arias, Candidate for San Bernardino County Board of Education, Area C
Image caption: Maria Isabel Arias, Candidate for San Bernardino County Board of Education, Area C.

SANDABS – underground organization

Some time ago the San Bernardino County Superintendent Ted Alejandre created the San Bernardino County District Advocates for Better Schools (SANDABS). SANDABS is an organization of school district board members (elected officials) and superintendents representing the member districts of San Bernardino County on state and national issues.

SANDABS member districts are eligible to have representation on the SANDABS executive committee, which is composed of nine school board members, nine district superintendents, and the county superintendent. Superintendents are selected by region to serve on the SANDABS executive committee. School board members are elected to SANDABS at the San Bernardino County School Boards Association’s (SBCSBA) annual meeting in January. The SBCSBA is not to be confused with the California School Board’s Association and is not affiliated with it. In fact, SBCSBA does not appear to be a legitimate organization. It is not a non-profit 501(c)(3); a political action committee or a Joint Powers Authority. REF: https://www.sbcss.net/superintendent/communications-and-intergovernmental-relations/intergovernmental-relations/san-bernardino-county-district-advocates-for-better-schools

Districts large and small benefit from SANDABS membership through high-quality legislative advocacy services. Membership dues directly support “advocacy” services and related expenses. It is unclear if membership dues are used to fund the salaries of employees of the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools (SBCSS). Records from the California Secretary of State reveal that the SBCSS is a registered lobbyist employer and controls the SANDABS lobbyist.

An executive committee directs the activities of SANDABS including monthly meetings with legislative updates from Sacramento and Washington, DC, monthly legislative reports to actively track and monitor proposed bills as they progress through the legislature, and delegation trips to Sacramento to advocate on budget and legislative support for public education.

In addition, SANDABS annually adopts both state and federal legislative platforms: https://www.sbcss.net/superintendent/communications-and-intergovernmental-relations/intergovernmental-relations/san-bernardino-county-district-advocates-for-better-schools

In Violation of the Brown Act

The SBCSS argued for years that they were not covered under the Brown Act and were not required to allow public comment at their meeting. Arias’ understanding the Brown Act, disagreed and requested multiple times for SANDABS to allow public participation. In 2021, Arias, along with members of the #youtoomovement, filed a Brown Act complaint with the San Bernardino County District Attorney. The D.A.’s office forwarded the complaint to the California Attorney General’s office and, in February 2024, in a scathing opinion (see attached) against SBCSS, Attorney General Rob Bonta concluded that SANDABS had been violating the public’s rights and was required to follow the Brown Act and allow public participation as public comments. This is the page for Attorney General Opinion Letter No. 22—402: https://online.fliphtml5.com/ehsdk/cwvj/?fbclid=IwY2xjawGXoeJleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHbiHx6FSafIyfzjuyLV3o87F4hUoMcBm330H8pDDiauOr61ukpVwYTgy7g_aem_qlPzv7DnSeN7T8b53n-EMA#p=1

Shadow organizations

Superintended Alejandre cleverly hides behind the curtain when dealing with controversial issues. SANDABS is not registered as a political action committee or a charitable organization. San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools (SBCSS) provides staffing and facilities for SANDABS and even allows for a “web presence” on the SBCSS website paid for by the taxpayer. For years, Mr. Alejandre argued that SANDABS was a “volunteer committee”—a term he made up. SBCSS did not think it was subject to laws, like the Brown Act, that apply to government agencies. But the SBCSS budget includes $100,000 allocated to SANDABS. Once the budget is approved, the Superintendent gets to use that money as he wishes. The Superintendent has used the money to hire a lobbyist that reports directly to the SBCSS office and takes direction form the Superintendent. SANDABS is made up of elected officials and operated with the public’s money but yet the public is not allowed to comment.

SANDABS has taken positions in the past that are against the County Board’s best interest. For example, SANDABs supported AB 1505 which would have taken away the Board’s authority to authorize charter schools. During a hearing before the state Legislature, a SANDABS member leaked that Alejandre was supportive of the controversial position, exposing the fact that it is nothing more than a front for the County Superintendent of Schools which he uses when it is politically convenient. This earned the ire of the California Charter Schools Association who was opposed to AB1505. The San Bernardino City Unified School District board voted to terminate their membership in SANDABS based on public comments against SANDABS made by the Charter Association and members of the public.

SBCSS also runs the San Bernardino County School Board Association whose name misleads one to conclude that it is a subset of the California School Boards Association. But, SBCSBA is independent of the state formal association and it is essentially controlled by the County Superintendent who provides staff and government resources to operate it. Stephanie Houston—an SBCSS employee—is on the SBCSBA board. Houston also sits on the Chaffey Community College Board.

Moving forward

The County Superintendent has failed students in the county on many levels as evidence by the fact that 93% of the students in his programs are below grade level. SBCSS has a budget of $452.8 Million dollars and only 6.9 % of the students read at grade level. Only 4% can do math at grade level. High School students can only read at 4th grade reading level. With very little oversight, he has avoided accountability and transparency and has abused his public office to advance his personal interests rather than those of the people of the county. Let’s make a change in 2026, it is time for a change. We need accountability at the County level.

In an effort to assist the special needs community, Arias along with other parents and students started a platform named YOUTOOMOVEMENT. In this page, they shared relevant information about education, special education, resources, etc.
https://www.facebook.com/YOUTOOMOVEMENT101

PAID FOR BY MARIA ISABEL ARIAS, San Bernardino County Board of Education, Area C – Candidate.

NEWS SOURCE: Maria Isabel Arias


This press release was issued on behalf of the news source (Maria Isabel Arias), who is solely responsible for its accuracy, by Send2Press Newswire. Image, if any, was provided by the news source and not this website or the wire service. Information is believed accurate, as provided by the news source, but is not guaranteed.

To view the original story, visit: https://www.send2press.com/wire/san-bernardino-county-board-of-education-candidate-maria-isabel-arias-reveals-info-about-sandabs/

Copr. © 2024 Send2Press® Newswire, Calif., USA. -- REF: S2P STORY ID: S2P122006 NOREL-3B

 

School districts are suing special needs children, says Maria Isabel Arias, Candidate for San Bernardino County Board of Education, Area C

FONTANA, Calif., Nov. 4, 2024 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — “When I first enrolled my children in the school district, I had no idea that merely asking for help with their education would lead me to the courtroom,” says Maria Isabel Arias, a Candidate for San Bernardino County Board of Education, Area C. The litigious road of special education is a well-kept secret, and the vast public does not know that the education tax dollars they are contributing to special education, are actually being diverted to the courtroom instead of the classroom. In many instances, the cost of the lawsuits far exceeds the cost of special education services that parents are requesting.

Maria Isabel Arias, Candidate for San Bernardino County Board of Education, Area C
Image caption: Maria Isabel Arias, Candidate for San Bernardino County Board of Education, Area C.

How does a child get sued?

The law that governs special education is the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This law states that a “team”, not the parents of a child; get to make decisions about their education. The parent is one of the members of the team but is outnumbered by the majority of the team comprised of school district employees and administrators. When there is a disagreement, it is resolved through the “Due Process” system.

“Due process” in special education refers to a legal procedure that allows parents of a child with a disability to formally dispute decisions made by a school district regarding their child’s identification, evaluation, educational placement, or the provision of special education services, giving them the right to a hearing where they can present evidence and arguments to resolve disagreements with the school district about their child’s educational needs; essentially, it promises a fair process to address concerns about a child’s special education program. Since it is the child who is entitled to the educational services, the parents are only representatives of the child and the parents can either request a hearing on behalf of the child or, in many cases, it is the school district who files the legal proceedings against the child. Basically, the child gets served with a lawsuit. This happened to each one of my three children. My school board had no clue of the initiation of due process.

Your TAX dollars at work, funding lawyers

Due process has all the components of litigation. It has a judge (Office of Administrated Hearing Judge), demandant (petitioner) and respondent (defendant). This process is very expensive, it costs taxpayer thousands of dollars. The process is very unfair, school districts have a full-time legal advisor helping them with the case, advisors, etc., ALL funded by TAXPAYERS. Parents have no resources. Note, district legal counsel gets paid whether they win or lose. Again, due process is completely funded by taxpayers. On the other hand, parents must fund their own legal advisor and witnesses.

Special education in California is based on a system of unelected bureaucrats, called Special Education Local Plan Areas (SELPAs). These are shadow entities and many taxpayers do not even know they exist. The West End Special Education Local Plan Area (Rancho Cucamonga, Upland, Chino Valley, Central, Mountain View, Mt. Baldy) has an annual budget of over $300 Million and employs multiple out of town for profit law firms who specialize in suing students with disabilities to quash parent’s requests for special education services. Untold millions of tax dollars are spent throughout San Bernardino County on these lawsuits when this money could be better spent on reading programs like Lindamood-Bell (a specialized reading service sought by families) or behavior supports rather than making lawyers rich.

For profit law firms have learned to milk the system and have become special interest groups with great influence over school district staff who simply defer to whatever the for-profit lawyers tell them to do. We have seen many examples of the injustices done to children with disabilities. Lawyers in Alta Loma, sued two brothers in a 48 hour period. They subsequently filed motions to remove the parent as the guardian. Thankfully, they failed. In Chaffey Joint, the same out of town law firms, defied the district’s own psychologist’s opinion and tried to remove a parent as the guardian for an adult with autism. They failed and the Judge found that the attorney representing the district, violated a court order. In Upland, the same lawyers went to Court to get a parent to pay $42,000 for an expert that they never used in the proceeding. They failed, but they got our tax dollars just the same.

Currently, the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, pays the lawyers for the districts. This process is done in secrecy and without approval by the local school boards, so the public never sees the lawsuits. Instead, these decisions are being made in a back room between school administrators and the lawyers who stand to make a profit from instigating disputes. Lawyers do not get paid to help children read. They get paid to go to court, so that’s what they do.

Transparency is the Solution

The lack of local control and transparency has led to abuse and misuse of public funds. Oftentimes, special education dollars are used to litigate against children to deny them needed special education services, rather than provide them with an appropriate education. Students with disabilities are being treated as second class citizens and being denied the very basic access to their elected officials (school board members). For example, in the Fontana district, the school board has washed their hands of students with disabilities and is clueless about who their district is suing. At a school board meeting, I notified the board that the district had sued my children and had to literally make a copy of the front page of the lawsuit. Board members had no idea that the lawyers working for them had sued my children, in the name of the district. Through public records requests, I found out that the Fontana SELPA approved contracts for over $600,000 to hire lawyers to sue kids with disabilities.

Elected official oversight, which is at the core of our democratic process needs to be brought into special education. Decisions to engage in litigation should be made by elected school board members, not by administrators and out of town litigators who stand to profit from suing kids.

About Maria Isabel Arias:

Maria Isabel Arias is a Candidate for San Bernardino County Board of Education, Area C (Fontana, Chino Valley, Cucamonga and portions of Ontario) she is a special education parent and advocate for students. In an effort to assist the special needs community, Arias along with other parents and students started a platform named YOUTOOMOVEMENT. In this page, they shared relevant information about education, special education, resources, etc.

Learn more:  https://www.facebook.com/YOUTOOMOVEMENT101

THIS NEWS PAID FOR BY MARIA ISABEL ARIAS, San Bernardino County Board of Education, Area C – Candidate.

Verify candidate (page 27; PDF): https://uploads.rov.sbcounty.gov/rov/Elections/2024/1105/Report_CandidateList.pdf

NEWS SOURCE: Maria Isabel Arias


This press release was issued on behalf of the news source (Maria Isabel Arias), who is solely responsible for its accuracy, by Send2Press Newswire. Image, if any, was provided by the news source and not this website or the wire service. Information is believed accurate, as provided by the news source, but is not guaranteed.

To view the original story, visit: https://www.send2press.com/wire/school-districts-are-suing-special-needs-children-says-maria-isabel-arias-candidate-for-san-bernardino-county-board-of-education-area-c/

Copr. © 2024 Send2Press® Newswire, Calif., USA. -- REF: S2P STORY ID: S2P121975 NOREL-3B