Madera charter school executive director on leave after alleged abuse of students

The executive director of a Madera charter school is on paid leave following abuse allegations now in the hands of the Madera County District Attorney’s Office.

The Ezequiel Tafoya Alvarado Academy’s board voted during a special meeting Tuesday night to take the action against Nicolas Retana, the school’s executive director who has a documented troubled history as an administrator.

The school’s Director of Curriculum, Robin Henderson, was made interim executive director, effective immediately.

In addition, trustees voted to put a second employee on paid leave and have their contracted law firm, Sacramento-based Young, Minney & Corr, enter into a contract with an outside investigator to carry out an internal probe.

The board didn’t disclose any details of the abuse allegations against Retana, who wasn’t present at the meeting. He didn’t return calls from The Bee seeking comment.

Board members, who were shielded by maintenance personnel acting as security guards at the end of Tuesday’s meeting, also declined comment.

Parents of the students who say they were abused by Retana pulled their children from the school following the alleged Nov. 6 incident.

Some parents whose children weren’t involved say they’ve also withdrawn their children for safety reasons.

Allegations by parents

Lorena Godoy is the mother of a 13-year-old boy who’s allegedly the primary victim in the case.

Godoy said on the date of the incident, all eighth-graders were gathered at the school’s patio to be lectured by Retana about their behavior.

Retana allegedly cursed at the students, plus grabbed and shook three of them before threatening them with expulsion.

Godoy said Retana shook her child “a lot,” causing the boy to hit himself on a table. “We don’t abuse our children; why is the school allowed to do that?” she said.

Godoy said her son’s head also struck another student’s head while he was being shaken by Retana. She took her son to be checked by a doctor after the incident.

“He didn’t want to got to that school anymore,” she said. “He was afraid of Retana.”

Irma Rivera is the mother of another 13-year-old student allegedly victimized by Retana. She said Retana was lecturing the students, blaming them for the departure of an eighth-grade teacher and subsequent costs to hire substitute teachers.

Rivera alleged Retana grabbed her son by the shoulders, picked him up, and forced him to repeat the words he was using to lecture the students. She alleges Retana also grabbed her son by the neck, in order to turn his head to face the other students, before shoving him back down.

“He was afraid,” she said of her son, who also no longer attends the charter school.

Maria Perez, the mother of a 14-year-old who was also allegedly grabbed and shoved by Retana, said Retana insulted the students by calling them “stupid” and “idiots.”

“Can you imagine how they felt when he (Retana) shook them?” she asked in Spanish. “He was very mad with the children, and that’s not right.”

Godoy said she believes the school acted too slowly to place Retana on leave. “They should have done that from the beginning,” she said, adding that if he did it once, he could do it again.

“They are waiting for something worse to happen.”

The meeting on Tuesday night was tense, with concerned parents urging the board to take action, while some school employees and parents expressed support for Retana.

Ricardo Robles, a food service assistant at the charter school, told the board he witnessed the Nov. 6 incident.

“Everything that is being said, is not true,” he said, adding that Retana was just trying to tell students how to behave in school.

But parents questioned why Retana didn’t show up at the board meeting to provide his side of the story.

Retana gave an interview to Univision Fresno, saying some eighth-graders were having problems. He said he has the right to talk to them with a strong tone when they misbehave.

“This is my school, that’s how I do it,” he told Univision Fresno. “If they don’t like how we treat the children here, get them out of here.”

Kayla Serratto, Madera County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson, on Monday confirmed there was an “active investigation” against Retana. The first report was received by the law enforcement agency on Nov. 6, she said.

Richard Gutierrez, a detective with the Madera County Sheriff’s Office, confirmed three separate reports against Retana were investigated by him, and subsequently forwarded to the Madera County District Attorney’s Office for review.

The District Attorney’s Office hasn’t commented on the case.

Troubled work history

Michelle Breier, communications specialist for the Escondido Union School District, on Thursday confirmed to The Bee that Retana worked as superintendent there beginning on Sept. 15, 1997, until June 30, 2000. He came to the Escondido Union School District from Texas, she said.

According to news reports, Retana was fired from his position as superintendent shortly after two employees filed sexual harassment and retaliation claims against him and the Escondido Union School District.

In 2001, Retana sued the Escondido Union School District and district employees, accusing them of negligence, defamation and invasion of privacy. He accused district employees of creating a conspiracy called “The Strong and Beautiful Women’s Group” to discredit him, alleging they didn’t like changes he had implemented as superintendent.

The lawsuit by the two employees and a counter-suit by Retana were settled in 2003, the San Diego Union Tribune reported, though the terms were not revealed. District officials estimated costs for the cases, which were in litigation for nearly three years, at about $1 million.

Brown Act violations alleged

Madera Unified School District (MUSD) Superintendent Todd Lile said the district takes its responsibility of authorizing and providing oversight to charter schools like ETAA seriously.

He referred specific questions to the ETAA’s board.

“Naturally, the District is concerned about any and all allegations of wrong-doing at any District-authorized charter school,” he wrote in a statement to The Bee. “In this case, the District has not reached any conclusions regarding the allegations and will not comment at this time concerning specifics regarding personnel matter(s) currently under investigation.”

In an email obtained by The Bee, MUSD Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services Sherly Sisil pointed out her district this month addressed a “blatant violation of the Brown Act” by the charter school.

That took place when the charter school posted an agenda for a special board meeting scheduled for Nov. 14 less than 24 hours before the meeting.

That meeting was then rescheduled to Tuesday night.

In the same email, she says ETAA trustees are the only board with authority to place Retana on leave during an investigation. “MUSD does not have that authority,” she wrote in the email.

Sisil also indicated in the email that she would pass along a list of concerns to ETAA’s principal to further investigate.

This story was originally published November 21, 2019 at 4:19 PM.