Letter to Editor: Worst administration Inglewood Unified School District has ever had

Dear 2UrbanGirls,

This administration is the worst. Back in April Norberto Perez unlawfully and abruptly shut down the Transportation Department. This was a victory for him because from the moment he was promoted from CWA to COO, the department was on his radar.

Months prior to his abrupt closure, he gave reasonings to why he wanted to SHUT IT DOWN. If it was due safety, why didn’t Mr.Coo try to better or fix whatever the issues were? But then again he did say it was due to cost. Make up your mind bully.

Needless to say his reasons did not stick and therefore he had to find another way.

Transportation only transports Special Needs students. We know it’s all about self and not the students because he would know they are not good with change. Also, we may be losing General Ed students, but we see the same special needs students day in and day out. Year after year.

On April 28th he said it was due to safety. School opened on April 26th yet he came two days later to inspect the buses? My questions are what are his certifications? Is he CHP? A certified mechanic? Because it sure looked like it the way he was “unsafely” under the buses checking. He also lied and said ALL of the buses were unsafe and leaking oil, as well as the calibers were damaged. And he saw all of this without removing the tire. Only from laying on the ground “unsafely” under the buses.

Back to his lie.

We have FOUR brand NEW buses in our fleet that have never been on routes due to the Pandemic. So again how could ALL of the buses be deemed unsafe? The buses cannot operate without CHP inspecting them. The 292’s were current and up to date, yet, Torres allowed this to go on and allowed him to make this call. Torres is allowing all sorts of turmoil at the hands of Perez. It’s July, and we’re still not working.

The summer routes were contracted out, which goes against our union contract. Torres couldn’t possibly care about employees, let alone humans, because she allowed Perez displace a whole department. I guess she only cares about her lipstick and stilettos.

Perez also contracted out the graduation to Tumbleweed when we could have transported. He has also contracted out summer work. Two of the drivers were not allowed to use the buses to retest and now they have lost their credentials. Past practice has always allowed us to use the buses to take our test. According to Perez this isn’t the district’s responsibility.

Perez’s malicious and vengeful act has impacted the department tremendously. How can we rent a bus when we have no money? We are out of work. Struggling. We can’t get unemployment. We are not even able to live due to our livelihoods being snatched away. No income to pay our rent, utilizes and buy groceries. Needless to say we are halfway homeless and hungry.

Our union rep suggested we file an appeal with EDD. Which takes 90 days. So, again I ask how could Torres care about the employees? She allowed Perez to make this call. We are seasoned employees. Most of us been in the department 8 years plus. Therefore this is really a burden on our lives.

Norberto Perez is a bully on a power trip, and he’s obsessed with the Transportation Department. However, the blame falls on Erica Torres. This is all at her hands for sitting back turning the blind eye and allowing these things to go on.

Distressed and Depressed