Inglewood Unified School District County Administrator Dr. Erika Torres issued an early morning email announcing her medical leave to staff.
Torres states she will be out until July 13, 2022, where she will “focus my energy on my family, my wellbeing and healing”.
In my absence, Dr. Duardo, our L.A. County Superintendent of Schools has designated Dr. Art Cunha to serve as the Administrator in Charge for my role as the County Administrator. During this time, and under the direction and supervision of Dr. Duardo, Dr. Cunha will exercise all authority of the County Administrator of the Inglewood Unified School District, including the powers of the Inglewood Unified School Board of Education.
Dr. Erika Torres
Dr. Torres became an enemy of Inglewood taxpayers when she hoarded millions of dollars in Measure GG bond proceeds, developers fees, and parking fees while not investing in the schools as taxpayers believed those dollars would be used.
Torres also caught the ire of the community when she announced the closure of Warren Lane Elementary School due to “declining enrollment”. Various FCMAT reports detail the manner in which district leaders stopped communicating with them after the passage of state legislation that offered schools with loan debt to the state, a financial windfall for closing schools.
Torres got dragged into an impromptu Town Hall where the Inglewood mayor made assertions about what he and Torres would do to address the debt the district took out in 2012.
The Inglewood mayor has a long history of being forceful with IUSD administrators going back to Dr. Don Brann when he was forced to apologize for comments made in an article that the mayor and community didn’t like.
Speculation is running rampant if she will return or not. In the meantime, LACOE has placed Art Cunha in charge despite the issues he faced in his previous employment.
Is this her exit strategy now that the damage is done?
10 Comments
So our recent pay raise was hush money? Keep them quiet while she walk out…
She’s creeping out through the back door, comma this is the way to leave quietly wouldn’t quietly with no attention. No wonder everyone else has left, the only one left is the Lucas lady, I wonder what she’s hiding? I wonder when she leaves? Let’s get rid of them all Also the county team especially the new guy in charge
THIS IS ALL BS THIS IS HOW SHE SNEAKS OUT THE BACK DOOR. SHE WALKS AROUND THINKING SHE IS THE SHIT. DOESNT KNOW SHIT ABOUT RUNNING A DISTRICT. WUZ SHE EVER A TEACHET OR PRINCIPAL ? NO. THIS OTHER FOOL NOW IS CHARGE. A PREVIOUS ARTICLE UNCOVERED HIS INCOMPETANCE BUT NOW HIS HERE, TO STEAL AND MAKE INSIDE DEALS. READ THE ARTICLE WHERE HE WAS REMOVED AS SUPERINTENDENT, HE TRIED TO SNEAK IN WITHOUT FOLLOWING THE BROWN ACT. FOOL GOT CAUGHT AND WAS REMOVED. A SIMPLE REQUIREMENT NOT FOLLOWED, AND NOW HE IS HERE WITH FULL POWER?? HE NEEDS TO GO AS WELL, WE NEED TO PETITION LACOE TO REMOVE THEM, WAIT DUARDO IS THEIR FRIEND?? SMILE ITS ALL A GAME, WE NEED TO PETITION OUR REPRESENTATIVES AND TAKE IT TO THE STATE! INGLEWOOD IS TIRED OF THIEFS AND LIARS ARE YOU TIRED YET?
Brothers and sisters, I URGE ALL OF YOU TO SPEAK YOUR VOICE IN THE UPCOMING BOARD MEETING JUNE 22 AND THE 29, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
Wow the way LACOE has made this decision it almost seems as if they have decided it is far more important to make certain Inglewood Unified is destroyed rather than educate children!
ART CUNHA, when he was at Temple City, decided that policies and rules regarding the spending of tax payer money didn’t apply to him !! {See San Gabriel Valley Tribune Aug 24, 2018}
Sound familiar??
It makes perfect sense to replace one administrator who seemingly violated state law in asking voters to fund a Bond Measure knowing she would be closing schools with a guy who even when told he was potentially violating policy went ahead and did it anyway.
So how do our elected fit into this fine mess? Time to call Holly Mitchell, yep that is right – our County Supervisor is the one who has at least one fifth say in who the LACOE board members are and should be paying attention to how their functionality impacts our students.
Check the website yourself and consider this little annoying factoid
“ LACOE provides conscientious oversight of school district budgets to safeguard vital resources and public dollars. Protecting a district’s fiscal health helps promote equitable access to a quality education”
So does anyone else think maybe LACOE played a major role in the fiscal mismanagement that got us in the fine mess of receivership? Their responsibility is as they claim to monitor budgets !
Perhaps the Olympic girls have the right idea in suing the group that was should have been monitoring and taking corrective action! LACOE should have been sounding the alarms long before we got into receivership and every month since, rather than continuing to allow foolish spending while not improving the educational offerings.
Calling Holly Mitchell where are you? and Hilda Solis, Sheila Kuehl, Janice Hahn, and Kathryn Barber.
Didn’t they all say they cared about children when you were seeking our votes?
Inglewood family residents, arent you tired??? Call, email the supervisors, it is your right! Our kids and community deserve better.
Theres no oversight when everyone is in kahoots!
I believe her new name is “Dr Erica Houdini Torres” …. wait for the grand finale…. smoke and mirrors ….
Here’s a piece from the article exposing Cunha on illegal deals, I guess he will ask for forgiveness again, we lose again!
In July 2015, an unnamed former director of facilities services and maintenance warned Cunha the project was a case of bid splitting. In an interview with the auditors, the ex-director recalled Cunha saying that he “was willing to take the risk and ask for forgiveness later,” and Perini nodded in agreement, the audit states.
In addition, the audit found that the project moved forward without proper purchasing and construction-related documents that Cunha only sought after the Los Angeles County Office of Education raised concerns that the documents were missing.
“Another area examined by the auditors was overspending on technology and furniture upgrades. The audit found Perini approved $820,571 in excess costs.
Perini declined to be interviewed by auditors for the report. She had offered a week of availability in July, but the auditors were unavailable at that time, according to the report and her.
Perini said Thursday that her decision not to be interviewed was because she was going on a long vacation after the week she had offered and did not wish to delay the audit.
“I offered to do it the week prior to my vacation, but they weren’t available,” Perini said. “I have nothing to hide.”
Cunha could not be reached for comment.
Temple City was thrown into turmoil when the school board voted in March not to extend Perini’s contract past June 30. Answers to why the board made that decision didn’t come until May, when it announced the irregular spending.
The school board will ensure the next administration is made aware “that all work performed in our district and all services provided by our district meet legal requirements and ethical standards, and that the board will be apprised of the costs, status, and nature of all future projects,” according to a district statement.”
What? Cunha had no comment? I bet he would have if it affected his pockets? So tired of BS just want people who care about our community join me in the comment time for the board meetings. EXPRESS YOUR VIEWS!