Madison Elementary First Grade school teacher Patricia Guzman has filed
a second claim against the Pasadena Unified School District and Superintendent
Dr. Brian McDonald accusing McDonald of retaliating against her for filing a
defamation claim against Madison Principal Juan Ruelas last week. In her first
claim filed on January 16, 2016, Guzman alleged that Ruelas defamed her by
falsely claiming that she grabbed one of her students by the arm and shook him in
a harmful manner. In her second claim filed today, Guzman alleges that after she
filed her defamation claim against Ruelas, McDonald reneged on his promise to
reach a final decision last week concerning the investigation of Ruelas’ allegations
of child abuse and told UTP President Alvin Nash that because she had filed a
claim against Ruelas, the decision to return Guzman to her classroom was “out of
his hands.” Guzman asserts that McDonald’s continuing to exclude her from her
classroom in response to her filing a claim against Ruelas is an intentional act of
retaliation against her for the exercise of her constitutional right to petition the
Government for redress.
According to Guzman: “I have waited in suspense for five months for Dr.
McDonald and PUSD to complete the investigation of the false allegations made
against me by Mr. Ruelas, and to do the right thing by clearing my name, ending
my exile from the teaching I love, removing the cloud that hovers over me, and
returning me to my classroom. Instead, Dr. McDonald continues to punish me for
standing up for myself and the other teachers at Madison.”
Guzman is represented by local civil rights attorney Skip Hickambottom,
who stated that; “My client deserves to be cleared of these false charges. Dr.
McDonald promised he would finalize a decision concerning her last week. Now
that she has exercised her constitutional rights, he has broken that promise. He
needs to explain why broke his promise and why he has wasted thousands of
taxpayers’ dollars by paying her to stay home rather than returning her to her
classroom to continue her life’s work.”
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