Local civil rights attorneys donated $30,000 received in attorneys’ fees from PUSD to nearly a dozen progressive organizations and causes. Recently, they forced the Pasadena Unified School District to release public records concerning Madison Elementary School Principal Juan Ruelas.
Attorneys Skip Hickambottom and Dale Gronemeier of Gronemeier and Associates last week handed out at a press conference, at their Eagle Rock office, a $20,000 contribution to support education at Madison Elementary School. At that time, PUSD followed through with its previous announcement that controversial Principal Juan Ruelas will not return to Madison next year. Hickambottom and Gronemeier represent the Citizens Council for Equality and Justice at Madison which has waged a campaign by Madison teachers, parents, and community members to get rid of Ruelas.
The attorneys filed a lawsuit in 2016 after PUSD produced heavily redacted and incomplete public records related to allegations that there was widespread cheating at Roosevelt Elementary School while Ruelas was its Principal and public records that related to disputes over Ruelas’ conduct as Principal at Madison. In January, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled that PUSD and its Superintendent Bryan McDonald had to produce unredacted and complete copies of those documents.
The attorneys were entitled to attorneys’ fees for winning the lawsuit, and PUSD paid them the negotiated sum of $65,000 in April. Of the $65,000, the Attorneys donated $30,000. Hickambottom and Gronemeier handed out nine $1,000 checks to the following Pasadena area progressive organizations: the Pasadena Branch of the NAACP, the United Teachers of Pasadena, Pasadenans Organizing for Progress, the National Day Labor Organizing Network, the League of Women Voters, ACT, the Flintridge Center, the Pasadena Tenants Union, and Pasadena Clergy and Laity United for Equality. They donated an additional $1,000 to NDLON to be used to support the Carlos Ortiz defense fund; Mr. Ortiz is a Pasadena Resident who Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained in a recent raid in Pasadena. Hickambottom said that the $20,000 contribution to support Madison education is intended to promote reconciliation and healing at Madison when it gets a new principal next year. The funds are being held by NDLON and disbursements depend upon both Ruelas being replaced (as has been announced) and the approval of Madison teacher Patricia Guzman.
Gronemeier and Associates also represent Guzman, who is the PUSD teachers’ union site representative at Madison. Ruelas accused Guzman of child abuse in 2015, and Guzman was placed on administrative leave while PUSD investigated Ruelas’ accusation. After being kept out of the classroom for 6 months, PUSD investigators concluded that the evidence did not support Ruelas’ accusation against, and she was finally returned to the classroom. Guzman filed earlier this year a complaint with PUSD that Ruelas initiated a confrontation with her in December, 2015, in which he assaulted her. Hickambottom said that Gronemeier and Associates is waiting to see what happens at Madison before deciding whether to file a lawsuit for Ruelas’ assault.
