The director of child welfare and attendance for Stockton Unified School District was escorted off the district premises last week and placed on administrative leave after coming forward about enrollment drops and alleging he was pressured to approve unethical expulsions.
Kenneth Goeken, who began working for SUSD in the middle of last year and was previously the senior director of special education for Pleasanton Unified School District, said after speaking to members of the media twice, he was asked to come into the school district office last Thursday.
He was allegedly told by Glendaly Gascot-Rios, assistant superintendent of human resources, that there would be a police presence and that he needed to pack his belongings and would not be allowed to return to campus.
“I had to turn over my phone and my laptop … I couldn’t even delete my personal files,” Goeken alleged.
Goeken said following them escorting him out, he was placed on administrative leave until June 30 — the date when his contract with the district ends.
He said he was told that he would not be returning for the following school year.
“But they did this because I have been talking to the media and they’re (the school district) afraid of the media more than anything else,” Goeken said.
A spokesperson for the school district said in an email that this was a personnel matter, and the district can’t comment on personnel matters.
Controversial expulsion hearing
According to Goeken, the alleged retaliation toward him from the school district began earlier this year when he spoke up about a “wrongdoing” regarding an expulsion.
In his position, Goeken was responsible for approving or denying expulsions and if he approved then they would move onto a panel that consists of retired administrators.
He said that on Feb. 13 there was a school board closed session meeting held regarding a seventh-grade student from Hoover Elementary School in Stockton who had allegedly assaulted a teacher and was now up for expulsion.
He said the expulsion was declined with three board members voting yes, one voting no, one abstaining and one member was not present at the meeting. The expulsion was not passed because it needed a fourth “yes” vote.
“The student was allowed to come back to school, he wasn’t expelled,” explained Goeken.
“(T)hey basically lied to the parent. Didn’t tell her that the student was no longer expelled, didn’t tell her the student was allowed to come back to his home school because of that. …”
Kenneth Goeken, suspended SUSD director of child welfare and attendance
However, he alleged that when he was going to inform the student’s parents of the result of the vote, he was told by SUSD superintendent Michelle Rodriguez to place the student on independent study despite the vote, which he felt was illegal.
He further alleged that after saying no to placing the student on independent study, he was told by Kasey Klappenback, assistant superintendent of educational services, that the meeting could only be held if her director, Lori Risso, ran the meeting and did all the talking rather than Goeken.
“So, during the meeting they basically lied to the parent,” alleged Goeken. “Didn’t tell her that the student was no longer expelled, didn’t tell her the student was allowed to come back to his home school because of that, what she did tell him is that the board’s going to vote on it on the 27th, which was a lie.”
He said that following the meeting, he emailed the parent and told them that the director had lied about the expulsion and apologized on his behalf but said he never heard back from the parent.
Additionally, Goeken had filed an Office of Civil Rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Education in February in connection with the treatment of the expulsion of the student.
Ultimately, the expulsion of the Hoover student was placed on the board agenda again and he was expelled.
Disciplined after speaking out
On Feb. 20, Goeken was allegedly told by Glendaly Gascot-Rios, assistant superintendent of human resources, that he was going to be fired due to him reaching out to the parent of the student.
“They voted illegally without giving the parents an opportunity to be present so then the kid was immediately expelled. So that whole incident is what led to, to me, being unilaterally fired in retaliation for speaking up,” Goeken alleged.
Later when Goeken spoke to the media about the handling of expulsions and discussed students from Stagg High School in Stockton allegedly leaving due to safety issue concerns, he was given a letter of reprimand by the district.
A spokesperson for the district alleged that enrollment had declined at Stagg High School due to students transferring to specialty schools and said the principal at Stagg stated that the number of students leaving is average.
“The number of incoming ninth grade students are coming down because those students are being accepted into SUSD specialty schools,” a district spokesperson said in a statement.
However, Goeken alleged that students were not leaving Stagg to go to specialty schools but rather because of safety.
He said in the past two years, two students from Stagg High School had died — two deaths he claimed could have been prevented.
“The worst part though isn’t myself, it’s staff in Stockton now see that even a director who handles expulsions was retaliated and fired for speaking up for students and staff and trying to protect them,” Goeken said.
Victoria Franco is a reporter based in Stockton covering San Joaquin County for Bay City News Foundation and its nonprofit news site Local News Matters. She is a Report for America corps member.
