LAUSD Teachers & Parents Harassed By District Officials

A complaint has been filed with the California Labor Board alleging retaliation against Los Angeles Unified School District teachers by school district and UTLA labor union employees.

Teachers allege retaliation and harassment, and have the receipts – Audio recordings and correspondence documenting workplace confrontations. Screenshots of pay records, personnel file entries, and internal communications, according to several teachers the Globe spoke with, and Cece Woods of The Current Report, who has been reporting on the ongoing issues.

As Woods reports, “Individually, each record might appear to capture the kind of dispute that surfaces in any large institution. Viewed together, however, the documents form a far more consequential archive. They outline what multiple educators say was a pattern that began after they raised concerns about misconduct within the district and then sought protection from the very organization tasked with representing them.”

And according to the teachers we spoke with, the teachers union, UTLA, is not lifting a finger to protect or defend their members from retaliation or harassment.

Just last month, the FBI descended on the nation’s second-largest school district, executing search warrants at Los Angeles Unified School District headquarters in downtown Los Angeles, the San Pedro home of LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, and a property in Southwest Ranches, Florida, linked to Carvalho, the Globe reported. 

“Carvalho, who has led LAUSD since February 2022 with a base salary of $440,000 plus lavish perks (including a car and driver, private security, and a $1.5 million life insurance policy), has presided over a district drowning in scandal and waste.”

Former LAUSD Assistant Principal Harassed for not discriminating against caucasian teachers?

The Globe talked with a former LAUSD Assistant Principal who filed a Discrimination/Harassment/Retaliation Complaint, which the Globe has a copy of, against LAUSD after his School Principal allegedly tried to force him to discriminate against caucasian teachers, and for creating a hostile work environment for teachers and staff. He alleged in his complaint that the Principal was creating a vicious paper trail of false accusations against caucasian teachers, and he was to reevaluate them despite recent glowing evaluations.

The Assistant Principal refused to go along with targeting good teachers for trumped-up charges, and consequently found himself written up, demoted and sent to another school to teach again… all for recognizing good teachers, and refusing to participate in a bizarre witch hunt.

He also said that the students were entirely secondary – this was all about hierarchy and status of LAUSD adults, unrelated to teaching, unconcerned about the students.

Parents Targeted for Questioning Authority

Parents of children attending a LAUSD elementary school raised repeated concerns with Los Angeles Unified School District officials over student safety and administrative conduct at Shirley Avenue Elementary School, yet reported to the Globe that instead of addressing their concerns, turned on the parents.

A mother of two told the Globe that as the beloved school Principal was preparing to retire, district officials met with parents for their input on a replacement. Parents unanimously suggested the Assistant Principal. And they were led to believe that their input mattered. But instead they found out that it was just a dog-and-pony-show; the district already had a replacement principal selected, and it was someone being adversely removed from another school, who ended up being antagonistic, devious, secretive, and even stalked some of the children to obtain information about the parents, according to parent reports.

Parents sent complaints to Superintendent Alberto Carvalho,  and school board officials, but were ignored. When they pressed officials, they found that school leadership prioritized protecting the school’s reputation over addressing safety concerns raised by parents.

One parent sent the Globe many screenshots of Yelp reviews by parents describing the many issues they were having with the school Principal and LAUSD officials, but Yelp kept removing their negative reviews, while leaving the positive reviews up, including a Yelp review posted by a school employee, which defended the principal and dismissed criticism from parents.

When the parent continued to express her concerns to the school and district, the Principal issued a warning letter accusing the parent of being disruptive and combative during meetings.

Not coincidently, the letter followed the parent’s community complaint letter to the district, raising concerns about school safety and administrative conduct.

The parent told the Globe that the warning letter was entirely retaliation for speaking out about conditions at the school.

In a complaint to the LAUSD Office of Student Civil Rights, one parent wrote:

Since 04/22/2025 where many of the fourth and fifth grade parents signed petitions to remove Ms.Valameher out of administration due to her unjust policies implemented, my child as well as many other children in this Grade have been subjected to retaliatory actions after signing this petition and speaking out against her new policies.

Harassment and Intimidation Allegations

The parent reports multiple incidents of intimidation after raising concerns including the principal allegedly followed the parent around campus; the principal followed the parent’s son around the school in a way that frightened him. This was reported to the child’s pediatrician.The parent received anonymous threatening phone calls from private numbers, including one caller who warned the parent to stop encouraging parents to contact the district if she “did not want trouble.”

These incidents were reported to LAUSD officials by the parent but no meaningful investigation or response occurred.

The parent shared with the Globe many written witness statements also filed with LAUSD, from other parents contradicting the allegations against her. However, the district closed the case without interviewing most witnesses or addressing conflicting testimony. The district also did not facilitate the requested mediation between the parent and the principal. The parent says the district knows the allegations in the warning letter are false but declined to formally withdraw it.

This has had a devastating impact on the parent’s family, causing her to remove her children from the LAUSD Elementary school.

Her older child remains in therapy following the bizarre and terrifying events at the school.

There are many stories from teacher/whistleblowers and parents at LAUSD the Globe will cover.

For more context and history, read all of The Current Report’s articles about LAUSD here.