LANCASTER – Antelope Valley Union High School District Board member Victoria Ruffin was placed on administrative leave from her job as director of Special Education with Oxnard Union High School District following a letter of no confidence signed by 76 district employees who worked with her plus another 49 who wanted to remain anonymous.
The employees’ concerns and dissatisfaction with Ruffin’s leadership were so profound and widespread that they wrote the letter emboldened by safety in numbers after expressing concerns verbally.
Employees expressed concern about Ruffin’s “lack of knowledge of Special Education laws relating to service minutes and IEPs, including timelines that have the potential to create lawsuits against the district and its teaching staff,” the letter said.
The employees addressed the Feb. 14 letter to Oxnard Superintendent Penelope DeLeon and Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services Tom McCoy, “to express our extreme dissatisfaction with current Director of Special Education, Victoria Ruffin.”
Oxnard placed Ruffin on administrative leave on Feb. 28. On April 29, Oxnard trustees unanimously appointed Darlene Garcia as director Special Education beginning July 1, McCoy confirmed in an email.
The Oxnard District had no further comment on Ruffin’s status. Ruffin did not immediately return an email seeking comment.
Oxnard hired Ruffin in May 2018 with a probable start date in July 2018. Oxnard staff started raising concerns about Ruffin as soon as September 2018.
“Previous Special Education leadership within the Oxnard Union High School District has traditionally demonstrated that it valued the input, collaboration, and collective professional expertise of all special education stakeholders,” the letter said. “However, in the year and a half since Dr. Ruffin has joined OUHSD, we have witnessed our individual and collective voices be stifled and seemingly ignored.”
The employees alleged Ruffin’s “inappropriate behavior” created an increasingly hostile work environment. They cited a consistent lack of appropriate and professional communication; and a tendency to yell at and berate subordinates with threats and intimidation.
“At her direction, students are not receiving legally mandated services,” the letter said.
The letter also cited a disregard for equity in staffing; a lack of consistency, accountability, and transparency about decision making; and gross mismanagement of staff and overall professional responsibilities.
“A tendency toward power and control issues that manifest as both micromanagement and mismanagement and that lead to inappropriate and, at times, illegal ends,” the letter said.
The behavior cited in the letter mirrors what she has exhibited at AV Union High School District Board meetings in the last year. Ruffin, at one point, was called out by a member of the public for being a bully on the AVUHSD Board. Ruffin has refused to answer direct questions from her colleagues on the Board as well as the public.
She tried to remove student trustee Elijah Johnson from the Board an hour into his first meeting last summer.
Ruffin and Board member Amanda Parrell walked out of the Nov. 14 meeting rather than hear a presentation by attorney Jay Fernow on filling the Board vacancy following the Nov. 4 resignation of former member Robert “Bob” Davis. Ruffin, then the Board’s vice president, ran the meeting in Davis’ absence.
Trustee John Rush called Ruffin out at the Board’s next meeting on Dec. 12.
“Last meeting you threw a temper tantrum and stormed out of here,” Rush said. “It was disrespectful. You disrespected the students. What you have to do is realize that you’re the leader of this Board and you got up and walked out on kids who were giving presentations for a class for a grade. You get that. Do you understand the ramifications of that? It was your arrogance that did it. Your arrogance. Try to be a better leader and not think of yourself.”
The Board’s presiding officer is Clerk Jill McGrady.
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