Edhat Staff
The Santa Barbara Unified School District (SBUSD) submitted their MAD Academy investigation report to the Santa Barbara Police Department (SBPD) less than one day after it was reported the Police had not received it.
On Saturday, it was reported (see below) the SBPD and District Attorney’s (DA) Office had not received information on allegations of wrongdoing at the MAD Academy even though SBUSD Superintendent Cary Matsuoka stated their findings had been submitted to the authorities.
On Monday, Jerry Roberts of Newsmakers, reports within 24 hours of the SBPD and DA’s stating they have not received information regarding the MAD Academy abuse claims, a private investigator’s report prepared for SBSUD was subsequently received by SBPD.
“The contents of the document will be reviewed by our Investigations Division,” SBPD Public Information Officer Anthony Wagner told Newsmakers, confirming the department received the report on Sunday.
A school board meeting will be held on Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. where board members will discuss the MAD Academy fallout in a closed session. Members of the public are allowed to offer comment on closed session agenda items only, before the board goes into the confidential portion of its deliberations. After they return for the open portion of the meeting, there is time allotted for public comment on that portion of the agenda, but no longer on closed session items, reports Roberts.
Police and DA State They’re Not Involved in MAD Academy Allegations
A new report claims the Santa Barbara Unified School District (SBUSD) has not turned over MAD Academy allegations to the Santa Barbara Police Department (SBPD) and District Attorney’s (DA) Office, seeming to contradict the district’s statement released on Friday.
According to Jerry Roberts of Newsmakers, the SBPD and the DA’s office have not received a private investigator’s report ordered by SBUSD investigating allegations of wrongdoing at the MAD Academy.
The SBUSD statement, written by Superintendent Cary Matsuoka, explained the district’s communication with the SBPD and DA. It reads, “The district is taking every allegation related to the MAD Academy seriously, our investigation is on-going and we are in contact with the Santa Barbara Police Department and the District Attorney… The investigation is continuing and we have reported our activities to the Santa Barbara Police Department and the District Attorney, and offered to work with them to the fullest degree possible.”
Matsuoka went on to state, “… immediately after a student complaint was communicated to district officials in January 2019, the district’s legal counsel engaged Public Interest Investigations, Inc. in Los Angeles, to investigate.”
The complaint was in reference to an accusation against Pablo Sweeney, MAD’s operations director, who resigned this past March during the investigation by the private investigator. Dan Williams, MAD’s director, was placed on administrative leave in April, but was allowed to return to campus as “his presence on campus posed no risk to student safety,” wrote Matsuoka. SBUSD then announced Williams, in his 40’s, would retire on June 30.
There has been no comment from Matsuoka and SBUSD on a video that surfaced appearing to show Williams allegedly hosting a party with students to involving what looks to be marijuana.
Roberts reports Santa Barbara County District Attorney Joyce Dudley stated she was contacted by the school district’s attorney. “They wanted to turn their investigation over to SBPD. I referred them to SBPD,” said Dudley.
Santa Barbara Police Department Public Information Officer Anthony Wagner said to Roberts, “We are aware that the school district has conducted an internal personnel investigation… However, at this point they have not forwarded the matter to us for criminal review.”
In Roberts report, it makes clear the DA and SBPD were only contacted by SBUSD’s attorney on Friday a few hours prior to Matsuoka’s press release. The law firm, Griffith & Thornburgh, apparently informed these public agencies they had conducted an internal personnel investigation but did not provide the details of said investigation.
The next school board meeting is scheduled for a closed session on Tuesday, May 28, at 5:00 p.m. and the regular session begins at 6:30 p.m. at the SBUSD office at 720 Santa Barbara Street. The agenda can be found here.
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May 25, 2019: School District Releases Statement Following MAD Academy Fallout
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May 1, 2019:
Bye-Bye Mr. Matsuoka …
Boy, this just seems to scream incompetence in the School Board and district administration. Asleep at the wheel!
Why didn’t the parents file a complaint right away with the SBPD or the District Attorney? Nothing is adding up.
How the parents chose to report it does not need to “add up” to us. They chose to report it to the school first likely thinking the school would do the right thing and that it would be less traumatic for their kids (one in MAD and one graduated). Inappropriate text and voice messages and screen shots from Sweeney’s phone is clearly enough proof.
(1) Student Jan 2018-report made to district employee Williams; (2) District immediately investigates; (3) Targeted non district employee terminated; (4) Settlement reached with district employee Williams who retires at end of term. (5) Student’s parents initiated no further law enforcement action taken against targeted non-district employee. (6) School district employee not charged with sexual harassment or crime; therefore what is the reporting requirement by the district?
District employee Williams did report this claim and district immediately initiated an investigation. Termination and settlements followed for district and non-district employees. Did parents or student request law enforcement not be further involved?
But what about the article that says the Santa Barbara School District is #3 in the nation?
https://www.keyt.com/news/santa-barbara-s-county/santa-barbara-ranks-3-in-the-top-100-school-districts-for-2019/1080200532
FACTOTUM- Not to be rude but you are out of touch. Teenagers don’t tell their parents jack about what goes on 99% of the time. This kid eventually told his parents at which point they stepped forward.
Maybe FACTOTUM is Matsuoka’s handle?
You are conflating two separate issues. The SBUSD is entrusted with thousands of children on a daily basis. This is why there are laws put into place to prevent (unsuccessfully this time) educators like Williams from protecting their own and NOT reporting something.
Following the lead of the Catholic Church, hide facts so as not to ruin their reputation.
Thomas John: You trust a paid back alley ranking service that writes an article to promote its services? “Background Checks – Everything You Need to Know About Searching Online Background Checks and Criminal Records
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SBUnified is ranked below 50% nationally despite being a highly funded District with some of the highest paid Administrators in the Country despite a small size District It’s student proficiency rates are below 50.% except at DPHS. You must like paying high property taxes to guarantee that 90% can NOT read at McKinley, or 87% can NOT read at Cleveland. Isn’t it great that only 38% can do math at SMHS and 62% can NOT perform at a 5th grade level but we gift them high school diplomas? Better still they’ll now get a PROMISED diploma at SBCC for showing up to be guaranteed auto transfer to UCSB which gifts every student a diploma for sticking it out on the liberal arts, non STEM half of the campus. Yep- trust those #3 rankings from a criminal investigation service. SBUnified may be ranked #3 for criminal activity, but definitely not for success stories or academic achievement. BTW- graduation rates are a joke. Everyone can graduate for the asking… we can’t have our statewide ranking lowered just because we didn’t hand out enough diplomas? Property owners might be miffed.. GET REAL SB!
John Becchio was the principal. He would or should have known what was happening on his campus. Dan Williams, John Becchio and a year later Tiffany Carson are ALL mandated reporters and none of them reported to police within 48 hours. Betcha Williams told Becchio and half a million in MAD fundraising was too much to lose so no one called in the PD. Now law breaker Becchio is head of Human Resourses? A law breaker was promoted to Assistant Superintendent by Matsuoka?! What else was not reported? How many kids were hurt or afraid? And stop blaming the parents- they protected their kid. Maybe he only told them when he saw it happening to others?
Inherent folly engaging in public-private business relationships with public schools. Let this be a lesson. Often at cross-purposes, and subject to vastly different regulations and duties. While they can leverage investments, public control over private business activities can be the fatal flaw.
Parents are not relieved of any duty to protect their own children; regardless of how the district carried out their own interpretation of their legal duties. There seems to be a rush to judgement going on; a call to tar, feathers and pitchforks excoriating the district only. Not sure why. Does this incident carry the always ubiquitous taint of class envy and anti-elitism so often endemic in our local prejudices. Was this Academy seen as a privileged access group? Or is this incident conflating into a typical management-employee surrogate cat fight. Time for everyone to back off and wait for the process and facts to emerge, as best they can under the highly employee-protective ED Code provisions.
Yep! Superintendent Matsuoka must go for this incident of lying in writing plus many more failures. His politically correct handlers are giving him bad advice. No wonder he’s typically silent at school board meetings and let’s his two highly incompetent Assistants aka political warriors prove how worthless they both are in their positions . All Superintendent Matsuoka wants is job security to maintain his $324K annual windfall. He may have reported the MAD incident to DA Dudley who advised him to drop it. DA Joyce Dudley is the mother of 2 shared sons with a lead attorney at the conflicted SBUnified and SBCC law firm Griffith -Thornburgh. Oh — and don’t forget her brother-in-law was the former SBHS Principal, the under-qualified brother of her ex-husband G-T Lawyer. He was hired on the quick when Paul Trumbull had to be kicked upstairs ( some says following the Saks 5th State St back parking lot incident – who knows: he was under-qualified too but was Trustee Kate Parker’s neighbor.) It’s incestuous collusion and legal maneuvering. It’s juicy enough to sell the sequel to the soap opera Santa Barbara: The Lord Family pales compared to the Caprittos, Dudley & others at G-T. The plot thickens. Too bad innocent students are entangled.
Dan WIlliams is to be credited with starting and building an exemplary program giving countless students career paths and confidence. When the facts are known, may any questions regarding Dan Williams’ teaching skills, commitment to The MAD Academy, and his reputation be restored. It’s sad it’s come to this. Thanks Jerry Robert’s for your valued investigative reporting. Teachers and adults: you are mentors not student peers.
You lost me after the Dan Williams reputation being restored bit. Regardless of the fact that he built this great academy, the truth seems to be that he used it for predatory purpose. I am the adult who is reporting first hand knowledge that Williams has been partying with his students for years. Relying on the magic that is SnapChat (videos get deleted after minutes of viewing) to protect him from being found out and the knowledge that this age group would never tell. The chicken has finally come home to roost.
FACTOTUM- you have an ironic handle since you don’t seem to grasp the facts. Williams DID NOT REPORT this after the student came forward in 2018. In FACT he made up an outrageous excuse about the mudslide causing crossed wires. Months (almost a year?) later the student went directly to the principal when it was clear Williams had not done so. Read the original timeline again. You seem confused.
How much does G&T law firm get paid every year, to be such alleged law breakers. Time for a FOIA request. Before SBUSD asks us to pass another bond issue or parcel tax.
You fool, the parents’ responses are entirely irrelevant, they in no way relieve the administrators and teachers of their duties.
You also clearly have no idea as to the systemic incompetence and failures to adhere to their legal duties which plague the district. You do a lot of commenting, if you limited it to topics about which you have real world experience, you’d probably be quiet ninety percent of the time.
Newsmakers with Jerry Roberts reports, ” Breaking: Cops Get SBUSD’s Secret Report….”
Posted: 2019-05-27
There needs to be a housecleaning at SBUSD, imho.
Another topic you have no real world understanding of. SBUSD fails so often and so badly that you could hardly do worse by privatizing it.
I guess we’re just going to ignore the fact that the PD has stated they have not received anything that would warrant criminal investigation.
Dudley is the MOST CORRUPT DA Santa Barbara has ever seen hiding behind her powers daily. Get that hag out of here!