Two top San Ysidro School District administrators have been placed on paid leave after a review found the district is not meeting requirements on how they spend federal funds.
Gloria Madera, assistant superintendent of educational services and former district interim superintendent, and Matthew Paredes, the director of state and federal projects, are part of an internal investigation prompted by the state review.
State education officials monitor how schools spend federal Title 1 money, aimed at helping children who are failing or at risk of failing.
According to the monitoring review from early January, the San Ysidro School District did not meet its requirements 29 times.
Paredes is listed in the report as the coordinator.
The district is being very tight lipped about what Interim Superintendent Edward Velasquez described as an internal investigation that does not involve any law enforcement agency.
“It’s a personnel matter, and that’s really all I can say at this point,” said Velasquez. He would not address questions about the report either, saying the investigation is ongoing.
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But NBC 7 has learned he is upset the district was not in compliance, everything from not having a policy to involve parents to not keeping track of where the money is spent.
Sources say the information was not brought to the school board, and the district did not respond to the state about the report by the March 9 deadline, leaving the district open to possible penalties.
The superintendent promised to have most of the issues in the report fixed in two weeks’ time; others may take longer.
Meantime, Velasquez said he will work with the state to see what can be done to avoid penalties for non-compliance.
