Parlier school official considers suing board

By Louis Galvan / The Fresno Bee

(Updated Saturday, March 11, 2006, 7:04 AM)

Juan R. Sandoval, assistant superintendent of the Parlier Unified School District, said Friday that he will seek legal advice about filing a civil suit against the school board and Parlier police after he was accused of disrupting a board meeting Thursday night and was physically removed by police.

Sandoval, who was arrested on misdemeanor counts of disrupting a public meeting and resisting arrest, said he was shocked with stun guns more than 20 times by two officers before he was handcuffed and taken to a Parlier jail cell and held for about two hours. He was then cited and released. He must appear in court within 60 days.

Sandoval, 47, who said he was shocked on his neck, back and abdomen, said he sought treatment and received a painkiller at a Reedley hospital.

Parlier police Sgt. David Cerda said the officers were sent to the meeting after the department received a phone call from a board official complaining about an individual being disruptive and disorderly.

"The individual was contacted, and he refused to cooperate and became physically resistant," Cerda said. "The officers were forced to use their stun guns on the individual."

The names of the officers were not made available, but they were identified as a man and a woman.

"The officers suffered some minor injuries," Cerda said.

Cerda said formal charges are pending review of the case by the Fresno County District Attorney's Office.

Sandoval, in a telephone interview Friday morning from his district office, said the trouble started when he refused to yield the podium after he was told his five minutes were up and he protested to the board that he was being cut short and that he was not being allowed to complete his presentation.

Sandoval said he was acting as a parent and as a member of the Fresno Cesar Chavez Chapter of the Mexican American Political Association when he got up to address the board.

Sandoval, who is in charge of human resources and is the bilingual and migrant program director, has been with the district for 11 years and has three children in the district — in the eighth, fifth and fourth grades.

Sandoval said he appeared before the board to express his concerns as a parent and as a member of the Hispanic community about certain educational issues, including the board's action in passing a resolution to terminate four Spanish-language positions for next year.

Sandoval, like other speakers before him, was given five minutes to make his presentation.

Sandoval said he made his presentation in Spanish because all of the board members are Spanish-speaking and most of the people in the audience were Hispanic.

Sandoval, however, said he was not able to complete his presentation because Dr. Fernando Elizondo, the district's newly hired interim superintendent, insisted on using another employee to translate his presentation into English.

Sandoval said he protested when he was told to sit down because he believed the use of a translator had caused his time to expire.

"They said I had run out of time," he said.

He said that the board called a recess and about five minutes later two police officers walked into the board room, approached him while he was talking to other people, and told him he had to leave.

Sandoval said he wanted to know why, but that the officers would not give him a reason.

Sandoval said one of the officers grabbed him by the shoulders and threatened to shock him with the stun gun if he did not leave.

"Which he did," said Sandoval, when he still refused to leave the room.

A second officer approached and he was "dropped to the ground," where the officers took turns shocking him with their stun guns, he said.

Elizondo, contacted by phone Friday afternoon at his office, said he believes Sandoval initiated the incident when he "refused to adhere to the guidelines."

He said board President Yolanda Montalvo had "every right" to call a recess when it became clear the meeting had been disrupted and that it could not continue "in a professional way" until order could be restored.

Elizondo said he called for the police to respond to the meeting to escort Sandoval from the school grounds.
The reporter can be reachedat lgalvan@fresnobee.comor (559) 441-6139.

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This seems to be the new form of income for the folks in our migrant communities. Act stupid, then sue the city when the police arrest you. It is happening quite often in this area. Why can't these people speak english? Does this person still think he is in Mexico? If so, let's send him and his family there.