UPDATE 1/3/2023: Right before the holidays, FUSD did formally address the complaints that were filed. We aren’t at privilege to discuss all details, but the general consensus is that some complaints were taken seriously while others were determined to be unable to be substantiated throughout the course of the investigation. The resolution by the district was to “promote” one of the alleged offenders and move them outside of the school but still within the district. All others named in the complaints were “coached” and it does not appear the district will take any further action. They remain in their current positions. While this is obviously a huge failing of FUSD and we are disturbed by their lack of accountability and acceptance of responsibility in creating an unacceptably harmful environment at Kratt Elementary, the intended goal of the petition has been met. The community has been made aware of negligence of the administration; they have been made aware of Fresno Unified's unconcerned attitude towards this negligence and it is widely known that they have taken only a minimal amount of action to correct the communities’ concerns. By many accounts, parents and staff as a whole are pleased with the current environment at the school and the issues that were brought to light seem to have been addressed or at the very least are being actively worked on. Thank you for all the support and remember that if you have a concern moving forward you can file a complaint at the below link.
https://board.fresnounified.org/wp-content/uploads/Personnel-Complaint-Form-English-19-20-acfinal-fillable-PDF.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1ZCSVRNwAPPsj9nPmR6Et2iUejF0d502FiVl2sLILUcn28sgwcij1si6s

 

 

On 6/27/22, several complaints will be officially filed with FUSD Constituent Services, FUSD Board of Directors and the Fresno Teacher's Association. These complaints are against the highest levels of administration at Kratt Elementary of Fresno, CA (hereafter referred to as “the admin”).

Here is a small compilation of alleged claims that parents have made recounting their experiences and lack of resolution. This is by no means a complete list and concerns are growing daily. The examples included have been collected in the last 3 weeks alone. I have no doubt that other concerns will become known after an official in-depth review of this administration's practices over the last several years. The most severe alleged incidents have been listed first:  

• On or around March 28, 2022 – Parents received an auto call stating a potential threat was made at the school. It informed parents that the threat was researched and found not credible. No other details of any kind were provided. It was later alleged that a sixth-grade student threatened to bring a gun to school and kill several students. There was a list of names mentioned but not confirmed. This information was never provided officially to parents. It is unclear if that child was suspended or how the administration acted to protect the allegedly targeted children.
• On or around April 28, 2022, a fourth-grade student brought a gun onto the Kratt Elementary School campus. He showed this gun to other students. It is unknown at what point in the day this was brought to the attention of administration, but at some point, it was reported to them. It is unknown if Fresno PD was called. I have been told after the investigation occurred, the gun was determined to be fake. The student was then sent home and received a minimal suspension (unconfirmed 1-2 days). The school neglected their responsibility to alert the parents the incident occurred. They admitted that no alert was sent to parents because they did not think that enough students were aware of it to necessitate a call. Instead, parents had to hear about the issue from their own children and other parents. There are claims that the student’s permanent record was not updated to reflect the incident as admin has a habit of neglecting to enter such things. Less than a week later, the same student was allowed to return to school and attend the fourth-grade field trip, out of town, in which he allegedly bullied and harassed several classmates for the many hours they were forced to sit on the bus with him. A few of these classmates already had multiple claims of sexual harassment on file against this student. The school has a responsibility to remove these types of reward trips from students who have shown negative, disruptive behavior. Instead, the message sent was that the student was being rewarded and that all other kids (the ones who earned their trip) needed to suffer the unruly behavior. The child was finally suspended on 6/3/22 after having a violent, physical confrontation with several students and assaulting one staff member.
• June 3, 2022 – A sixth grade student allegedly brought a picture of a gun to campus and told others that he would bring the gun to school the following week and “shoot up” the sixth-grade graduation. A student claims that a member of the admin team entered at least one sixth grade classroom and told the students not to tell their parents what occurred because they had everything under control. Several students were visibly shaken during pick up and informed their parents. Parents received an auto call just a few hours later stating that the threat was “not credible”.
• Student in above situation was suspended and the FPD was called according to claims. The student’s record allegedly states nothing descriptive about the incident other than he was suspended for disruptive behavior. The entry is requested to be reviewed to ensure that incredibly vital information omitted is included.

Other complaints that have been brought forward:

• March 25, 2022- A female child was body shamed and bullied. The child reported the incident to administration. The child was turned away and later told the parent she was more concerned at the time about a situation with a staff member. Only after the parent pressed the matter did administration investigate the situation. They spoke with the child who had repeated what the bully had said about the victim. She was forced to apologize to the victim for “speaking up.” Administration never confirmed if they spoke to the child accused of bullying. The victim saw for herself the dismissive attitude she received from the administration and knew nothing would be done about it.
• March 3, 2022 – A sixth grader reported that a child was harassing her over a period of four days. The NTAs (Noon Time Assistants) replied that the behavior was normal among her fellow students and to come back with proof. They did not assist further in any way.
• May 3, 2022 - A second grader was pushed and called a “bitch” by a fifth-grade student in the hall during recess. The insult and physical altercation were unprovoked by the second grader. She and her friend proceeded to tell several NTAs about the incident. All responded that she needed to find the NTA assigned to the fifth-grade level and tell that person. They did not assist, they did not show concern for her feelings, they did not communicate with their fellow adults to resolve the situation. The child was left feeling scared and unprotected.
• On or around October 7, 2021 – A concerned parent reached out to administration to discuss a disciplinary measure that was being imposed on her child. The parent requested information as to why her child was being disciplined. Administration stated that they approved a fellow administrator to conduct a “social experiment” (their words) among the entire sixth grade class. Several of the sixth-grade students were becoming disrespectful towards each other so the whole sixth grade was told they would lose the ability to have “free choice.” The instruction was that the children would not be able to interact with the students they wished to interact with but would be assigned a student that they were required to spend the two days with. They would also lose the freedom to choose what activity they participated in during recess. The parent asked why she and other parents were not informed of the experiment, admin stated that they did not feel it necessary to inform the parents. To recap: Admin chose to remove “freedom” as a disciplinary measure. They chose to restrict movement and interaction of an entire class due to the actions of a few. They neglected their duties to address the issue with the small group of students who were causing the problem and chose the easier route of disciplining every child. 
• A female child claimed she was being sexually harassed by a classmate via teams. The parent submitted the conversations and vulgar statements made by the offender. Administration has done nothing in the two years since it has been reported. They continue to place the victim in the same class as the offender and turn a blind eye when the abuse continues.
• Students are denied food during lunch because it is deemed “unhealthy”. Administration has stated that any child can eat whatever is brought from home (with the exception of hazardous or dangerous food), yet parents claim the staff continues to tell kids that they cannot eat what their parent has packed them from home.
• In April 2022, the Kratt Elementary girls softball team was provided “jerseys” for upcoming games. When the child brought the uniform home, the parent noticed that it was a basketball jersey. The coach of the team did not even realize the mistake until the parent brought it to his attention. He shrugged it off saying “This is what [administration] gave me.” The parent brought the concern to the administration directly, who was also unaware of the mix-up because they claimed to have purchased softball jerseys. They told the parent they would investigate and reach back out. They never did. When the parent asked the coach again, the only response was that the uniforms were “lost.” The boys team received new jerseys and the girls team did not. Parents did not receive proper communication that there was going to be a change. The kids felt and saw the bias in the way the school treated the girls team versus the boys team. Why does administration not know where the equipment that they ordered is? Why do they not know the difference in types of uniforms? And why are they not communicating to parents when issues arise?
• A parent reported that her child’s friend had stated he would harm himself on several occasions and threatened suicide. The parent provided her child’s phone and other written proof requesting the school act and investigate the issue. Administration canceled the scheduled meeting with the parent and stated she would follow up. After 3 months had passed without any follow up, the parent was forced to reached out again.
• Staff are allegedly forced by administration to edit Atlas records to remove essential information regarding violent offenses.
• Staff are allegedly requested to lie. They claim to have been told to send disruptive kids home as “sick” as opposed to having administration deal with the disciplinary process. Two cases of this occurred within the last 7 days of the 2021-2022 school year.
• Runner kids have allegedly been left unaccounted for 20-30 minutes after admin has been alerted.
• EDITED TO ADDED 6/23/22 PER A TEACHERS REQUEST: One of the biggest concerns is that when a student is violent in the classroom (throwing furniture, flipping desks, throwing items) no admin will respond. This is an ongoing issue where teachers or  substitutes will call for help multiple times in a day and NO ADMIN  responds. We lost a teacher earlier in the year because of this.

Other General Concerns

• Parents report having to call the office multiple times before an administrator will speak with them. Parents are forced to catch the admin as they leave the office and have confidential sensitive conversations in the hallways of the school when the administrator is hurried and distracted. Extraordinarily little time is made for parents.
• Staff are often the last to know the most basic information from the school (changes to calendar, changes to events etc.). The teachers will often reach out to the parents for information regarding things that should have been communicated to them by their own administrative team. 
• Kids claim they are only given 5 minutes of time to eat in the cafeteria during lunch time. They are not allowed to bring any food to the black top/recess. This is simply not enough time for many kids to finish their lunches.
• Victim blaming when a child is physically or verbally assaulted by asking “How did you provoke him/her?”
• Staff is often heard yelling on the microphone in the cafeteria. They appear constantly angry and the children are fearful of them.
• Young kids are placed with the older kids during lunch and recess. This places first and fourth graders together, second with fifth graders and third with sixth. This results in the older kids picking on the younger ones.
• Request for accommodations for learning aids are ignored and/or not responded to.
• Administration states that they train NTAs to all respond appropriately to situations that may arise. This is clearly untrue. They are not held to any standard and continue to provide unsatisfactory service to students.   
• Events are often canceled because the admin can not offer staff support. While understandably difficult for all schools in the district during this time, it seems to occur with exceptional frequency at Kratt.
• Staff are afraid to speak up for fear of job loss and hostile work environments

With the above examples, below the areas that this petition would like investigated.

• Concerns of the safety of children from guns/weapons/violence
• Misrepresentation and omission on students' permanent record
• Sexual Harassment of young children
• Bullying and body shaming
• Lack of follow through and follow up on alarming mental health concerns
• Random disciplinary practices
• Improper, unethical requests of staff made by the administration
• Inability or refusal to communicate openly and honestly with parents and staff
• Inadequate staff training (NTAs mainly)
• Lack of proper equipment and uniforms for school sponsored sporting teams
• Inadequately handling the purchase of the school supplies including sporting equipment

These administrators have created a culture in which the kids no longer feel safe, and the staff is afraid to speak up for fear of job loss. We deserve a school that is safe, where the staff is supported, and the parents’ concerns are heard. Our children deserve more than what they have received from this administration. We are requesting that Fresno Unified School District open an in-depth investigation into poor decisions made by these administrators and take appropriate action as necessary, up to and including termination from their positions.     

Please help us by signing this petition to bring to light some of the decisions that have been made by the Kratt Administration. If you would like to file your own complaint you can do so at at the below links or email them to krattcomplaints@gmail.com

https://board.fresnounified.org/wp-content/uploads/Personnel-Complaint-Form-English-19-20-acfinal-fillable-PDF.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1ZCSVRNwAPPsj9nPmR6Et2iUejF0d502FiVl2sLILUcn28sgwcij1si6s​

https://board.fresnounified.org/wp-content/uploads/Internal-Employees-PC-form-21-22-final-1.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2SuD_qUhHQxhM-gvwH01Wpud2mCsXCq1ZvJ6Sqf-xhA1H3OOiXkc9drhI

We thank you for all your support!