I’m posting this here in r/Glendora because this is ultimately a Glendora public-accountability issue.
If you live in Glendora, own a home here, pay taxes here, have children in GUSD, work in our schools, or are considering moving here because of the school district, you have a legitimate interest in how public money is being spent.
I am attaching photographs of my son Evan, along with only some of the agency documents involving his education.
Evan is an elementary-school child who survived Acute Myeloid Leukemia and later struggled with ADHD, impulsivity, emotional regulation, attention, and behavioral needs.
His educational history with Glendora Unified School District has generated:
14 formally numbered California Department of Education special-education cases
At least 8 separate CDE conclusions of District noncompliance that I can presently verify
4 separately assigned U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights cases
2 formal special-education due-process cases
2 psychoeducational evaluations
1 District Functional Behavioral Assessment
1 publicly funded Independent FBA
Multiple corrective actions, staff trainings, administrative responses, meetings, and years of legal involvement
All involving ONE elementary-school child.
Based on that documented footprint, I have good reason to believe the taxpayer-funded legal, assessment, and professional-resource costs connected with this fight could plausibly fall somewhere around:
$100,000 TO $300,000
That is an ESTIMATE—not an audited GUSD expenditure figure.
I explain the assumptions below.
If my estimate is too high, the District can release the legally disclosable expenditure records and show taxpayers the actual number.
If it is close—or if the real number is higher—Glendora taxpayers deserve to know that too.
And I think residents should demand an answer from the elected School Board:
How much was spent on this one child’s disputes?
How much is GUSD spending on similar special-education disputes involving other children?
And how much of that money could instead be going toward directly helping children?
This story started when Evan was only five years old and fighting cancer.
EVAN WAS FIVE YEARS OLD, HOSPITALIZED WITH LEUKEMIA, AND THEN UNENROLLED
When Evan was five, he was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia.
He underwent intensive chemotherapy and spent significant portions of each month hospitalized.
At the same time, my wife was pregnant with our youngest child and experiencing a high-risk pregnancy.
Then Evan was unenrolled from school.
There had been no meaningful IEP-team meeting beforehand where we agreed that his enrollment, placement, or existing special-education program should simply stop because he became seriously ill.
I will never forget my wife breaking down crying to me.
Our five-year-old was in the hospital undergoing chemotherapy, and she was telling me that his school had unenrolled him.
According to what she was told by the school front office:
“The District recommended unenrollment.”
She asked that our sick child be reenrolled.
According to her account, the school initially refused.
Think about that as a parent.
Your five-year-old has leukemia.
He is undergoing chemotherapy.
Your pregnant wife is going through a high-risk pregnancy.
And now your family is arguing with the school about whether your sick child should even remain enrolled.
That was when I became directly involved.
I began emailing administrators and higher-level District officials.
Only after we escalated the issue was Evan ultimately placed into a formal home-hospital educational program.
His September 26, 2023 IEP later documented his leukemia, chemotherapy, extensive hospitalization, home-hospital placement, and continued speech services through teletherapy.
That later paperwork does not erase what our family experienced beforehand.
Our seriously ill five-year-old was unenrolled, his educational program was interrupted, my wife was told “the District recommended unenrollment,” and our family had to escalate the matter while simultaneously dealing with childhood cancer before a formal home-hospital arrangement was established.
That was our introduction to special-education advocacy.
Unfortunately, it was only the beginning.
