'We feel lied to': Public concerned over former South Bend principal placed on leave

SOUTH BEND — After a former South Bend Community School Corporation (SBCSC) principal was placed on leave, members of the South Bend community turned out en masse to Wednesday's school board meeting to voice their concerns.

The meeting's agenda ranged from a back to school update to a Memorandum of Understanding on the Logan Center, but many attendees had a different issue on their minds — Jesus Pedraza.

Pedraza served as principal of McKinley Elementary School for eight years before the school merged with Edison Middle School to form a K-8 school, due to Edison’s low enrollment numbers. Pedraza told The Tribune that while at McKinley, he started the school's Dual Language Immersion (DLI) program, and the student population increased by over 100 students.

According to Pedraza, he was told by SBCSC in February 2024 that he would retain his position after the merger with Edison, serving as principal of K-5 students alongside the 6-8 principal, Sean Dillon. However, Pedraza said, he was told on Aug. 8 by Deputy Superintendent Sarita Stevens and Chief Academic Officer JaNeva Adams that he would be Dillon's assistant principal.

Pedraza referred to the change as a “demotion," saying Stevens and Adams claimed he was "never going to be principal … (because) there can only be one principal per building."

Now, Pedraza said he has been on administrative leave with pay since Aug. 20.

When asked to confirm that Pedraza had been placed on leave and for any additional details regarding the situation, SBCSC officials said they do not comment on personnel issues as a matter of policy. None of the board members addressed or responded to the public's comments regarding Pedraza.

The dispute

According to Pedraza, he was placed on leave after he spoke with Dillon in his office regarding some back to school newsletters that were never sent out. The newsletters included details like dress code and important dates in both English and Spanish. However, at the bottom, they also listed both Dillon and Pedraza as principals.

Pedraza said Dillon volunteered to "take (the newsletters) downtown" to send them, but families never received them. According to Pedraza, after asking Dillon about the newsletters, he was told by Stevens that he had threatened Dillon and "used profanity," although Pedraza denied the allegations, and he was being placed on leave.

Pedraza said the newsletters not being sent out was harmful to families, especially Spanish-speaking ones, as they were not provided basic information like when the first day of school would be. As a result, he said several Spanish-speaking students did not show up until the third day of school.

He said 38% of McKinley's student population last school year was Spanish-speaking, and many of these families made the decision to follow him to Edison under the impression that he would continue to serve as principal. Now they are facing a "trust and language" problem, he said.

"I know that the reason that those families backed me up is that when they made an appointment (at McKinley), I let them come in and helped solve their problem," he said. "There's a trust issue, and then there's a simple fact that Mr. Dillon does not speak Spanish and doesn't have that relationship with them."

The public speaks

Wednesday's meeting was the first held following Pedraza being placed on leave, and several members of the public voiced concerns with the decision. Audience members held up signs saying "Time for change" and "Bring back our principal," and the meeting's public comments portion — which lasted more than an hour — included parents and teachers who know Pedraza.

While the original agenda only allocated 45 total minutes for public comments, board member Jeanette McCullough moved for the limit to be removed shortly after the meeting began. However, board President Stuart Greene cautioned speakers to avoid "personnel and personal issues," prompting most speakers to also avoid calling Pedraza by name.

One attendee, Michele Grutzius, said her fifth-grade son had been enrolled in the DLI program at McKinley since kindergarten under Pedraza's leadership. They made the decision to switch to Edison, having heard that Pedraza would remain principal, but now, she said, she and other parents "feel silenced."

"The parents were promised that we would have a bilingual principal, and in the end, they demoted him, … but we weren't given any kind of information about that. So, as parents, we feel lied to," Grutzius said. "Because we have our choice of schools, we can send our kids other places, but we went from the end of school year to transfer into another thinking that we had this great program in place, this great principal, and we didn't choose to send our kids somewhere else … because we believe in the program."

She said she and other parents are asking for transparency from the board about why Pedraza was placed on leave.

"Whatever is happening with Mr. Pedraza in this internal issue that's going on, we don't care about that. We don't care about their politics," Grutzius said. "What we care about is that we had a solid leader and no explanation why we don't have him anymore."

Another attendee, Jazmin Spence, worked with Pedraza as a first grade teacher at McKinley. She said Pedraza is a "huge advocate" for both students and teachers, and due to his ethnicity and background, he "knows what it feels like to feel lost and not be heard."

Spence said she attended the meeting to call for "clear communication and the truth" about Pedraza.

"It's extremely frustrating, and it's just really sad," she said. "He brings a great sense of community, and for whatever reason, it feels like he keeps getting attacked."

Email Tribune staff writer Rayleigh Deaton at rdeaton@gannett.com .

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: 'We feel lied to': Public concerned over former South Bend principal placed on leave