A group of concerned Fresno Unified parents spoke out about what they described as a lack of safety and transparency within the district at an event that also drew the family of an 11-year-old student who died in 2022 after an investigation later revealed incompetence among staff and a failure by administrators to properly investigate the incident.

The Fresno Community Parent Coalition gathered outside district headquarters Wednesday evening, bringing about two dozen parents, students, and community members.

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Among them was the family of Elizabeth Gonzalez, who died after a Fresno Unified school nurse called the family instead of an ambulance when she suffered a severe asthma attack. A whistleblower nurse, who revealed the incident years later, told GV Wire the death was likely preventable had the nurse followed standard health protocols.

Benjamin Gonzalez, Elizabeth’s brother, said his sister had been in the hospital for six days before finally passing.

“We endured long hospital stays, watching a young girl in a hospital bed, tubes in her mouth with a machine breathing for her while her mother held her hand,” Benjamin Gonzalez said. “On Feb. 23, we said our final goodbyes, and at 6:15 p.m., we heard her last heartbeat. This tragedy stemmed from the negligence of the entire district that failed to follow protocol. We are just finding out about some things that were failed to be followed that could have saved the life of that 11-year-old girl.”

Gonzalez Praises Whistleblower Who Tried to Help

An investigation by the Board of Registered Nursing, released in June, revealed the investigation into Elizabeth Gonzalez’s death had been conducted by the school nurse’s immediate supervisor and friend. The board found no records showing the investigating nurse, who is a cousin of Superintendent Misty Her, had disciplined or coached the nurse involved.

The investigation also found the nurse never requested medical records or interviewed Elizabeth’s parents or hospital staff.

It wasn’t until a whistleblower sued the district years later — alleging retaliation for raising concerns — that the district issued any discipline, placing the investigating nurse on paid administrative leave for more than a year.

Benjamin Gonzalez praised the whistleblower for speaking up and for trying to help “a grieving brother.” The nurse first learned about the incident after Benjamin Gonzalez sought help regarding the death of his sister.

“We need to ensure our children are safe in school and receive proper medicine and care from professionals,” Gonzalez said.

In March, another student, Daniel Padilla, died after losing consciousness at Fresno High during PE class. In that case, school staff did contact an ambulance, but the parents have sought legal help to obtain public records related to the incident.

They still have questions about protocol followed and about what treatment they administered.

On Aug. 5, a judge will oversee a plan to release those files to the parents and their attorney.

Parent Group Wants Three Things from District

Led by organizer and Fresno Unified parent Kristina Holmes-McIntyre, she said the parent group wants three things from the district: an agreement not to conduct internal investigations involving student safety, the creation of a parent oversight committee, and easier public access to information about pesticide use.

Holmes-McIntyre said parents who raise concerns often see them dismissed.

Holmes-McIntyre, who has vocally brought up concerns about Golden Charter Academy, said district administrators frequently disregard the concerns of individual parents.

She praised Fresno Unified trustee Susan Wittrup for raising questions about district policies and about student safety but said that the board needs to turn those questions into policy changes.

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“When families, individual families try to fight Fresno Unified School District alone, the district strategy is to exhaust us into silence,” Holmes-McIntyre said. “The parents advocating for their children become labeled as the problem. We become the noise that is easy for them to ignore.”

Another parent, Leticia Soto, spoke about her child with a disability, who was injured by another student. She said 62 days after the incident, she still has not received an official report detailing what happened.

“We are asking Fresno Unified to improve communication with families, provide timely incident reports and ensure that meaningful steps are taken to protect students and staff,” Soto said.

Others spoke about the difficulty in finding when the district applies pesticides.

Christina Gutierrez, who is a Fresno Unified parent and a community organizer for Californians for Pesticide Reform, said that pesticide policies and applications dates are difficult to find, often in a large booklet given at the beginning of the year.