A Fresno County Civil Grand Jury found that Fresno Unified School District has inconsistent job descriptions and staff evaluations, which could have contributed to lawsuit settlement agreements paid for with taxpayer money.

Fresno’s Grand Jury received a complaint regarding payments made “to a non-certified, non-union employee(s) upon their resignation.” The following investigation, likely surrounding a $162k payout to former Chief Communications Officer Nikki Henry, unveiled related staffing issues.

“Generally, employees were to be evaluated at least once every two years,” the report states. “The Grand Jury learned that perhaps as little as 12% of the entire staff at FUSD had been evaluated in the last ten years.”

Fresno Unified lacked updated job descriptions and regulations to support consistent evaluations, according to the report.

But the grand jury also found Fresno Unified forthcoming and credible in response to inquiries, and believed the district is taking steps to correct these issues.

“I can confirm that we have just received the report,” said the district’s chief information officer, Adela Duncan. “It has been forwarded to our general counsel for a thorough review, and we will be issuing a full response in the near future.”

Grand Jury Highlights Multiple Staffing Concerns

The Grand Jury highlighted concerns that could lead to ineffective staffing, focusing on employee evaluations.

The district lacks calibrations for many evaluations that would allow leadership to consistently and effectively evaluate employees.

Additionally, Fresno Unified needs to update job descriptions to make headway on those concerns.

Trustee Susan Wittrup, who formerly served as a Fresno Unified school psychologist, echoed this.

“There’s a long queue of looking and reviewing job descriptions,” she said. “The school psychologists have not had their job description updated for many, many years. And I know that they’re waiting for that.”

Trustee Valerie Davis said she is focused on student achievement, which won’t change until adult behaviors change — a mantra from the Council of the Great City Schools. All other trustees did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Fresno Unified Staffing Issue May Have Contributed to Payout

The grand jury found that Fresno Unified was within its authority to award severance pay in the filed complaint and followed correct procedures.

However, the district’s “outdated job descriptions and lack of continuity and consistency in its personnel evaluations timeline and process may have contributed to this payout.”

The report specifically mentions a need to update the use of computer programs and application of artificial intelligence in job descriptions.

Henry resigned in June 2025 after she admitted to creating a dossier using AI, which attributed fabricated quotes to the Fresno Teachers Association.

Related Story: Fresno Unified Will Pay Nikki Henry $162K Without Board’s Public Vote

Wittrup declined to comment on any particular situation but agreed that the issues raised could cost the district valuable funds,

“It’s very expensive when somebody does something, and they need to resign or be let go. And there’s been no performance evaluation,” she said. “It makes me wonder how long those behaviors have gone on before it reached a level that it … was a reason for dismissal.”

District Guardrails Focus on Effective Staffing

Fresno Unified has a guardrail around effective staffing, which aims to prevent the promotion or lateral movement of under-preforming employees.

However, the grand jury report filled in gaps around the guardrail, which did not establish the foundation for consistent performance reviews, according to Wittrup.

“I think it’s just a level of apathy from our current leadership,” she said. “We shouldn’t need a grand jury report to tell us to do performance evaluations on our employees… It’s part of our responsibility and our obligation to our students.”

The report recommends the School Board direct executive staff to develop procedures and timelines for completing evaluations, evaluate all employees by the end of the 2027-28 school year, and review and update job descriptions. Trustee must do this by Nov. 1.

Trustees will address the report in an August board meeting, likely in closed session, according to Wittrup.