An insidious disease is spreading through Fresno Unified, weakening the district’s moral compass nearly to the point of no return.

That rot has broken the school district’s bond with the community that it is supposed to serve. As a result, Fresno Unified answers only to itself. And when tragedies happen, it goes to great lengths to hide the truth from the public.

A Homan Elementary School student with asthma died in 2022. While at school, she had used her inhaler a half-dozen times to no avail. She needed emergency care. Instead, the school nurse called the 11-year-old’s family to come pick her up. The nurse didn’t even administer rescue medication, according to a state Board of Registered Nursing investigation.

“During the car ride home, (the student) became weak and limp and was transported by family to the hospital. During the car ride to the hospital, (she) experienced cardiac arrest that led to an anoxic brain injury, and ultimately, (her) death,” wrote the nursing board investigator.

This precious child’s life might have been saved if the nurse, Lydia Chrisel White, had provided the appropriate response. Call 911 and administer the rescue medication.

Paramedics would have been there in minutes and jumping in with oxygen and other life-saving measures.

Why Not a Real Investigation?

When Fresno Unified’s top brass learned of the child’s death — Bob Nelson was superintendent at the time — the district should have ordered an investigation conducted by outside counsel. This is how high-performing public agencies act. They provide taxpayers with the truth — however ugly it might be — and take action to prevent future tragedies.

Fresno Unified didn’t do that. It launched a coverup that consisted of having the nurse’s friend and supervisor, Xai Elizabeth Torres, talk to her about what happened. Torres, according to the San Joaquin Valley Sun, is Superintendent Misty Her’s cousin. In 2022,  Her was the deputy superintendent.

The state Board of Registered Nursing found that Torres didn’t identify any wrongdoing by White and didn’t file a written report, but informally counseled her. In conducting the so-called “investigation,” Torres also didn’t interview the dead student’s family or medical providers.

No reports. No top-to-bottom review or public disclosure. In Fresno Unified’s mind, a little girl’s life and her family’s grief weren’t worth that.

Coverup Is Finally Blown Apart

Understand: Torres carried out a coverup orchestrated from the highest offices at Fresno Unified. It was successful too until a district whistle-blower nurse stepped forward.

You should know that the whistle-blower had been reprimanded by the district for accessing the dead child’s medical files while trying to serve the needs of her brother, also a Fresno Unified student.

That reprimand no doubt was meant to keep the coverup intact. Now that the state has stepped in, the unvarnished truth may finally emerge.

Another Death, More Silence

Another student died after collapsing at Fresno High in March. We don’t know the details. But the question must be asked: Could this young teen’s life have been saved if the district had done the right training and beefed up its protocols after the death at Homan?

To no one’s surprise, the district is stonewalling the family’s request for information about the circumstances of the 14-year-old boy’s death.

That moral rot spreading through Fresno Unified has seeped into the community, too. For decades, most community leaders have stayed silent about the district’s failings. I need to stay in my lane, they’d say. Or, Fresno Unified doesn’t need anyone else beating them up.

Meanwhile, voters keep electing a School Board supermajority that lacks the courage and the capacity to stand up for kids. They vote to protect the bureaucracy and their reelection efforts. All the while looking the other way as the rot spreads further.

Who in Fresno Will Stand for Justice?

A few years ago, I had cancer. It took surgery, 45 radiation sessions, and immunotherapy to rid it from my body.

Fresno Unified needs radical surgery to stop its bankrupt culture from infecting the entire body. At times, it will be painful, but it has to be done.

Who among all of Fresno’s leaders is willing to take on the job, using their bully pulpit to help restore the district’s moral health?

Which adults with children in the district will run for the School Board in November?

A child needlessly died, and the district covered it up. Another child died, and district lawyers are trying their hardest to keep the facts on the down low.

Justice demands that those responsible be shown the door.