Refugio Rodriguez (born 1972) is an American educator and politician, who served as President of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education in 2017. He served as a member of the Board from 2015 until his resignation in 2018, and currently serves as an adjunct professor at Santa Ana College.[3]
Rodriguez grew up in Cypress Park, Los Angeles and was the first of five children of Mexican immigrants to graduate from college, earning a bachelor's degree from Loyola Marymount University and a PhD from Fielding Graduate University.[4]
He returned to his home neighborhood after college to co-found Partnerships to Uplift Communities (PUC), a public charter school program, with Jacqueline Elliot.[5][6] He also lectured at Loyola Marymount University and was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing in 2013.[7][8]
In November 2014, Rodriguez announced that he would be running for a seat in the Board of Education and raised $50,000 during the first campaign reporting period.[9] He ran against incumbent Bennett Kayser and Andrew Thomas, a professor at Walden University.[10] He maintained that he would do more for the District than pander to charter schools.[11]
On July 7, 2017, Rodriguez was elected as the president of the Board of Education by a 4–3 vote. The four votes were newly elected members Kelly Gonez and Nick Melvoin, reelected member Mónica García, and Rodriguez himself.[12][13]
LA County District Attorney Jackie Lacey charged Rodriguez with three felony charges of conspiracy, perjury, and procuring and offering a false or forged instrument. The case was linked back to Rodriguez's bid for the board in 2014, with he and cousin Elizabeth Tinajero Melendrez reimbursing $25,000 to his campaign donors, most of whom were family and friends.[14] In January 2015, Rodriguez reported in his first campaign disclosure statement that more than $51,000 had come from family, friends, and other people, but half actually had come from himself.[15] On September 20, 2017, the United Teachers Los Angeles called for the resignation of Rodriguez.[16]
On September 19, 2017, Rodriguez stepped down as president amid charges of perjury and other felonies. Although stepping down, he remained on the board.[17] On October 24, 2017, he pleaded not guilty to the charges.[18] On July 23, 2018, Rodriguez pleaded guilty to a felony count of conspiracy and four misdemeanor counts, and as part of a deal with prosecutors, resigned from office.[19] Ten candidates ran to replace Rodriguez,[20] and he was replaced by Jackie Goldberg in 2019.[21]
In March, 2023, Rodriquez was hired by Santa Ana College as the head of Career Education/Dual Enrollment amid community criticism.[22]
On October 13, 2017, a conflict of interest complaint was filed against Rodriguez by a charter school network that he founded.[23] A week later, on October 24, 2017, the California Fair Political Practices Commission closed the case, citing his conspiracy charges filed by the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office.[24] The conflict of interest case did not have any relation to his felony case.[25]
On March 16, 2018, Rodriguez was arrested at The Paseo at around 4:30 p.m. for suspicion of public intoxication.[26][27] He was released without being charged or cited, with Rodriguez thanking the officers for "being kind and seeing this for the non- event that it was.”[28][29]
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