A former Stockton Unified School District director has filed a civil complaint against his ex-employer over allegations that the district punished him when he “refused to participate in the financial corruption and abuse running rampant.”

Armando Orozco, Stockton Unified’s former director of facilities and planning, told reporters at a news conference outside of the district’s headquarters last Thursday that he had faced retaliation from his bosses after voicing concerns about the district’s bidding process when it was accepting bids for air filter disinfectant technology.

“I merely went to my director and manager at the time here at SUSD to express my concerns, to express my strong opposition toward the UVC system the board of trustees had just approved,” Orozco said. “I was just told, ‘Let it go. We did not pick this. This is just what the board wants. You are going to get us fired.'”

In the 24-page complaint filed in San Joaquin County Superior Court, Orozco alleges whistleblower retaliation, disability discrimination, failure to prevent harassment, failure to engage in the interactive process, failure to accommodate, and wrongful termination in violation of public policy.

He is being represented by Gold River-based attorney Derek Ulmer of Goyette, Ruano & Thompson, Inc.

“Within days of beginning his employment, (Orozco) realized there was rampant abuse of the budget here at the district and he also found that there was a significant purchase that violated California law,” Ulmer said. “He immediately brought that to the attention of his superiors, and instead of acting on it and doing something to prevent that from happening, they instead moved to silence him.”

In court filings, the Stockton Unified School District has denied all of Orozco’s allegations.

What does Orozco claim?

Orozco said he was hired at the Stockton Unified School District in July 2021 and came to the district with over 25 years of experience in school facilities and construction.

Two days after starting his job, Orozco said he became involved in the bidding process for the air filter disinfectant technology.

As the director of facilities and planning, part of Orozco’s job duties were to sign off on proposed construction contracts. One such proposal, illustrated in the 2021-2022 San Joaquin County Grand Jury report, was for “Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation,” machines that use ultraviolet light to sanitize and kill viral, bacterial and fungal organisms.

At the Jan. 12, 2021 board of trustees meeting, Area 5 Trustee Scot McBrian introduced Alliance Building Solutions, Inc. as a vendor presenting the disinfectant technology, unusual behavior by a trustee that can be considered and perceived as a conflict of interest, the grand jury report said.

Alliance’s proposal stated they would work with Stockton Unified’s “team” to develop their proposal, something explicitly forbidden in the terms and conditions of the request for proposal process that should have resulted in disqualification, the report said.

A request for proposals was issued March 1, 2021 at former Superintendent John Ramirez Jr.’s request, despite systems and equipment already in place at Stockton Unified schools that had been tested and found to be effective against viruses and germs, the report said.

No request for qualifications was issued — an industry standard for awarding contracts for public money — and Alliance was the only company considered. Alliance did not meet criteria for consideration a total of three times over the next few months after staff was directed to extend deadlines and revise specifics of the request, the report said.

In yet another round of proposals for the disinfectant technology, Alliance was unresponsive. However, IAQ Distribution, Inc., a subsidiary of Alliance, made a proposal.

“On its own accord, the board re-scored the IAQ bid and approved it on July 13, 2021; less than two weeks after plaintiff was hired,” Orozco’s lawsuit states. “Because of plaintiff’s extensive knowledge of standard bidding procedures related to public school projects, he knew it was uncommon for a district board to score bids, especially after the bid was already scored by another department tasked with this function.”

The complaint states that during the contracting process between IAQ and Stockton Unified, a local labor union contacted Orozco and told him the project did not include reference to union labor, as required by the Project Labor Agreement (PLA) between the city of Stockton and the district.

“When plaintiff brought these concerns to Marcus Battle, chief business official and plaintiff’s then-supervisor, he asked plaintiff if the union was correct to question the contract terms,” the complaint states. “When plaintiff agreed with the union, Battle responded by telling him to, ‘Stand down.’ Plaintiff voiced his concerns to Superintendent John Ramirez, who failed to take the concerns seriously and instead told plaintiff to, ‘Shut his damn mouth,’ and ‘This is what the board wanted.'”

When district officials presented him with the IAQ contract three weeks after he was hired, he refused to sign it, which led to an argument with Battle and Ramirez, according to the complaint.

Additionally, the complaint states that Debra Keller, Stockton Unified’s director of early childhood education, went to his home in Wilton unannounced in September 2022. It states she took photographs and videos of his property during her search for a storage container that was reported missing at the district.

“Keller learned plaintiff personally owned several storage containers that he stored on his personal property,” the complaint states. “Based on this knowledge, she falsely concluded plaintiff stole the district’s container.”

According to the complaint, Keller reported herself to Susana Ramirez, Stockton Unified’s assistant superintendent of student support services, and admitted to obtaining Orozco’s address through her “law enforcement-affiliated husband.”

“The district did not take any action at that time despite Keller’s wildly inappropriate and baseless conduct,” the complaint states.

While Orozco is suing the district for retaliation, other Stockton Unified employees in the facilities and planning department spoke out against him when he was director and claimed they were afraid he would retaliate against them.

One employee in his department had presented the board of trustees with a vote of no confidence in Orozco signed by more than 80 Stockton Unified employees.

The California School Employees Association had also filed an unfair labor practice charge against Orozco and Stockton Unified. They claimed Orozco illegally stripped a union member of their duties and transferred the duties to a newly created management position, leaving the union member with nothing to do for their entire shift daily.

And when he was still employed by the district, Orozco threatened to sue Stockton Unified if not given $800,000 to leave his job.

A trial readiness conference for the civil lawsuit, in which Orozco seeks damages in excess of $35,000, is scheduled at 8:45 a.m. on Dec. 27 in Dept. 9A of San Joaquin County Superior Court.

See original story from Hannah Workman on The Stockton Record