Chico Unified School District, Chico | Fees, Rankings, Address, Admission, Vacancies, Reviews & More

My son attends a school in this district, and I have gotten to know the staff here rather well over the last three years. The teachers who work with my son on a regular basis are some of the most kind, compassionate and understanding individuals that I have ever met. The administration is unfortunately an entirely different story…

My son has special needs that prompted this district to develop an Individualized Educational Plan (IEP). When I attempted to civilly discuss how this plan was falling short of providing my child the appropriate education in the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE), I was redirected by an individual in charge who attempted to coerce me into homeschooling my child instead of discussing the Independent Study program that would allow my child to reach his full potential.

The notes from this meeting and the transcript from the mutually agreed upon recording indicate that the individuals who work with my son recognized the same concerns that I had. However, it also illustrates how numerous administrative staff claimed my concerns had no merit despite the professionals’ own notes corroborating these concerns.

I have attempted to discuss these concerns on several occasions up until the legal representative for this district claimed that I had put staff members “in fear for their personal safety”. Every interaction has been documented and no reasonable person would come to this conclusion. The legal representative for the school district has previously been an administrative judge for the Office of Administration, which can say a lot by itself.

When it became clear that I was not going to stop advocating for our child to receive a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE), an administrator for the school district testified against me in my family court case. My family court case concluded with me losing the right to make decisions regarding our child’s education, but also required me to remain fully informed of our child’s education. The district has not returned any of my requests for information, addressed why they restricted my access to our child’s records or responded whatsoever.

I researched a lot of schools in the district and Sherwood Montessori stuck out as a much better alternative. Apparently, they left CUSD to join Mt. Diablo because “CUSD offers the state’s bare minimum in terms of education and has far less funding”. The part that strikes me as odd is how CUSD receives federal funds based upon their special education enrollment and it is determined by the number of IEPs. I cannot speak to anyone else’s IEP, but I know for a fact that my son’s conforms more to a Section 504 plan than it does an IEP (main difference is that 504 plans do not grant school districts with additional federal funds).

This “IEP” consists of excluding my son from class when his attention deficits distract other students and I have reason to believe that this exclusion is why he has been documented as making suicidal comments because he believes “everyone hates” him. I tried to discuss a solution, dispute resolution, mediation and collaboration with the outcome always appearing disingenuous. I am now caught between my own ethical beliefs that people should be afforded the opportunity to correct their mistakes and that I have an obligation to ensure that something similar does not happen to someone else.

I hope something in this review has been helpful to someone and I will update it in the future, if necessary.

NOTE: Three of the 5-star reviews for CUSD appear to be staff/teachers.

I’ve been in the Chico Unified School District for 8 years and I will tell you this is a horrible district. If you are want a school where your kid can get proper education, not get bullied, and have a happy life, don’t enroll your kids in any of the schools in this district. I haven’t stayed at only one school my whole education, I have moved around and been to multiple, and all of them were horrible, I was bullied, and the schools didn’t do a single thing. Every school has horrible teachers and action should be taken against this abusive, money grabbing school district who doesn’t care for anyone but themselves.

I can believe what there are doing to these kids now and days I know a nice warm place waiting for them