Principal at Troubled School Had Little Experience, Key Connections

This story has been updated.

Greg Rogers Elementary School in Chula Vista has been known for years as what one parent called “the special education school.” 

Roughly half the school’s 355 students qualify for supplemental educational assistance or placement in designated special education classrooms. 

Parents sought out the school both for its special education opportunities and because the small school has a reputation for providing a safe and nurturing environment for students of all educational abilities. 

Then, in October 2023, a new principal, Lizcett Porras, arrived on campus. 

Porras was an unusual hire. She had never led a school before, either as principal or vice principal. She hadn’t even taught full-time. 

This week, the assistant superintendent who oversaw her hiring resigned. Late Wednesday, district trustees approved a resignation agreement with Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Jason Romero following an inquiry into what an attorney for Romero said in an email was “after‑hours use of a football field by the NFL Flag Football League of San Diego, a nonprofit youth program in which Mr. Romero volunteers as a coach.”

Earlier this year, the district placed Romero on administrative leave at the outset of that inquiry. That same week, district officials made public an audit into the human resources department that found numerous problems with the department’s hiring and record-keeping practices. The district and Romero stated that Romero’s leave was unrelated to the audit.

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Porras was a school psychologist in the Sweetwater Union High School District. Her only classroom experience consisted of a few brief stints as a substitute teacher in the San Ysidro School District more than a decade earlier. 

Under her leadership, parents said, conditions at Rogers quickly deteriorated. 

Incidents of violence and severe bullying spiked, parents said. A teacher quit, citing a lack of administrative support. Students threatened to bring weapons to school, forcing classroom evacuations. In 2024, according to state statistics, the school had the district’s second-highest rate of chronic absenteeism and its highest suspension rate, often a measure of a school’s safety climate. 

The violence affected students of every age. One parent, whose daughter was in kindergarten at the time, said she eventually resorted to calling the Chula Vista Police Department for help with repeated incidents of bullying that school administrators seemed unable to stop. 

“[Caller says] her kindergarten daughter keeps [being battered] at school,” a read-out of one of parent Christy Cañedo’s calls to the Chula Vista Police Department says. “Principal is not helping her, and [caller] insists on speaking to a [police officer]” 

“Victim was…punched in the head and kicked by other student this week,” a read-out of a second call says. “[Caller says] her daughter has been bullied since August by several different students and school has not helped victim.” 

Then came what felt like the final straw. A special education teacher at Rogers abruptly stopped showing up for work that fall amid rumors he was under investigation for inappropriately touching students. 

Parents said they asked Porras for an explanation of the teacher’s departure. But Porras, they said, sent only a terse email saying the teacher had left the school and would be replaced by a substitute. 

It was only after Voice of San Diego published a story about the teacher that parents learned district leaders had forced him to resign following months of complaints about his behavior and an investigator’s determination that the teacher had “inappropriate[ly] touch[ed]” students and engaged in what the investigator called “an indicator of grooming-type behavior.” 

Porras herself lasted just 14 months at Rogers. She departed the school in December 2024 and resigned from the district altogether four months later, returning to her previous job as a school psychologist. She did not respond to a request for comment. 

Parents said conditions at Rogers already have improved under Principal Andrew Falconer. 

But parents said they remain outraged that someone with Porras’ lack of prior administrative experience was hired to lead a school with a large population of vulnerable high-needs students. 

Voice of San Diego asked the Chula Vista Elementary School District for documents related to Porras’ hiring as Rogers’ principal. The documents show that Porras indeed was underqualified for the job. Not only had she never previously led an elementary school, she did not meet the minimum qualifications the district itself required for the job. 

A copy of the job posting for Porras’ position obtained by Voice lists among “Essential Job Requirements” possession of both an elementary school teaching credential and an administrative credential. The posting also asks candidates to show “evidence of successful experience as an elementary school teacher.” 

A copy of Porras’ resume provided by the district lists no teaching experience at all. Nor does the resume show Porras ever held a teaching credential or served in any other position but school psychologist. 

At the time she applied for the Rogers job, Porras held a pupil services credential typical of school psychologists. She also had recently obtained what is called a “certificate of eligibility” showing she had completed coursework to obtain an administrative credential. 

She obtained the full administrative credential in November 2023, shortly after she began working at Rogers. 

Porras had a close connection with the wife of Jason Romero, Chula Vista Elementary School District’s assistant superintendent for human resources. 

At the Sweetwater Union High School District, Porras worked alongside Romero’s wife, Nitza Romero, who was also a district psychologist. Outside of work, the two women co-founded and led a local mentorship organization for school-age girls called Viva la Girl. 

An online description of Viva la Girl lists Porras and Nitza Romero as “program coordinators.” The group’s mission, the description says, “is to improve academic achievement, attendance and social-emotional well-being by fostering female role models.” 

A photograph of the organization on the website of the California School Boards Association shows Porras and Nitza Romero leading a group of girls on a field trip to downtown San Diego. 

In 2017, the two women co-hosted a Viva la Girl presentation on “social media and self-esteem” at a conference organized by the Latina empowerment organization Adelante Mujer. 

On Nov. 18, Voice of San Diego sent the Chula Vista Elementary School District a list of questions about Porras’ hiring, tenure at Rogers and subsequent departure from the district. 

In response, the district sent a lengthy statement: 

“Principal Porras participated in a comprehensive, multi-step interview process that included, among other things, an online application, a staff panel interview, an interview with Executive Cabinet and a final interview conducted by the Board of Education… 

“Similar to the process noted above, the district follows a rigorous hiring process for all management positions, which includes, among other things, screening applicants, interviews with the Executive Cabinet and final consideration by the Board of Education before an appointment is approved. 

“The Chula Vista Elementary School District has already provided Voice of San Diego with extensive documentation and records in response to a California Public Records Act request regarding Principal Porras. At this time, no additional information will be provided.” 

Jason Romero and Nitza Romero also did not respond to requests for comment prior to publication of this story. After the story was published, an attorney representing Jason Romero stated in an email that Romero did not manipulate or improperly interfere in Porras’ selection. 

At an October 2023 school board meeting, Romero praised Porras as “an accomplished educator and leader” in public remarks about her hiring. 

“She has a strong background in social-emotional development for students,” Romero said at the meeting. “She has a strong background in providing diversity, equity and inclusion projects. And we’re super happy to have her as our new principal at Greg Rogers Elementary.” 

During the months preceding Porras’ departure from Rogers Elementary, parents openly questioned the decision to hire Porras notwithstanding her minimal classroom experience. Parents voiced their questions in an online Facebook forum dedicated to Chula Vista Elementary School District news.

Commenting on Porras’ tenure at Rogers in an Oct. 10, 2024, post on the Facebook forum, a district parent named Laura Lee said that parents had heard “the requirement for prior teaching experience to become a principal has been changed and that is no longer required.”

“Does anyone know the date that changed? (I wanted to see who initiated the request and voted for it),” Lee wrote.

At a school board meeting, at least one Rogers parent also raised concerns about not requiring a school principal to have teaching experience.

A month after Porras’ departure from Rogers, District Trustee Delia Dominguez Cervantes at a Jan. 22, 2025, school board meeting formally requested a review of the district’s human resources department. “There are some concerns with some practices and I think that [the education auditing firm Financial Crisis & Management Assistance Team (FCMAT)] can provide human resources with some management assistance,” she said. “There’s just too much chatter out in the social media and our HR must be without reproach. And when one or more board members have multiple unanswered inquiries and the community is also raising concerns or doubts about the process, I think it’s past time that we request [a review].”

In April, board members voted unanimously to request an audit by FCMAT of the district’s human resources and business services departments. Cervantes requested that the assessment include “review of certain things that I called out before, such as education and experience, skills, requirements are adhered to, such as credentials, experience posted must be met prior to getting the job.”

The district made the results of the FCMAT audit public at its Oct. 15 school board meeting. The audit found multiple problems in the district’s human resources department, including inconsistencies and sloppy record-keeping in the department’s hiring and onboarding processes.

The process for advertising jobs and tracking hiring processes, in particular, “lacks system controls and often results in [personnel forms] being misplaced, completed incorrectly or left blank,” auditors found.

The same week the district made the audit public, district officials placed Romero on administrative leave.

After this story was published, Jason Goldwater, Romero’s lawyer, said in an email to Voice of San Diego that Romero was placed on leave not because of the audit but because of a separate district review of “after‑hours use of a football field by the NFL Flag Football League of San Diego, a nonprofit youth program in which Mr. Romero volunteers as a coach.”

That review, said the lawyer, “had nothing to do with hiring, HR practices, financial matters or Ms. Porras.”

Two months after the district placed Romero on leave, district trustees at their Dec. 17 school board meeting unanimously approved a resignation agreement with Romero that awarded him an undisclosed severance payment. The board did not specify the reason for Romero’s resignation.

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Parents said Porras’ lack of school leadership experience became apparent almost from the moment she arrived on campus. 

Tania Salas, who in 2024 was the parent of a fourth grader at Rogers and a member of the school PTA, said she and other parents were taken aback when one of Porras’ first actions on campus was to paint her office pink. 

“I look at a principal as having a professional way of talking and conducting yourself,” Salas said. The new office color, Salas said, “Adds to the persona of having a lack of experience and knowledge – someone who doesn’t fit this position.” 

Salas and other parents, along with Rogers staff employees, said Porras often seemed unfamiliar with basic aspects of school leadership. 

At a December 2024 school board meeting, Claudia Perezchica, a behavioral specialist at Rogers, told board members that Porras often failed to schedule enough playground supervisors at recess, leaving classroom aides to supervise up to 70 students without walkie-talkies or ready access to a first aid kit. 

On another occasion, Perezchica said, Porras failed to bring in a substitute for an absent teacher, leaving classroom aides to manage a special education class for an entire school day. 

“Members of our [school staff] team have begged for help from the principal and they have been ignored,” Perezchica told board members. “Rogers deserves better.” 

Even routine tasks like organizing the school’s annual book fair went awry, Salas said. 

“Books were supposed to be delivered on a certain day, and I would email, and she wouldn’t reply,” Salas said. “And then books arrive on that day, and the room is not ready.” 

Teachers even resorted to asking parents for help, Salas said. 

“They would have a problem, and they would come to me and vent, and I would say, ‘Did you talk to the principal?’” Salas recalled. “And they’d roll their eyes. They were not getting the help they needed.” 

Parents said the consequences of Porras’ inexperience were felt most acutely in the school’s disciplinary climate. 

Though the rise in suspensions at Rogers was alarming on its face, parents said, the numbers did not communicate the full extent of the problem. 

Parents said many of the suspensions recorded at Rogers were so-called “in-school suspensions,” in which students who have engaged in problematic behaviors spend part of a school day separated from classmates but still on campus, usually receiving counseling from a school administrator. 

Porras was an advocate for disciplinary measures that focus on students’ underlying challenges and prioritize non-punitive solutions to conflicts. 

Such measures, parents said, simply did not work in many cases. 

“Consequences are almost nonexistent,” said Cañedo. “They were trying to remedy [problems] by doing in-school suspensions or figuring out what is causing them to act out. But that is not doing anything.” 

Cañedo said even after her daughter was “body-slammed, hit, punched, kicked, you name it…the principal wasn’t doing anything.” 

At an October 2024 board meeting, Cañedo described an alarming series of violent incidents and pleaded with district trustees for help. 

“My daughter says little prayers to herself in the morning when she gets ready for school, praying that no one hurts her,” Cañedo said at the meeting. “I’m afraid that being assaulted has become normalized in my daughter’s mind…I plead for immediate intervention.” 

Randi Herrera, whose six-year-old son was in a special education class at Rogers in 2024, also spoke at the October 2024 board meeting. In a separate interview with Voice of San Diego, Herrera said her son and other Rogers students that year were repeatedly bitten, hit and “pushed down and choked and [forced to] put [their] face in pee” in the bathroom. 

Herrera said she, too, repeatedly asked Porras for help. But Porras, she said, “just smiles and pats you on the back and doesn’t actually do anything…She says she’s going to do things and never does.” 

Shortly after the start of the fall 2024 semester, a transitional kindergarten teacher named Yadira Villalobos Galindo abruptly resigned, saying in a note to parents, “I did not receive the support I needed in the classroom from day one to ensure the students’ safety and my own safety.” 

Voice of San Diego asked the district to provide a list of documented disciplinary incidents at Rogers during the months Porras was principal. 

In response, the district provided a vaguely worded list of just four incidents. The incidents included “verbal aggression and racial slurs,” “weapon threat,” “student behaviors in classroom” and one described simply as “hit student.” 

The list also described disciplinary measures taken in response to the incidents. The measures included “discipline,” “behavior supports,” “restorative practices,” “supports to students,” “psychological triage,” “communication with parents” and calling the Chula Vista Police Department. 

In an interview with Voice of San Diego while Porras was still at Rogers, Cañedo said she did not necessarily blame the students who had tormented her daughter. 

Responsibility for ensuring students’ safety ultimately rests with the principal, Cañedo said. 

“It’s [a teacher’s] job to teach and hold the classroom,” Cañedo said. “When [students] have behavioral issues, they have to be sent to the principal or vice principal. And if they’re sent back to class, [the teacher] can’t do much. That’s supposed to be the administrator’s job, not the teacher’s.” 

“Yes, I’m upset that these behaviors are happening,” Cañedo said. “But I’m upset with [Porras] for not controlling it…It’s the culture of the school. She’s setting the tone.” 

Update: The original version of this story, which was published on Wednesday, Dec. 17, stated that former Chula Vista Elementary School District Assistant Superintendent Jason Romero was fired. Following publication, on Thursday, Dec. 18, District spokesperson Giovanna Castro stated in an email to Voice of San Diego that in fact Romero had resigned and had not been fired. The story was updated accordingly that day.

On Friday, Dec. 19, Jason Goldwater, an attorney representing Romero sent an email to Voice of San Diego concerning the story. Also on Dec. 19, Castro sent a joint statement from the district and Romero, which can be found here. On Monday, Dec. 22, portions of the story addressing the audit of the district’s human resources department, the investigation regarding Romero, the circumstances of Porras’ hiring, and Romero’s leave of absence were updated in light of that email and statement.

A correction has been added here.