The Chula Vista Elementary School District last month agreed to pay more than $360,000 as part of a resignation agreement with the district’s former Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Jason Romero, who resigned from the district last month for unexplained reasons.
Following Romero’s Dec. 17 resignation, both the district and Romero characterized his departure as voluntary, saying in a joint statement that the district had made no findings of wrongdoing against Romero and that Romero was neither fired nor resigned in lieu of termination.
A signed copy of Romero’s resignation agreement obtained by Voice of San Diego says the agreement is intended to resolve what it calls “all issues and any possible disputes between [Romero and the district] arising from or related to Romero’s employment with and separation from the District.”
The agreement does not specify what it means by “all issues and any possible disputes.”
Jason Goldwater, Romero’s attorney, said in an email to Voice that the agreement “does not confirm the existence of a dispute, and I am unable to confirm any such dispute.”
The agreement earmarks $147,500 of the district’s total payout to Romero to reimburse unspecified “attorneys’ fees and costs” incurred by a law firm representing Romero.
“It is common for separation agreements to include provisions addressing attorney fees,” Goldwater said.
In addition to the legal fees, the agreement states that the district will pay Romero $217,324, which the agreement says is the equivalent of 16 months of Romero’s base salary after subtracting the payment to his attorney.
District Trustee Francisco Tamayo confirmed that the district will pay a total of more than $360,000 in connection with Romero’s resignation – $217,324 to Romero, plus $147,500 to his attorney.
At Wednesday’s meeting of the district’s Board of Trustees, Voice asked Superintendent Eduardo Reyes a series of questions about the monetary amounts specified in the agreement with Romero.
Reyes declined to comment about the agreement entirely and said he could not confirm what payments would be made to Romero or how much the district would pay in total.
Other board members also declined to comment or did not respond to questions.
In addition to the monetary payment to Romero, the agreement states that Romero will remain on paid administrative leave until Feb. 27, 2026.
The agreement also entitles Romero to keep his district health benefits coverage until June 30, 2027, unless he gets another job with health benefits before that date.
The agreement requires both Romero and the district to keep the terms of Romero’s resignation confidential and limits what the district can disclose to future employers about Romero’s tenure at the district.
Goldwater characterized both of those provisions as “standard in separation agreements.”
“The district agreed to provide Mr. Romero with an agreed‑upon positive letter of recommendation,” said Goldwater.
The agreement further prohibits both Romero and the district from making disparaging or damaging comments about one another and prohibits the district from saying Romero was terminated.
Goldwater said his “ability to comment is limited” because “the agreement was intended to be confidential.”
The district provided a copy of the resignation agreement to Voice in response to a public records request.
Romero oversaw hiring and personnel matters for the Chula Vista district. His resignation followed a sequence of events last year that focused attention on him and the department he ran.
Last April, a former chief operating officer for the district accused Romero of pressuring him to host a fundraiser for two school board candidates. Romero denied the allegation and the district hired a law firm to investigate the matter.
At the district’s September school board meeting, a district trustee reported that evidence gathered by the law firm did not support the chief operating officer’s claims. “No evidence of malfeasance, wrongdoing or ethical violations was found,” the trustee said.
The following month, the district placed Romero on administrative leave for initially unexplained reasons. In a subsequent statement, a district spokesperson said the district placed Romero on leave “to preserve the integrity” of a new, separate internal investigation.
That investigation was an inquiry into what Goldwater said in an email was the after-hours use of a school playing field by an extracurricular sports league in which Romero volunteers as a coach.
Goldwater said it was his understanding that the investigation “was minor and discrete, and I am not aware that any findings were made. As the district has already confirmed – including in the agreement you now possess – the district did not find that Mr. Romero committed any misconduct.”
The same week the district confirmed to Voice that it had placed Romero on leave, trustees at their October, 2025 school board meeting made public results of an external audit of the human resources department that found multiple problems in the department’s operations.
A district spokesperson said Romero’s leave was not related to the audit.
The audit, conducted by a state-created agency that helps school districts with financial, operational and data management challenges, found what auditors called numerous “inefficiencies and inconsistencies” in the human resources department, including outdated paper-based hiring processes, “data duplication and procedural delays” and an “absence of standard operating procedures.”
At the Dec. 17 school board meeting during which trustees approved the $360,000 resignation agreement with Romero, Assistant Superintendent for Business Services Mark Pong told trustees the district currently faces a $33.6 million deficit.
Pong said the district would need to make spending cuts to avoid depleting its economic uncertainty reserves.
“We still need to continue with our budget solutions plan,” Pong said.
Thank you to VOSD for its coverage. This issue gives the appearance of legalized hush money. How much did Romero know about Board and superintendent improprieties? For example, would he have otherwise blown the whistle on a Board member’s role in hiring his wife into the payroll department, and allegedly using Romero for the deed? The average working CVESD taxpayer was not in the room when this deal was approved. Might they have raised questions about an inappropriate gift of public funds and apparent pension spiking? Romero should have been released with cause. Instead, taxpayers are left holding the bag. Shame on Tamayo, Ugarte, and especially Reyes.
In less than five years, CVESD went from a $30M surplus to a $33M deficit. How could that happen? Why was it allowed to happen? Was all that money spent on programs to help students learn? Sad to say that since 2022, the CVESD leadership seems to have lost its focus on doing what is right for students.
Reyes just brought in Sweetwater to Chula Vista School District. His corruption and hiring of friends and relatives. Obviosly a buy out. District doesn’t pay unless they are trying to hide. Reyes more corrupt that them all. You all should ask Reyes about all the Sweetwater friends he brought in. Tamayo, Ugarte Sweetwater. Now Reyes next big plan to bring in new Sweetwater member to the the board. Wake up… they don’t pay unless they are guilty.
I can tell you how that happened, just look at the leadership they are from SUHSD. They saw extra money and said let’s spend it on ourselves and our salaries the heck with the students. This district went from students first to administrators and school board members payroll first. All endorsed by the teachers union how ironic.
If Romero was leaving voluntarily and as the District stated at an earlier time and the resignation was not in leiu of firing, why such a large settlement? The lies never end with this board and administration. Romero has first hand information that this superintendent was hired under faulty pretenses and procedures and the other crimes and inappropriate experiences just grew from there. VSD please continue bringing awareness to this situation and people of Chula Vista please note that this superintendent needs to be fired and the board must be replaced. To the polls in November!
VOSD thank you for not giving up. There is so much here to unpack and take a deep breath over- but it is also a very clear and transparent story in which anyone with an ounce of common sense can see the truth. Romero got caught and then he needed out… Reyes and some board members freaked bc they knew then they would be exposed if Romero said anything. No one gets put on admin leave to “preserve integrity.” And a district doesn’t settle on that much unless….
That is the salary of about 4 new teaching positions. That is a potentially cut program at a school site or a much needed resource. So many things that money could have gone to but unfortunately it became hush money. Jason Romero deserves NO positive recommendation letter. In fact, he should never be in the “business” of anything education-related ever again.
Tamayo and Ugarte are most definitely done. CVESD is starting to have some major corrupt parallels with the political administration in DC. Very disappointing.
Settlements with public officials should not be allowed to be private. The lack of transparency in this case is disgusting and wrong. The whole thing stinks like a bribe.
How many jobs could’ve been saved with that money?
Time for a New Superintendent
Make no mistake. This payout bought the silence of Jason Romero. As a board member just shared at Wednesday’s meeting, Eduardo Reyes says one thing to staff and says something else when pressed by the media. Both sets of statements cannot be true and, as a result, his statements cannot be trusted. It is high time to say goodbye to the man whose character has now cost CVESD another $360,000 dollars in “settlement money” while teachers’ and behavior aides’ jobs are being cut. Jim Hinch, now that Romero is gone, I encourage you to find and interview the members of Reyes’s original hiring panel to find out whether Romero was part of a scheme to disregard the actual superintendent finalists and send Reyes’s name to the board with the finalists, disregarding the superintendent search hiring process. Those panelists are still among us and would speak out if not gagged by the district’s non-disclosure agreement. Help our community understand what has really happened here and what caused so many Sweetwater UHSD employees to want to become Board of Education members on the Chula Vista Elementary Board and then select a Sweetwater employee with no elementary experience as the new superintendent? And what fair hiring practices were sacrificed in the name of this planned, intentional takeover of the once-great CVESD? Please help us finally know the truth.
Thank you to Time for a New Superintendent for raising concerns that many of us have shared. It has long been evident that external influence affected the original hiring panel, as we KNOW Reyes was not among the top candidates. Unfortunately, any documentation that might have clarified those irregularities probably does not exist or has been destroyed. Romero may not have supported selecting Reyes, but he surely knows what happened in that committee.
Parents and employees alike recognized that he was not the strongest choice and were aware of the questionable conduct surrounding the selection process. Many of us expressed concerns about the likely outcomes if Reyes were appointed Superintendent.
Regrettably, we now find ourselves facing exactly the situation that was predicted
The confidential legal settlement by CVESD and Romero is yet another example of a troubled public agency in need of leadership change. Our local elementary school district has gone from a shining star to a very troubled place in a few short years. As goes CVESD so goes the future of our southbay.
What was the name of the law firm that conducted the investigation into the former COO’s claims? Was the investigation fully independent? Who specifically authorized the firm’s selection and payment? If any of the individuals named in the complaint had a role in approving the firm or its compensation, how was apparent conflict of interest addressed? This really seems like it was worked out in Geppetto’s workshop for a predetermined outcome under the direction of Pinochio Reyes. Please keep digging, VOSD!
Enough is enough.
Reyes, your leadership has caused deep and lasting damage to this district. The progress, stability, and vision built under Dr. Escobedo and his cabinet have been undermined, and our schools are paying the price. What we have seen is not educational leadership — it’s political maneuvering, backroom alignment, and decisions that have eroded trust across the district.
The warning signs were there. Many in the community raised serious concerns before you were hired. That history was ignored, and now students, staff, and families are living with the consequences.
There is a growing pattern of insiders protecting insiders while transparency, accountability, and student-centered decision-making take a back seat. That is unacceptable in a public school system. Parents, educators, and community members deserve leadership that puts children first — not politics, not power, not personal alliances.
The stories coming from principals and school leaders cannot be dismissed. The morale damage is real. The organizational damage is real. The loss of trust is real.
This district needs healing, stability, and leadership focused on students — not survival of the politically connected.
Reyes, it’s time to step aside. For the good of the district. For the good of the schools. For the good of the community.