The Chula Vista Elementary School District is poised to award a senior administrative job to the leader of the district’s teachers union following an election in which the union backed the candidacies of some school board members who now will have final say over whether she gets the new job.
District leaders last week selected teachers union president Rosi Martinez to be the district’s new director of community schools.
The community schools director oversees a network of programs at 13 district schools that provide a range of academic and social support services to high-needs students and their families. The job pays a salary of up to $176,781.
Several current and former district employees said Martinez is a talented teacher and union leader but lacks the administrative and social service experience necessary for the community schools job. They said her hiring gives the appearance of political favoritism.
“Seeing these things take place as elections come close, it seems to be self-serving rather than based off of community interest,” said Joshua Kohler, the district’s former community schools director.
Campaign filings show the teachers union spent $101,173 in this year’s election cycle promoting a statewide education ballot initiative and three Chula Vista Elementary school board candidates who voiced support for the union’s political priorities.
The union also spent more than $10,000 of its own money and transferred another $50,000 to a prominent allied labor union as part of an effort to unseat a school board member who has clashed with the district’s superintendent and questioned the union-backed school board majority’s spending decisions.
Two of the candidates the union backed, incumbent Jessica Tolston and newcomer Leticia Segura, won their seats. The effort to unseat Delia Dominguez Cervantes, the union critic, was unsuccessful.
The school board could vote to approve Martinez’s new job as early as next week.
Martinez, a veteran educator who helped to establish the district’s community schools program and has led the teachers union since 2021, said she is more than qualified for the director role and politics played no part in her hiring.
“My [decades-long] background in education is important in moving community schools work forward and ensuring that the supports extend into the classroom to meet the needs of our students in our highest needs schools,” she said. “As president of a [union] of 1,400 members, I have parity with the district’s superintendent and oversee the work of organizing, bargaining [and campaigning]. To say I am not qualified for this position is baseless.”
Staff concerned about Martinez’s hiring said her previous work as a union leader could inject politics into what is supposed to be an apolitical staff job.
The recent school board campaign, which Martinez helped oversee, was particularly divisive. Union-backed attack ads against Cervantes grew so sharp, two of Cervantes’ daughters, who work for the district and belong to the teachers union, wrote an open letter on social media begging the union to stop spreading falsehoods about their mother.
Kohler, the former community schools director, said several district employees, including a senior district official, reached out to him after he left the job earlier this year to raise concerns that district leaders were moving to award a high-paying job serving vulnerable students to a political ally who has never worked as a district administrator.
Kohler left the district in June to move to Europe with his family.
“I got calls from different people, including a member of [the district’s] executive cabinet, who said the job is going to go to Rosi, but we’re just waiting for the election to be done,” Kohler said.
Kohler said Martinez’s past political activities, including in this year’s election, could hinder her ability to serve as an advocate for a grant-funded program that depends on buy-in from staff at all levels of the district.
“I know bridges have been burnt with trustees and administrators and principals,” he said. “That could be a barrier for future partnerships.”
Kohler worked extensively with Martinez during his five years overseeing the community schools program. He said he respects her as an educator and advocate for teachers.
But after witnessing what he described as a series of irregularities in the hiring process, he said he believes politics played a role in Martinez’s selection for the director job.
District hiring documents and meeting minutes show the district initially posted the community schools director job on May 20. A few weeks later, the district halted the hiring process, changed the job description, raised the salary and reposted the job on Aug. 25, with an application deadline just six days later, on Aug. 31.
Kohler said shortly after the district initially posted the job in May, Martinez told him she wanted to apply. But she said the salary was too low, and the timing didn’t work because of the upcoming election season.
“Rosi told me she was interested in the job, but this year’s elections were complicated, and the pay would mean a big pay cut for her,” Kohler said.
According to the website Transparent California, which tabulates public school salaries, Martinez earned a total compensation package of $169,562 in 2025. The May 20 job posting for the community schools director job listed a pay range of up to $147,635.
Meeting minutes and video from the district’s Aug. 12 school board meeting show that, prior to the meeting, district leaders revised the job description to include managing the district’s network of Family Resource Centers. The centers provide food and other necessities to high-needs students and their families.
During the meeting, district trustee Francisco Tamayo suggested raising the job’s salary to account for the new responsibilities.
“That way we are compensating the person, or we attract candidates that are going to be able to want to do this work, because it’s going to be a lot of work,” Tamayo said. After a brief discussion, board members voted unanimously to increase the pay.
In an earlier interview with Voice of San Diego, Martinez said she and Tamayo have enjoyed a productive yearslong professional relationship and a close personal friendship.
Two weeks later, the district posted the job again with the new Family Resource Center duties and a maximum salary of $176,781.
Kohler said the addition of the Family Resource Centers to the job description did not warrant a pay increase because, in fact, managing the centers already was part of his work before he left.
Kohler said Martinez has extensive classroom experience and played a key role in establishing the community schools program and ensuring it succeeded.
But he said Martinez “didn’t have experience managing a large program, handling budgets and…overseeing employees at multiple school sites.” Those skills, he said, are essential for the job.
“I want the best person to fill that position because of their impact on some of our most vulnerable families,” he said.
Voice of San Diego sent a list of questions to the Chula Vista Elementary School District about the community schools director hiring process, including how many candidates applied for the job, the range of professional qualifications candidates presented and why the district chose Martinez.
In response, district spokesperson Giovanna Castro said in a statement, “The district has established a clear hiring process for all positions and has honored that process every step of the way. Its commitment to transparency, accountability and doing what is right for students, families and the community has never wavered, and it never will.”
Castro added, “It is easy to offer criticism from the sidelines. It is far more difficult to remain engaged, confront challenges and contribute to meaningful solutions. The district is focused on those willing to do the latter.”
Martinez vehemently denied Kohler’s allegations of favoritism in her hiring process and called his statements racially motivated.
“I have no intention of entertaining the bitterness of a disgruntled former employee whose limited professional experience hardly qualifies him to lecture anyone about leadership,” she said.
“Nor will I dignify yet another attempt by a white male to diminish, discredit or undermine a woman of color in a leadership position,” she said. “For far too long, women of color have endured having their qualifications questioned, their authority challenged and their accomplishments minimized. I recognize this behavior for what I believe it is: A microaggression that I refuse to tolerate.”
Martinez said, in fact, she has extensive experience at all levels of California’s education system that more than qualifies her for the community schools job.
She said she helped Chula Vista Elementary develop new initiatives for bilingual students, helped the district develop new procedures for supporting students’ behavioral growth, played an integral role in establishing the district’s community schools program and served on several statewide committees as part of her work with the California Teachers Association, a statewide union representing teachers.
She said she already has years of experience working with staff and forming professional relationships at all levels of the Chula Vista district.
“I welcome legitimate criticism and accountability,” she said. “But I will not engage in personal attacks disguised as constructive dialogue. My record, my leadership and my commitment to this community speak for themselves.”