Clifford Elementary parents packed into the Redwood City School District Board of Trustees meeting last Wednesday, demanding answers after an investigative report revealed that a seventh and eighth-grade math teacher at the school had previously been fired from another district following complaints of inappropriate touching. Families said they were shocked to learn the teacher later landed at Clifford, secured tenure, and remained in the classroom. Several parents said they pulled their children from campus while the district reviews the teacher’s status.
As reported by the San Mateo Daily Journal, parents demanded full transparency about how the district screens educators. The paper noted that parent Josh Levinson filed a Title IX complaint and removed his children from school until the teacher was off campus.
What investigators found
A KQED and ProPublica investigation laid out how students at the teacher’s prior school reported unwanted touching in 2018 and how an independent state panel later concluded he was “unfit to teach.” According to KQED, the Commission on Teacher Credentialing suspended his license for seven days in May 2021. The Redwood City School District’s staff directory lists him as the seventh- and eighth-grade math teacher at Clifford Elementary, and the school’s online staff page shows the same listing, according to the Clifford School.
Parents at the board meeting
Parents told trustees they wanted to know why disciplinary findings from earlier investigations did not flag the teacher during the hiring process. The San Mateo Daily Journal reported that several speakers described feeling betrayed and said trust in the district had been badly damaged. One parent said the board would need to lay out clear, concrete next steps if it hoped to restore confidence.
District response and next steps
The district told NBC Bay Area that it follows all legally required hiring steps, including fingerprinting, Department of Justice background checks, reference checks and credential verification, and that a substitute would cover the classroom while officials review the situation. Board President David Weekly told the audience that the teacher “is not currently teaching at the school site,” although the district did not say what duties he is performing now. District leaders said they are reviewing parents’ questions and coordinating next steps internally.
How the credentialing system left gaps
Reporting by KQED and ProPublica highlights broader problems in how California handles teacher discipline. The public credentialing database flags disciplinary actions with a red icon, but it does not explain why the action was taken. ProPublica found at least 67 educators whose districts determined they had committed sexual harassment or misconduct still kept their credentials between 2019 and 2025, a statistic advocates say underscores a serious transparency gap. State officials told the reporters that the commission typically revokes credentials only after criminal convictions, a practice that can leave district officials and families without crucial context when hiring decisions are made.
What families want now…