In Rancho Cordova, a high-stakes personnel fight inside the Folsom Cordova Unified School District has spilled into court, with a former top administrator claiming he was pushed out for doing his job.
Donald Ogden, the district’s former associate superintendent of human resources, has filed a lawsuit accusing Folsom Cordova Unified of retaliating against him after he recommended firing a longtime campus monitor who was the subject of student harassment complaints. Ogden says he was placed on administrative leave and later told he would be terminated without cause after he pressed for discipline. He characterizes that move as punishment for following through on an employee-discipline recommendation. The dispute traces back to student reports about the monitor’s conduct that first surfaced in 2023.
The complaint, which names the Folsom Cordova Unified School District as defendant, alleges district leaders cut corners on proper procedure when they moved to discipline Ogden, according to The Sacramento Bee. His lawsuit follows months of internal review and a formal administrative hearing that weighed dozens of student statements about the campus monitor’s alleged behavior. Court filings and public records indicate the matter is now being fought as an employment dispute rather than a criminal case.
What the state hearing found
In February 2025, an administrative law judge held a hearing on the monitor, Conrade Mayer, and concluded that he violated district rules after multiple students testified about sexually suggestive comments and conduct. In a proposed decision packed with student accounts, the judge recounted an episode in which a student said Mayer told her he recognized her because of her “cute little ass” and ultimately recommended that the district dismiss him. A redacted version of that proposed decision is available in the Office of Administrative Hearings record: Office of Administrative Hearings (PDF).
Board action and local ties
The question of Mayer’s future with the district had already exploded into a contentious school-board drama last summer. Trustees revisited the case and ultimately voted not to reinstate him, a decision that drew plenty of attention inside district circles. Folsom Times reported on the board’s debate and the district’s move to formally adopt the administrative ruling to dismiss Mayer…