SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Two former San Diego Unified School District employees have filed legal claims with the district alleging misconduct against fired superintendent Lamont Jackson and the woman who replaced him, interim superintendent Fabiola Bagula.
In a legal claim filed in July, Tavga Bustani, who says she worked for the district for 27 years, claims she was demoted after rejecting sexual advances from Jackson. The former administrator claims Jackson repeatedly talked about his sexual interest in her while speaking about career opportunities. The legal claim says Jackson implied, "there would be an exchange of advancement for the intimate relations."
According to the legal claim, Jackson made proposals that the two should get together sexually despite his marriage and her relationship. The legal claim says it escalated when Jackson showed up at Bustani's house unannounced and asked for a tour of her home. Bustaini says she let Jackson in because he was her boss. According to the claim, when they got to the bedroom, Jackson began to ask her personal questions about her relationship with her boyfriend. She says the conversation again related to sex. In her claim, Bustani says she repeatedly rejected Jackson's advances and, not long after, was demoted.
Around that same time, she says Bagula's support for her began to fade.
On Friday, ABC 10News anchor Wale Aliyu asked now interim superintendent Bagula if she ever saw Jackson behave inappropriately.
"No, but I'm mostly working, like I have a really long to-do list," she said.
ABC 10News discovered another claim was filed against Jackson and Bagula a week and a half earlier. On July 12, Monika Hazel, a district administrator who worked for San Diego Unified from 2017-2023 sent the district a claim.
In her claim, Hazel says Jackson called her "his work wife" and tried to get her to come with him to a hotel room, his house while his wife was not home, and even to Las Vegas. Hazel claims once she rejected Jackson a final time, she was later demoted.
She also accused Bagula of harassment. In the legal claim, she alleges Bagula "forced her to speak to her in a baby girl voice while cowering and bowing towards her." Hazel, who says she is white, also accused Baugla of making racist comments about white people, referring to one white person as being "white womaned."
A spokesperson for San Diego Unified School District says when the district learned of the allegations, it hired a third-party investigator who found the former employees' claims about Jackson's conduct to be credible.
In addition to the claims, an anonymous letter, said to be from school principals, was sent to the district, describing concerns with Jackson's behavior. It voiced that principals no longer had confidence in his ability to continue leading the district.
San Diego Unified School District issued a statement Tuesday evening, which says, "This week, board trustees were made aware of an anonymous letter that described concerns about Dr. Jackson. Initially, the letter had been sent to the Executive Director of the administrators’ union in 2023 who sent it to District staff. Upon review by the District at the time, it was determined that the allegations were expressly based on rumors and speculation from third party anonymous sources and so, were not investigated further at the time. However, these same allegations arose during the course of the District’s most recent investigation, this time with specific facts, and were forwarded to the independent, third-party legal firm retained by the District for investigation. An assumption was made that the letter had been shared with the Board. Only in 2024 after the independent, third-party investigation, which yielded the unsubstantiated result, was it discovered that the letter had not, in fact, been shared with the board in 2023.
The allegations described in the letter were revisited in the course of the investigation into Dr. Jackson that was completed in August 2024. The same investigation found the allegation of inappropriate conduct toward two former employees by Dr. Jackson to be credible. Based on that finding, the Board and the Superintendent mutually agreed that separation was in the best interest of the District.
A claim involving Interim Superintendent Bagula was also thoroughly investigated and resolved by the third-party investigator, and has been addressed by the District.
School Board President Shana Hazan said, “San Diego Unified is dedicated to upholding the highest standards of transparency, safety, and accountability. The Board has full confidence in Dr. Bagula and in her capacity to lead San Diego Unified with integrity.” She also explained, “We are committed to upholding the values of our community, sharing information with the public in a timely manner, and continuously improving our processes to ensure the well-being of our students and staff.”
Bustani is seeking $2 million, while Hazel is seeking $700,000. Their attorney told ABC 10News in a statement Tuesday evening they stand by their claims.
ABC 10News attempted to reach Jackson but did not hear back.
