youth | rialtonow

Another Shoe Drops For San Bernardino Mayor John Valdivia

10 Sep 2020 Leave a comment

Many of the allegations that Mayor John Valdivia made to staff in his office were substantiated in a recent investigation. Articles written by the San Bernardino Sun downplayed the bombshell report but many out in the public are wondering why he has not stepped down as San Bernardino Mayor!

San Bernardino Mayor John Valdivia made unsolicited and graphic sexual comments to a former city employee last year and repeatedly berated subordinates in private and public settings, an independent investigator has found.

The city’s top elected official also told a former employee in January that he is “always receiving gifts and not reporting them,” according to Los Angeles attorney Carla Barboza, with whom the city contracted in February to investigate sexual harassment and hostile workplace claims against Valdivia.

Released Tuesday, Sept. 8, executive summaries of the months-long probe substantiate certain allegations brought forward by former city employees Mirna Cisneros, Karen Cervantes and Jackie Aboud.

Seventeen witnesses were interviewed, however, and documents were reviewed as Barboza set out to determine whether it was more likely than not that the allegations were true.

As such, she found Valdivia repeatedly subjected Cisneros, in particular, to lewd and suggestive sexual comments in person and through text messages.

The investigation, which cost San Bernardino $68,000, confirmed Cisneros’ claim that in December, Valdivia bragged about being offered a private jet and how he would “work something out where he does not have to claim it on his forms,” referring to documents elected officials must file when they receive gifts.

A witness confirmed Valdivia went on to tell Cisneros: “There is always a way to get around everything.”

Through interviews, Barboza corroborated Cisneros’ claim that in January Valdivia told her and other staffers not to eat at a dinner recognizing San Bernardino commissioners. The investigation also confirmed that the mayor told Cisneros and others present that the dinner was all about “the John Valdivia show.”

A witness backed Cisneros’ claim that earlier this year Valdivia asked her to be vague when processing a reimbursement to the San Bernardino International Airport for a meeting. He also requested Cisneros not “name names” of whom he met with.

Valdivia told Cisneros a day later that he “always” receives gifts and fails to report them, according to Barboza.

For a copy of the report click here

Read the full story here

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Some Rialto Students Resume Online Learning Today

03 Sep 2020 Leave a comment

by rialto-now in Assembly Woman Eloise Reyes, Ca, Deborah Robertson, Dr. Cuauhtémoc Avila, Edgar Montes, Inland Empire, Joe Baca Jr, Rafael Trujillo, Rialto, youth

Rialto Unified School District has been dealing with tech issues and a malware attack to their online learning platform since August 21st. This has been a frustrating time for Teachers, Students and Parents as the District looks to get online learning back on track.

“I think the most important thing that we can recognize is that the Rialto Unified School District needs to thank our parental community, our students, our staff members, including teachers who have been very patient and understanding as we have all been frustrated with this malware that is an outside source,” said district spokesperson Syeda Jafri.

Just two weeks into the school year, the district announced the malware attack on Monday and shut down instruction for Rialto’s approximately 25,000 students. Devices given to high school age children, teachers and staff will be collected this week and replaced in the near future. Elementary and middle school devices were not affected and can be kept.

Jafri says the district’s IT staff has been working tirelessly behind the scenes.

District staff still have not been able to pinpoint when High School education will be able to resume once again. All of this just shows you how important it is go get kids back in school said one parent. While schools and many businesses remain closed California Democrat Nancy Pelosi has recently been caught setting up a private spa day for herself. When the leaders of our government can’t follow the rules they are putting on us it is sad said one RUSD teacher.

Depending on how long it takes District staff to either open up high schools or get devices back to students this will greatly impact our kids future.

Malware Rocks Rialto Unified School Districts Online Learning

24 Aug 2020 Leave a comment

It all began on Friday August 21st when Rialto Unified sent out a message via social media that online technology was experiencing issues.

“The District is experiencing a system outage due to an outside source, beyond our internal control. Our Education Technology Department is currently investigating the issues and working on a resolution.

Meanwhile, Google Classroom is still available, except for those teachers who are working from RUSD school site classrooms. Thank you for your patience and understanding. We will update you as soon as possible. Again, thank you.”

Later this past weekend the situation worsened to Malware that had completely effected the entire online learning platform including the remind software that Rialto Unified uses to communicate with parents. Many parents in the comments on Facebook already struggling with the new online learning atmosphere that Covid-19 has brought to us expressed anger or concern over what they said was a lack of communication. Parents felt they were left in the dark when it came to how they would receive updates on the situation and if they should delete the remind app from their phones for fear of cross contamination.

Rumors have been circulating that this is Ransom Ware. We spoke to district officials that said the issue appears to be Malware and not Ransom Ware as rumored. Rialto Unified School District has technology and risk management officials are working on a fix to this situation.

There is no time table for when school activities will resume. This has parents concerned because distance learning seems to be this situation where we are learning how to teach our kids. It seems like the distance learning plan was being developed as it went along and now this unknown has sent in into the ground.

Marie Gaitan said on Facebook, I’m really thinking of holding my kid back a year. She’s in high school there is no room for trial and error. How are they even learning what They are supposed to be learning and things just keep getting worse. Many parents have the same worry. Some teachers are stepping up to answer questions like the one below.

Parent Maggie Martin – So why am I getting assignments from my kids teachers?

Teacher Nichole Phelps – If you are receiving them through Google Classroom then the reason might be because in Google Classroom you can schedule an assignment to be posted at a later date so students have access to it. We (teachers) were told not to access anything except for gmail so your child’s teacher may have scheduled those assignments before school was suspended and then was unable to go in and disable them.

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Lori Daybell Mother of Missing Children Has Roots in Rialto

07 Mar 2020 2 Comments

Lori Daybell the mother who is accused of refusing to inform Idaho authorities on the location of her adoped son JJ and daughter Tylee has roots here in the city of Rialto. Lori Daybell (maiden name Cox) grew up in Rialto and graduated from Eisenhower High School. One of Lori Daybells old high school freinds and fellow cheer team member says that the Lori she new and the Lori now are two totally different people.

Lori was known as the fun loving blonde bombshell that loved to have fun with her friends, got good grades and was the FLYER on the cheer team (the person that the team would throw up in the air). According to friends on the cheer team Lori was a fun loving person that just wanted to hang out with her friends and wasn’t very interested in boys until her Senior year. Lori came from a very large Mormon family and her family never came to her cheer events which friends say didn’t bother her much at all. Lori’s path was directed by her faith and her plans were to go to BYU and to do mission work for the Later Day Saints church after high school common to most Mormon kids.

It was after high school that something went terribly wrong in Lori’s life. She married a non Mormon man right after high school and that was a marriage that didn’t last long and that husband is all but a secret as even larger news organizations have not been able to identify that man. What is known is that Lori’s wild behavior is that multiple marriages, lies, death and now the disappearance of her two youngest children now lay in her wake. A reporter spoke to Lori’s first son Colby about his mother Lori, missing siblings and his dead step father and uncle.

Colby told the reporter that his mother just showed up one day at his place of work with his two step siblings and said I found a new job we are moving, little did Colby know that would be the last time he would see his siblings before they went missing. Colby said that he learned about his moms new marriage, place of residence and disappearance of his siblings through the media.

Lori isn’t the only one in Cox family to go off the deep end in this story or in life in general. Lori’s brother Alex Cox tazzed Lori’s Texas husband and threatened to kill him and shot and killed Lori’s husband in Arizona. Alex Cox passed away a few months after killing Charles Vallow in 2019. Lori Daybell is being investigated for a string of deaths that lay in her wake as well as the disappearance of her two younger kids. Lori had a court date in Idaho where her bail was reduced from 5 million to just 1 million. Recent reports show that Lori only needs $150 thousand at most to bail out. She will need to wear an ankle monitor and remain in the Rexburg Idaho area.

Lori’s children, Tylee and JJ, have been missing for more than five months. JJ was last seen on Sept. 23 in Rexburg and Tylee was last seen Sept. 8 in Yellowstone National Park. The FBI is asking anyone with photos of that day to turn them over to FBI officials so they can try and track where the family may have been seen in the park.

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Will Socialism Save Rialto?

17 Feb 2020 4 Comments

by rialto-now in #CA31st, 100 Black Men, AFL-CIO, Ana Gonzales, and the unincorporated communities of Bloomington and Muscoy, Assembly Woman Eloise Reyes, Ca, Colton, Congressman Pete Aguilar, Fontana, Grand Terrace, Josef (Joe) Britt, Rafael Trujillo, Rialto, San Bernardino, youth

Many of your local, state and federal leaders are leading the charge to throw the Rialto region into the arms of socialist leaders. Leading the charge is 47th Assembly District Woman Eloise Reyes. Eloise and her team of mini socialists are flooding the district pleading with young people to push the socialism king Bernie Sanders into the presidential race. Bernie Sanders is trying to sell his dream of fairness and equality with Free Education and Medicare for all to the masses.

The Washington Examiner posted and article about the woes of Medicare for all in Canada. The Canadian system is what Bernie Sanders has in mind for the United States Medicare for all. In the Canadian system people can not pay to have private insurance that would provide them quicker access to specialists and procedures. This is what Bernie Sanders plan has in mind for Americans as well.

In the Washington Examiner article “as a result, everyone must wait their turn for care paid for by the public system. Last year, Canadians faced a median wait of nearly 21 weeks to receive specialist treatment after getting referred by a general practitioner. Certain procedures come with longer waits. End-to-end, patients waited a median of 39 weeks for orthopedic surgery in 2019.”

Everyone remembers the train wreck Obama Care created with overcrowded hospitals and waiting rooms, a California website that took years to get off the ground and a lie of if you like your doctor and your plan you can keep them. After watching that hot mess of a health care fiasco Millennials claim to be craving more inept government control led by our failing leaders.

Parents Right Groups Call For School Boycott Over New Sex Ed Curriculum

19 Sep 2019 Leave a comment

Thursday September 9th 2019 a group of parents rights advocates the Alliance to Protect Children planned to remove their children from school today to protest the Latest Sexual Education Bill AB 329. The group Informed Parents of California take issue with the rights of parents being removed from this decision on what and how to teach their kids about sex, sexual orientation and how to deal with unplanned pregnancies. Sit outs are planned all over the state to send a clear message that parents are mad and not going away!

In the video below you will see what has been uncovered in the Riverside County Education System. This information was dug up by Don Dix and Tim Thompson. What they found was a disturbing sex ed curriculum that taught kids about anal sex, fisting, dental dams and homosexual role playing.

In today’s age of internet sexual perversion it seems odd that California Democrats would double down on such a divisive curriculum that taught some of the most outrageous forms of sexual perversion that some people in the video above had to look up some of the things that they were being taught in school. Rialto’s own Assembly Woman Eloise Reyes Gomez and Assembly Man James Ramos both voted for this bill and condone what is in it by virtue of their vote. We reached out for comment but their staff simply sent us to voicemail.

Probably the most disturbing part of the video above is the under cover video of Moreno Valley School District officials teaming up with the ACLU and Planned Parenthood to coach staff on how to remove more parental rights by hiding the fact that a student left school to have an abortion. During the Q&A portion of this meeting many staff seem to have questions about how the school will hide the fact that in this digital world the parents and see their child’s attendance. The ACLU staff go as far as to create a legal lie involving school administrative staff on how to “legally” keep parents in the dark about what is going on with their child.

So it looks like parents have to think before they vote for leaders in the state assembly, senate and governor, do you think:

It is the schools job to teach kindergarten school kids about sexual identity?
How far should the schools be allowed to go in teaching sexual education?
Do you think it is right for the schools to remove you as a parent from any choices concerning your kids?

Another concerning factor here is that lack of opposition to this bill and the standards set to be implemented in our local schools. In the video above you will see that Moreno Valley pretended to have no plan yet their consultants were hitting the ground running showing they had received support from the schools and were already holding implementation workshops. Not one single School Board member from any local school has gone on record against this bill or any plans to implement these into the education system. Some parents are saying that their silence means they are complicit and need to be removed.

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State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Comes To Rialto

09 Aug 2019 Leave a comment

On Friday April 12^th Rialto had the honor and pleasure to host State Superintendent Tony Thurmond as he formally received and recognized the Green Ribbon School winners from Orange County, Los Angeles County, Riverside County and San Bernardino County. The event took place at Morris Elementary School, with site visits to Milor High School, which showcase the amazing efforts taking place at both schools that promote environmental literacy: environmental impact, wellness, and sustainability.

Additionally, Rialto USD has also been nominated to compete in the U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools (ED-GRS) recognition program, which honors schools and districts that conserve resources while promoting health and environmental literacy. State Superintendent Tony Thurmond came in and spent extra time before he sat down shaking hands and acknowledging the students in attendance at the event. Mr. Thurmond even asked his former colleague Eloise Reyes to join him at the podium for a moment as he thanked her for her dedication and service.

After the formal event that recognized Twenty-Four different schools and school districts Mr. Thurmond took a tour of Morris Elementary and Milor High Schools. At Morris Elementary he looked out at a butterfly garden and enjoyed the school’s outdoor classroom and garden area that he wanted to stop and enjoy a meal right then and there. Mr. Thurmond spoke to every child he came across and never took himself too seriously making jokes laughing and enjoying the schools garden.

At Milor High School Mr. Thurmond said he didn’t want to keep the students waiting with photos and walked right over to the students. Mr. Thurmond asked Desiree Ramos, George Falcon and Arianna Ordonez their names and what they wanted to do after high school. Then Mr. Thurmond asked something that threw the students at first “What can we do to support you?” He told them don’t answer now but think about it and handed them his card. Next the students showcased the serenity room a place where students can care for their mental needs. The room offered different areas for groups and individual counseling plus Thrive Thursdays where the students could do yoga. The room was so amazing that School Board President Edgar Montes asked if the School Board could use the room.

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Feeding America Riverside / San Bernardino To Open Kid’s Market at Local Corona School 3/27

25 Mar 2019 Leave a comment

by rialto-now in #CA31st, Ca, Colton, Fontana, Grand Terrace, Inland Empire, Rialto, Rialto, San Bernardino, youth

Feeding America Riverside | San Bernardino (FARSB) announced it will begin providing a free farmer’s style monthly Kid’s Market (KM) starting Wednesday, March 27, 2019 at Norco-Corona Unified School District’s Parkridge Elementary School at 750 Corona Ave., in Corona.

FARSB and local leaders will kick-off the new program with a ribbon cutting ceremony, open to community members with proper identification, at the school starting at 10:15 a.m. The ceremony will be immediately followed by a food distribution where each child will take home an average of 10-15 pounds of nutrient-rich product, including fresh produce.

Each KM provides fresh fruits and vegetables supplemented with other healthy shelf stable foods to at-risk children and their families who might not otherwise be able to afford such nutritious foods. Students receive a bag filled with locally grown produce and other food products once per month on a day that school is in session for the academic school year.

Feeding America Riverside | San Bernardino has collaborated with school administrative staff and teachers to promote the upcoming distribution to children and their parents and assist support the school as they recruit and manage volunteers (often school staff, older students and family members of students).

“There is great news,” said FARSB Director of Philanthropy Lori Butler. “One in five children is food insecure in the Inland Empire, whereas, just last year that figure was one in four children at risk of going hungry every day. These Kid’s Markets are designed to impact our communities and see that more children and families are being fed that might otherwise fall through the cracks.”

An additional Kid’s Market was opened by FARSB last week at E. Neal Roberts Elementary School in San Bernardino.

“While tens of thousands of families, including those served by FARSB’s more than 400 community partners in the Inland Empire, are receiving meals through our regular distribution programs, many of the poorest and hungriest children slip through the cracks. The KM program targets children by working at public schools where we find the highest percentage of children receiving free/reduced-price meals during the school week,” said Vanessa Mercado, Director of Programs at FARSB.

“By focusing our attention on how access to healthy foods affects educational outcomes, we are creating a holistic approach in supporting our community’s kids. Hunger causes a myriad of problems for students like missing class, inhibited cognitive and developmental growth and even poor academic performance. The Kid’s Market is a program that addresses these issues and removes one of the main hurdles to academic success for our Inland Empire kids, regular access to nutritional food,” added Mercado.

To RSVP for the ribbon cutting or for more information please contact Vanesa Mercado: vmercado@feedingamericaie.org.

About Feeding America Riverside | San Bernardino

Feeding America Riverside | San Bernardino began in 1980 as Survive Food Bank in response to the increasing concern about the dual problems of hunger and food waste in the Inland Empire. Today, FARSB is the primary source of food for over 400 local nonprofit organizations, distributing over 2 million pounds of food monthly to emergency food pantries, homeless shelters, soup kitchens, high-need elementary schools, halfway houses, senior centers, residential treatment centers, shelters for the abused, after school programs and group homes. More than 100,000 men, women and children, rely on the food bank’s distribution center each month to make ends meet.

Rialto Middle School Holds Annual Career Day

06 Mar 2019 Leave a comment

On Wednesday February 27th Rialto Middle School held their annual career day where fifty three different presenters came out to expose the students to a wide variety of potential careers. Many were your traditional careers like law enforcement, teaching and the medical field. Yet there were many presenters that were from career fields we may not think of when we are preparing kids for their future!

One presenter was John Merchant a local voice actor, professional beat boxer and a radio DJ personality. John Merchant showed off his latest project he worked on was the Missy Elliot Project where musician Christina Hall pays homage to one of the most influential female rappers of the 20th century. John also spoke to the kids about how to be successful in life with something you are passionate about. John Merchant didn’t talk at the students he spoke with them.

We came to this interview unprepared because we thought that Kenny Landreaux just worked for the Dodgers organization in the front office. We were not aware that he played professional baseball. Kenny came to speak to the filed of being a professional athlete and working in other facets in the professional sports arena. It was pretty cool to see that Rialto Middle School had him out to speak to the kids.

We wanted to see Mike Kindrich’s presentation just because of our knowledge of what his employer Mercy Air does. Mercy Air operates private air ambulance service helping get critically injured people to a care facility as quickly and safely as possible. When we found out Mike was a helicopter mechanic that was even better. Mike spoke to his body of work and the many different opportunities that existed in the field he worked in. Mike is a A&P Mechanic this A&P license has given Mike the ability to work as a civilian for the army, a ride mechanic for Disneyland and now a Mechanic for Mercy Air.

One thing that was clear at this career day was that the staff were invested in seeing the students succeed now in school and in the future. This career day event was inventive, exciting and totally an out of the norm type of event for a public school. This event was something you normally see in a private school not a public school setting. I was honored to be able to get a chance to attend and cover this event.

Big thank you has to go out to Mr Rod Campbell who invited us to this event, the principal who was so welcoming, school counselors for going the extra mile and the school security staff that always had a smile each time we saw them on campus!

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Double Homicide Rocks Flores Park Neighborhood

01 Mar 2019 1 Comment

by rialto-now in Ca, City of Rialto, Inland Empire, Public Safety, Rialto, Rialto, Rialto Fire, Rialto Police Department, youth

Rialto Police Detectives working on incident scene – Photo by Jennifer Maher

On February 25th around 5pm a shooting was reported to Rialto Police on Baseline just East of Cedar. When Rialto Police arrived on scene they discovered two victims shot in a vehicle that was facing Westbound. Witnesses said that the victims vehicle was approached by the suspects vehicle and while in motion and while side by side shot into the victims vehicle numerous times striking the two occupants.

Rialto Fire arrived on scene and transported the victims to Arrowhead Regional where life saving treatment but both victims passed away due to thier injuries. Still at this time Rialto Police do not have any suspects. The official statement from Rialto Police Public Information Officer Lt Stella is that they still do not have a motive in this case. The incident shook the quiet community of Rialto known as the Flores Park Area and snarled traffic for hours as Rialto Police worked late into the night investigating this tragic event.

Rialto was once known for violence like this in the 90’s but has seen a sharp decline in violent crimes especially car to car shootings. To make matters worse one of the victims of this crime was a High School Student from Carter High School Jaylen McClain. Parents and staff from Carter High School said that this week counselors were on hand to help students and staff deal with this tragic loss. Officers speaking to students also spoke about first getting to know Jaylen when he was 9 years old and say that it is tragic that something in his life led him to be killed this way.

Witness statements posted to our Facebook page spell out what happened that evening:

Stayc Paul “I was on my way to take my Grandbaby to softball practice about 4:50pm. I was headed down baseline. I was at the light, as I crossed cedar ppl were honking at a gray 2 door Honda Civic because he was half in one lane half in the turn lane. Looked like he was shot in the head. He was in the driver seat, and his head was slumped back. It must’ve just happened when I passed. I didn’t see a second person though”.

What is sad is 10 years ago this community was dealing with gangs, drugs and graffiti coupled with a lot of home invasion robberies. A group of residents banded together to help Rialto Police deal with the unwanted crime in their neighborhood. A lot of good work was done for a few years and crime in this area was down dramatically. When Rialto Police started giving up on resident outreach in this area because some in the community were not comfortable with corruption going on inside the department and city things have taken a sharp decline. Just one week prior to this shooting an armed robbery and suspect pursuit ended behind the communities elementary school prompting school officials to hold an brief lock down. Drug activity has been on the rise in this community along with personal property theft and graffiti.

Nobody wants to see Rialto slip back into crime and unrest but nobody knows how to stop the slide?

The Rialto Police Investigations Unit was contacted and is currently conducting an investigation into the double homicide. Anyone with information concerning this investigation is asked to immediately contact Detective Ralph Ballew at (909) 820-8055 or via email at Rballew@rialtopd.com