Rialto Unified’s embattled Nutrition Services director has agreed to resign amid allegations she and her top managers inflated student meal count numbers to extract more reimbursement — possibly millions of dollars — from state and federal programs.
The school board voted 3-0, with board members Edgar Montes and Evelyn Dominguez absent, during a closed session Wednesday, Sept. 24, to accept the resignation of Fausat Rahman-Davies, effective May 1, 2026. Rahman-Davies, 57, of Rancho Cucamonga, has worked in Nutrition Services for 30 years, the last six as the department’s lead agent.
A district spokesperson said Rahman Davies, who was earning a base salary of more than $208,000 when she was placed on administrative leave March 19, “voluntarily retired” and will remain on leave until her termination date. During that period, she will continue to receive her regular salary and benefits. And upon her retirement, the district will cover her health benefits until she reaches 65.
Rahman Davies’ decision to step down comes during an ongoing administrative investigation and forensic audit into the Nutrition Services department that began in March, shortly after the arrival of interim Superintendent Judy White.
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From left, former Rialto Unified Nutrition Services Program Innovator Kristina Kraushaar, Nutrition Services Lead Agent Fausat Rahman-Davies, and former Nutrition Services Assistant Agent Maria Rangel, in this photo taken in March 2023 in Washington, D.C. (Courtesy photo)
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From left, former Rialto Unified Nutrition Services Program Innovator Kristina Kraushaar, Nutrition Services Lead Agent Fausat Rahman-Davies, and former Nutrition Services Assistant Agent Maria Rangel, in this photo taken in March 2023 in Washington, D.C. (Courtesy photo)
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District spokesperson Syeda Jafri said the audit and investigation remain ongoing, and that she could not comment on it. The state Department of Education is conducting a separate investigation, according to the district. Rialto police have never been asked to investigate because the district probe is ongoing, Jafri said.
2 other managers departed
Two of Rahman-Davies’ top managers already have departed their positions with the district.
Kristina Kraushaar, who served as child nutrition program innovator, resigned Feb. 26 to take a position as the food services director for Chaffey Joint Union High School District. Maria Rangel, assistant agent of Nutrition Services who served as Rahman-Davies’ second-in-command, retired on June 30, along with former acting Superintendent Ed D’Souza, whom White succeeded.
Rahman-Davies and Rangel were placed on paid administrative leave in March at the onset of the district’s probe, amid a Southern California News Group investigation that began in December 2024 after several Nutrition Services employees came forward with allegations that Rahman-Davies, Rangel and Kraushaar were, for years, inflating student meal count numbers.
The three also were accused of misappropriating government-issued student food by giving it away to friends, family members and district employees.
Insider documents allegations
The allegations against Rahman-Davies, Rangel and Kraushaar were detailed in a four-page complaint that Sarah Dunbar-Riley, a Nutrition Services supervisor, submitted to White and the Personnel Services department summarizing the data falsification and food misappropriation allegations.
In a separate interview with the Southern California News Group, she said that in June 2023 alone, the combined daily breakfast and lunch counts at one high school were inflated by more than 12,000, making the school eligible for about $48,000 in additional reimbursement from the state and federal governments for that month alone.
In her March 19 statement to the district, Dunbar-Riley said that after reporting the alleged misconduct, she was retaliated against — ostracized, insulted and humiliated by Rahman-Davies in front of her peers and other supervisors, and removed from the Nutrition Services department. She said she essentially was sequestered to the office of the district’s lead agent of risk management and transportation services, where she remained for more than a year. In July, she returned to the central kitchen offices, but now oversees preschools and supper programs for the department.
Dunbar-Riley declined to comment on Thursday.
Origin of allegations
Her allegations about inflated meal counts surfaced in June 2023 during a separate investigation into complaints of employee mistreatment by Rahman-Davies, Rangel and Kraushaar in Nutrition Services. They prompted then-Superintendent Cuauhtemoc Avila to commission a forensic audit of the department.
Avila, however, said Montes, a school board member of 15 years and close ally and friend of Rahman-Davies, repeatedly demanded that Avila shutter the investigation, which he refused to do. Avila then found himself accused of sexual harassment by Patricia Chavez, the district’s former lead agent of innovation, and placed on leave by the board in May 2024 so the district could investigate.
D’Souza, formerly the lead academic agent for math and early college programs, was appointed acting superintendent while the district investigated Chavez’s claims.
Superintendent’s downfall
At the time Avila was placed on leave, it was not disclosed why. It wasn’t until he filed a claim against the district seven months later, in November 2024, when that information was revealed. Avila also alleged in his claim and subsequent lawsuit in July that Chavez and Montes colluded to damage his reputation — Chavez because Avila did not promote her, and Montes because Avila would not acquiesce to demands that Avila believed were unethical or illegal. That included shutting down the investigation and audit of the Nutrition Services department, according to Avila.
The initial audit was shut down after Avila was placed on leave, according to Avila and Dunbar-Riley. The district has not disclosed who made that decision.
On Jan. 16, about the time the investigation into Avila was wrapping up, Chavez was placed on administrative leave, then filed a claim against the district and Avila the following day alleging sexual harassment and discrimination and seeking more than $35,000 in damages. The district rejected the claim on Feb. 11.
In February, following the 10-month sexual harassment investigation, which Avila said concluded that he did not sexually harass Chavez, the board unanimously voted to fire him anyway, without cause.
Five months later, on July 10, Chavez resigned from the district. About a month later, she filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the district and Avila in San Bernardino Superior Court, ramping up her allegations against Avila.
Chavez, according to her lawsuit, wasn’t placed on leave because of unfounded allegations against Avila, but because of an investigation by the district into employee complaints against her dating back to November 2021. It remains unclear why she resigned from the district.
Chavez did not return telephone calls seeking comment.
Avila’s attorney, Robert Brown, said he is “confident Ms. Chavez’s false and pathetic allegations will be proven meritless in court as they were through the district’s investigation.”
