The Rialto Unified school board has selected a new superintendent after nearly a year of district turmoil, including the firing of its former schools chief and a forensic audit into allegations of fiscal mismanagement in the Nutrition Services department.
Alejandro Alvarez, who currently serves as superintendent of Bassett Unified School District in La Puente, was tapped for the position on a unanimous vote Sunday, Oct. 26, after board members conducted special candidate selection meetings that began Friday, the district announced in a news release. The selection is pending a background check and approval of Alvarez’s contract at the board’s Nov. 12 meeting.
Alvarez has nearly 30 years of experience in public education, most recently serving as superintendent of Bassett Unified since November 2020. He previously served as deputy superintendent at Compton Unified School District and associate superintendent for Fontana Unified School District, where he began his career as a teacher
Alvarez did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
“Following a period of change and uncertainty, our community is ready for a fresh start. The Board of Education is looking forward to rebuilding trust, strengthening schools, and working together toward a brighter future for every student,” district spokesperson Syeda Jafri said in a statement on Tuesday. “The Board of Education is looking forward to rebuilding trust, strengthening schools and continuing to work together toward a brighter future for every student.”
The announcement comes as the district continues its probe into allegations that top managers in the Nutrition Services department had for years inflated student meal count numbers to receive more in state and federal subsidies. Three department managers have departed from the district as a forensic audit — now nearing its eighth month — continues.
Lead Agent of Nutrition Services Fausat Rahman-Davies, former Assistant Agent Maria Rangel, and former Program Innovator Kristina Kraushaar also were accused of misappropriating student food by giving it away to district employees, school board members and friends, or taking it for personal use or special events.
Last month, the board voted 3-0, with board members Edgar Montes and Evelyn Dominguez absent, to accept Rahman-Davies’ resignation, which will take effect May 1, 2026, when she officially retires. She has worked in Nutrition Services for 30 years, and will remain on paid leave until her termination date.
Rangel retired on June 30 and Kraushaar resigned on Feb. 26 to take a position as food services director for Chaffey Joint Union High School District in Ontario. Her resignation came a day before the board appointed interim Superintendent Judy White, who commissioned the Nutrition Services audit as one of her first orders of business amid a Southern California News Group investigation that began in December 2024.
Also in February, the board voted 4-0, with Montes abstaining, to fire, without cause, former Superintendent Cuauhtemoc Avila, who was accused of sexually harassing a former administrator. Despite the 10-month administrative investigation producing no factual findings that Avila sexually harassed Patricia Chavez, the district’s former lead agent of innovation, the board fired him anyway, officials say.
Five months later, on July 10, Chavez resigned from the district. A month later, she filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the district and Avila, claiming she was placed on leave due to an administrative investigation into employee complaints against her dating back to November 2021. It remains unclear why she resigned from the district, and why the district had just started looking into complaints against her dating back four years.
Avila also is suing the district, alleging his suspension and subsequent termination were part of an orchestrated plot by Montes and Chavez, who allegedly “joined forces” to damage his reputation. Avila alleges Montes targeted him because he refused to do Montes’ bidding, which included shutting down a prior audit into the Nutrition Services department Avila said he commissioned in 2023, when the allegations of student meal count date falsification was first alleged.
Avila claims he was targeted by Chavez because he did not promote her.
