[San Joaquin County] Manteca Unified Trustee Drain resigns

Elected in November, she was facing fraud charges, recall

Blog note: this article refers to a Grand Jury report criticizing the trustee.

MANTECA — The Manteca Unified School District confirmed Tuesday it had received a letter of resignation from Area 2 Trustee Ashley Drain, effective immediately.

District administrative assistant Chelo de Leon said the letter was given to them by the San Joaquin County superintendent of schools confirming the resignation. She said Drain gave no reason for resigning.

Drain, however, is the subject of a recall petition and is facing charges of voter fraud. She had been elected in November along with Alexander Bronson, who also was charged with voter fraud. Both had listed the same address for election records, even though the address was not in the area either was running to represent. And it appears neither lived there.

Bronson resigned in May, shortly after the charges were filed. He is next scheduled in court on Sept. 18.

Drain, who also was charged with welfare fraud, was arraigned in May on 10 counts that included grand theft of personal property over $400, food-stamp program violation, voter registration violation, false filing of a declaration of candidacy and multiple counts of perjury by declaration. 

A preliminary hearing has been set for Sept. 3, but a plea agreement could come before then, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

Drain, whose actions were criticized two months ago in a report by the San Joaquin County civil grand jury, represented a section of Manteca Unified that includes Weston Ranch.

Bronson, Drain and board Vice President Sam Fant were described in the grand jury investigation as going against other members on board actions. Much of the report was focused on Drain and Fant and that the district mishandled the releasing of Weston Ranch Principal Jose Fregoso, among other findings. The report said many employees feared for their jobs because of some public comments from trustees.

The board eventually voted to accept the findings at a meeting on Aug. 11, after Drain had described the findings as “ridiculous and unbelievable.”

“It is what it is,” Drain said during comments. “Even before hearing anyone speak, I was like ‘I’m going chop this grand jury report up,’ because it’s so ridiculous and unbelievable. Now I’m at the point to just get over it. Anyone who actually reads with a little bit of common sense — a little bit — can see that this is a bunch of malarkey and not all the way true.”

Drain was served recall papers on May 12. Fant, too, is facing a recall. A petition to begin the recall process was approved on July 14 by the Registrar of Voters' office.

De Leon said the board of trustees will move forward in the next few weeks to determine how to fill the vacancy. When Bronson resigned, they took applications and in June unanimously elected Stephen Schluer to fill the post. They might opt to interview other replacement candidates or to have the voters choose a replacement.

August 25, 2015

Stockton Record

By Nicholas Filipas