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Lesbian teacher says her boss accused her of being a ‘witch’ in an ‘LGBTQ coven’

Rose Tagnesi Photo: Screenshot / KGTV

The witching season has started early this year: Halloween is just around the corner, Agatha – All the time is on Disney+, and an outspoken special education teacher in California is suing her former employer after a member of the district's board of trustees allegedly accused her of being a “witch” in an “LGBTQ coven.”

“I want justice, and I want people to be held accountable, but most of all I want it to stop, and I want people to realize that it's happening,” Rose Tagnesi told KGTV in San Diego about the alleged discrimination that led to her lawsuit against the Grossmont Union High School District (GUHSD).

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As KGTV reported earlier this week, Tagnesi claims she faced harassment and retaliation for opposing the county's “anti-LGBTQ agenda.” She says that during her 28 years working for the county, she was once told to “keep a low profile” and warned that county board of trustees members would not approve her promotion if they learned she was a lesbian.

Tagnesi told KGTV that she has remained private about her sexuality for most of her career, during which time she has received glowing performance reviews (including her most recent one) and multiple promotions, and was named 2022 Special Education Administrator of the Year by the Association of California School Administrators.

It's unclear how or when board members learned that Tagnesi was a lesbian, but in her lawsuit, she alleges that board member Jim Kelly referred to Tagnesi and another employee as “witches who were part of an LGBTQ coven.” Kelly also allegedly implied that Tagnesi only hired the other employee who reported to her because “she's hot.”

Kelly denies the allegations.

Tagnesi says she was placed on paid administrative leave in August 2023 pending the outcome of an investigation into her conduct and performance. In her lawsuit, she calls the investigation a “witch hunt” aimed at “finding any reason why the anti-LGBTQ majority board could force Ms. Tagnesi (and other employees who did not identify with the so-called 'East County Values') out of GUHSD.”

“I was never told what I did. I was never told what I was accused of. I was never even asked a question,” Tagnesi told KGTV.

As them Notes: Tagnesi was placed on paid leave the same month that the GUHSD board voted 3-2 to cut ties with a mental health provider over its LGBTQ+ services, which include referrals for gender-affirming treatment. One board member said the district needed to find a provider that better reflected “East County values.”

Tagnesi left her job at GUHSD in February. In her lawsuit, she calls her termination a “wrongful constructive discharge” and claims her “work environment was so fraught with discrimination” that she “had no choice but to resign from GUHSD due to the hostile working conditions.”

As The lawyer As Tagnesi notes, his resignation came three years after the kidnapping of a special needs student at Santana High School in Santee, California, where Tagnesi was the special education director. In March 2022, 32-year-old Rodolfo Emmanuel Ledesma pleaded guilty to several counts of sex crimes related to the kidnapping of the then-16-year-old student. Ledesma was reportedly accused of luring the student to his RV in January 2021 and holding her there for five days. In March 2022, the student's mother claimed in an interview with KUSI that “there was an incident that started at school with a fellow student and an administrator that ultimately led to all of this,” but declined to provide further details.

Tagnesi and three other school employees, including principal Timothy Schwuchow and assistant principal Larry Oedewaldt, were demoted from administrative to classroom positions following the incident, according to East County MagazineAt a GUHSD board meeting in February this year, the student's father claimed there had been a “cover-up” surrounding his daughter's abduction.

It is unclear whether the investigation mentioned in Tagnesi's lawsuit is related to the student's kidnapping, but in June San Diego Union-Tribune reported that last January, GHUSD relied on the results of a “secret personnel investigation” to demote several administrators, including Schwuchow and Oedewaldt, to classroom teachers.

According to the newspaper, GHUSD refused to disclose the contents of the investigation.

In a lawsuit filed in May, Schwuchow and Oedewaldt accused the district of violating state transparency laws and their right to a fair trial. Like Tagnesi, they claim they were kept in the dark about the allegations against them and the reasons for their demotion.

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