#WilliamSHartDistrict #SaugusHighSchool #CaliforniaSchools #EducationReform #IEPDiscrimination #StudentRights #SchoolAccountability #BlueRibbonSchools #HighSchoolDropout #MedicalDiscrimination #SpecialEducation #EndometriosisAwareness #PCOSAwareness

I’m proud to say I just completed part one of my veterinary assistant program with a 97% (A-), and my GPA now sits at 3.42. Soon, I’ll hit my goal of a 3.50, finish my final four courses, earn my credentials as a veterinary assistant, and—at long last—finally receive my high school diploma.

Yes, I’m almost 30. Yes, it’s taken me longer than most. But that wasn’t because I didn’t care about my education. It’s because the William S. Hart School District and Saugus High School failed me when I needed them most.

This is Part One of a series I’m writing to finally reveal how the district illegally and cruelly pushed me out of my own education.

How I Was Denied My Rights

At just sixteen years old, I was already facing serious, life-altering medical problems. By law, I should have been protected with an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) under California education law.

Instead, the assistant principal at Saugus High School looked directly at my mother and me and said:

“Her medical issues aren’t that serious.”

That one sentence destroyed my right to an education. My counselor, who sat silently in the same room, did nothing to defend me.

The school then shoved me into Learning Post, calling it “for students with medical issues.” It wasn’t—it was an alternative school used to get rid of students like me so they wouldn’t “drag down” Saugus High’s reputation.

By senior year, after endless surgeries and hospital stays, I was exhausted and defeated. I dropped out—not because I wanted to, but because the district left me no other choice.

The Reality They Ignored

Here’s the truth about what I endured while my school dismissed me as “not serious”:

• Eight major surgeries and multiple minor ones
• Countless hospital stays, some lasting over a month
• An emergency blood transfusion
• A near-fatal blood clot almost reaching my heart
• Being resuscitated twice at Henry Mayo Hospital
• Forced into synthetic menopause at 16 years old with Lupron injections (the same drug used in prostate cancer treatment)
• Years of Depo-Provera shots until I was 26
• Endometriosis, now in remission but still affecting me through PCOS
• A long list of diagnoses stacked one on top of another—so many that the only things I never had were broken bones or cancer

The cost of all this? Over half a million dollars. Between my mother and our PPO insurance, Blue Shield spent more than $500,000 on my medical care.

By the time I was 20 years old, I had a home nurse coming twice a week and was on IV infusion therapy every single day for hypokalemia and severe dehydration. I spent months in bed, hooked to fluids 24/7.

After my blood clot nearly killed me, I was even taken on by a geriatric doctor who used to joke—while being dead serious—that I was his youngest patient. He told me how tough I was to survive everything I went through.

And still—they said I didn’t qualify for help.

The Illusion of “Top Schools”

The William S. Hart District loves to flaunt its “Blue Ribbon” and “top of the line” reputation. But here’s the ugly truth: those rankings are built on pushing out the kids who don’t fit their image.

If you couldn’t keep at least a C+ average—or if your medical needs got in the way—they shipped you off to Bowman, Opportunities for Learning, or Learning Post. That’s how they keep their schools looking good: by abandoning the students who need help the most.

Why I’m Speaking Out

I had to pay out of pocket for my high school diploma through Penn Foster. That’s something I should have received years ago, for free, if the district had followed the law instead of sweeping me under the rug.

This series is my way of exposing the truth. What happened to me wasn’t just unfair—it was illegal under state and federal special education law. And I know I’m not the only one.

A Call for Accountability

The William S. Hart School District and Saugus High School owe more than just me an apology—they owe it to every student they failed, discriminated against, or pushed aside to protect their rankings.

I am calling for:

• A public acknowledgment of wrongdoing in cases where students were denied IEPs or 504 Plans
• A district-wide review of how students with medical needs are supported
• Real accountability for administrators who turned their backs on kids in crisis

This is only Part One. In the next posts, I’ll expose more details—the discrimination, the policies they twisted, and the countless other students who were silenced like I was.

The William S. Hart District may still brag about its shiny blue ribbons—but behind those banners lies the truth. And I’m finally telling it.