Maribel Heredia

HAYWARD SCHOOL BOARD SCANDAL | The unnamed family member who said embattled Hayward school board member Maribel Heredia was lying about her reasons for missing an Aug. 22 meeting has sent a letter to the board urging them to investigate the matter.

In the letter dated Oct. 10, Angelica Garrido, the same source featured in an article alleging Heredia’s absence last Aug. 22 was not due to a family emergency, as she stated later, but possibly as part of a family vacation, as some critics have asserted, urged the school board to look further into Heredia’s excuse.

“I am saddened to see the lack of investigation regarding Maribel Heredia’s blatant lie to the board and the Hayward school community,” Garrido wrote. “I am the relative that came forward on East Bay Citizen to say that Maribel Heredia was not being forthright in stating that she went to Southern California because of a family emergency.”

Garrido describes great antipathy in the letter towards Heredia for using her grandmother’s death as a excuse. At times, she wrote, Garrido spent upwards of 15 hours a day at her grandmother’s beside amid a constant 24-hour vigil by relatives. “I can’t tell you how difficult it was and I can’t share every sacrifice we went through, but it really angers me to have someone lie about someone so special and something so sacred.

The family member also added, at no time, did Heredia offer any support nor did she even have a relationship with the deceased or that particular part of her ex-boyfriend’s family.

Last month, the board approved paying Heredia for the missed meeting, but the issue returned during the school board’s last meeting when a former Hayward school district employee asked for the discussion again be placed on its agenda. The school board meets tonight, Oct. 10, 6:30 p.m.