Sacramento-area school board member resigns from leadership role amid state investigation

The Natomas Unified school board on Tuesday voted unanimously to approve a recently elected board member’s resignation from her leadership roles amid an escalating state investigation into claims she defrauded the district of thousands of dollars in speech therapy fees.

Ericka Harden, who joined the Natomas Unified School District board in 2020, submitted her letter of resignation as board clerk on Monday. Harden has been under investigation by the California Department of Consumer Affairs for more than four years, according to records The Sacramento Bee obtained through a Public Records Act request.

The state’s review has intensified in recent months, with investigators subpoenaing the district for receipts, emails and other documents involving Harden’s speech therapy work. The receipts show Harden claiming more than $16,000 from dozens of speech services in 2016 and 2017. Harden said she was innocent of the allegations.

The school board met in a special board meeting Tuesday to take action on temporarily removing Harden from her position.

Superintendent Chris Evans said district officials were made aware of the years-long investigation just before Harden was sworn in last December and that Harden’s name was never added to any school district bank accounts.

Evans said neither he nor the board’s president could unilaterally approve her resignation from her clerk role and that it required a vote. After a brief discussion, the board voted unanimously to remove Harden from board leadership. She will remain a trustee.

“My resigning is in no way an admission of guilt,” Harden said during the meeting. “I’ve done nothing wrong, and I look forward to my day in court or to have this matter resolved.

“I’ve never consulted for this district, nor have I ever received funds from the Natomas Unified School District for counseling or speech services. There will never be a time that I would jeopardize my livelihood. I’m a widow and single parent so I’m all they’ve got.”

In explaining the cause for Tuesday’s meeting, Evans said the case began in 2016 when an employee filed a complaint “regarding questions of potential impropriety” about Harden, who has long held a valid speech therapy license with the state.

In January 2017, a district official became wary of documentation and invoices for therapy services bearing Harden’s name that omitted her registration number. Later that year, the Department of Consumer Affairs cited Harden with a $1,000 fine for not providing documents and cooperating in an investigation, state records show.

An investigation dragged on for years, with a state investigator last December subpoenaing hundreds of pages of receipts, bank records and emails — mere weeks after she narrowly won her seat on the board.

Evans said the district learned on Friday that even more documents would be requested and personnel would be asked to cooperate in the state’s investigation. The Department of Consumer Affairs declined to comment.

“In general, the Department of Consumer Affairs does not discuss investigations as they are treated as confidential,” read a statement from DCA.

Harden, in an interview Tuesday, said someone “made up” the invoices using her name. She said she has never done anything illegal involving the district or with her speech services, that she is cooperating with investigators, and that the claims for reimbursement are fraudulent.

Harden did not say who she believed made the invoices in her name.

“There is not one time where there has been money exchanged between a Natomas Unified School District and myself,” she said. “I think that kind of clears it all up. So I am not the fish that they are trying to fry in this. I am just the one that is getting caught in the crossfire.”

This story was originally published May 26, 2021 at 10:57 AM.