San Francisco Unified School District's director of labor relations, Apolinar Quesada, has been placed on leave after a grand jury in New Mexico indicted him on first-degree charges of criminal sexual penetration of a minor under 13. The 50-year-old district administrator, who has spent years negotiating with SFUSD's unionized workforce, is now the subject of both a criminal case out of state and an internal investigation at home.
What the Indictment Alleges
Court documents cited by Mission Local say Quesada was indicted July 20 on first-degree charges alleging that he unlawfully and intentionally caused a child under 13 to engage in sexual intercourse or other specified sexual acts. The alleged conduct is said to have occurred in Grant County, New Mexico, between January 1 and February 28, 1995. Quesada was reportedly 18 at the time; the outlet reported that he was born in 1976.
The case is moving forward now in part because New Mexico removed statutes of limitations on alleged sex crimes against children this year, per the same account. SFUSD confirmed to Mission Local that Quesada was indicted in New Mexico on charges of criminal sexual activity with a minor, and the district says it placed him on leave and opened its own investigation as soon as it learned of the indictment, as reported by Mission Local via spokesperson Hong Mei Pang.
District Says San Francisco Students Were Not Involved
Pang told Mission Local that the alleged acts did not take place in San Francisco and did not involve SFUSD students. She also said student safety is the district’s top priority. According to Pang, SFUSD employees must submit proof of identity, fingerprints, and relevant credentialing and work-experience documents, and the district’s background-check process is aligned with local, state, and federal law.
What Fingerprint Checks Can—and Can’t—Establish
California law authorizes certain government and private organizations, including schools, to conduct fingerprint-based criminal-record checks for employment suitability; the information available depends on the agency’s statutory authority, according to the California Department of Justice. The department describes a pre-employment background check as a resource for evaluating an applicant, not a guarantee about any individual case. The state guidance does not specify which records SFUSD could access in this case.
A Career That Spanned Classrooms and Contract Talks
Quesada has held education roles in California for more than a decade, according to Mission Local. The outlet reported that he was an assistant principal at San Francisco’s Marina Middle School in 2011 and later became principal of James Lick Middle School. LinkedIn information cited by the outlet shows he served as a school principal at two California schools from 2019 to 2025 before becoming SFUSD’s director of labor relations in February 2025.
Per a report from Mission Local, in that labor-relations role, Quesada has been involved in negotiations with SFUSD's unionized workforce, including talks with the principals union in December 2025 and talks with the teachers union before and during the district's four-day strike earlier this year. Before his time in education, Quesada began a career as a paraeducator and clerk in the Phoenix area around 2004, according to the report.
A Badge Relinquished Two Decades Ago
Mission Local also reported that Quesada voluntarily relinquished his badge as a Tempe Police Department officer on January 21, 2004, following what the outlet described as undisclosed miscellaneous misconduct.
Mission Local reported that it could not reach Quesada by phone because the number it had was disconnected. Alexandra Wilson Jones had not responded to the outlet’s emails or voice messages as of publication. The report confirmed the indictment through the district but did not provide further details about the case’s next steps.
