The Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers stands by our endorsement of Carol Turley and Gabriel Medina for the Pajaro Valley Unified School District board of trustees, and support for our district’s Ethnic Studies Program, as developed with Community Responsive Education (CRE).

We reject the Sentinel Editorial Board’s repeated mischaracterization of PVUSD’s ethnic studies program as “divisive,” and question your seemingly blind defense of our board leaders who have failed to serve the PVUSD community on a variety of critical issues including but not limited to the issue of ethnic studies, on which you focus.

We applaud the teachers, administrators and ethnic studies experts who, since 2021, laid the foundation for PVUSD’s robust and impactful liberated Ethnic Studies Program, supported and guided by CRE and Dr. Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales. This program starts from students’ lived experiences within our communities, and has made our district stronger by uplifting the stories, cultures, traditions and histories of our students.

We also applaud the students, parents, teachers, administrators and community members who, for the past year, have actively engaged in school board meetings. When school board members refuse to listen to or engage with students, they need to be replaced.

Far from divisive, we know that classroom discussions about power, injustice, solidarity, and lifting the voices and histories of marginalized groups are critical to building collective understanding and empowerment. For the past year, our school board meetings have demonstrated a powerful unity of support for the Ethnic Studies program developed with CRE, from people of all major racial/ethnic groups.

For some time, PVUSD Board leaders have made decisions that serve broader right-wing conservative efforts; their tactics and rhetoric have been divisive and dishonest. In September 2023, Trustee Kim De Serpa and Board President Georgia Acosta led efforts to table renewal of the last year in the planned three-year CRE contract, which would have included supporting teachers and administrators in connecting the wellness of students and faculty to the development of the district’s Ethnic Studies Program. They hid behind unsubstantiated and slanderous accusations of antisemitism; over the course of the past year, no evidence of bigotry has been provided.

Acosta and Trustee Oscar Soto defended denying the contract continuation by claiming budget concerns. This claim is unfounded as the contract would not have cost the district anything. Much of the funding would have been covered under an already secured grant and state funding for Culturally Responsive Teaching. Another weak argument for rejecting the CRE consultant contract was that pending state legislation might reject the CRE model. In fact, California Assembly members pulled Assembly Bill 2918 that would have narrowed what version of ethnic studies could be taught in schools.

Board leadership - specifically Trustees Acosta and Soto - has repeatedly used the power of the agenda setting committee to ensure no further board discussion or vote on the CRE contract. By dramatically slashing public comment time, they have quashed both public support for CRE and the overall free speech of so many, including students, parents and a County Supervisor. They have moved around agenda items to discourage public participation, particularly from students. This is not the kind of school board leadership we want or need.

It is the vocal opponents of CRE, including people who led efforts to remove Aptos from PVUSD in 1996, who are really dividing our district.

Representing more than 1,000 PVUSD educators, the PVFT membership voted to endorse Carol Turley, Gabriel Medina and Adam Bolaños-Scow for PVUSD School Board because they recommend the need for positive change to move forward.

This Guest Commentary was signed by seven representatives of the Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers Executive Council and COPE Committee.