As a former trustee and present community member, I believe the Pajaro Valley Unified School District board is failing us.

The new trustees don’t seem to be interested in learning how to govern. They do not understand what it takes to govern and have shown little interest in partnering with the administration — educated and experienced individuals who work as a team to guide the education of our students. Some board members want to appear powerful and offer little more than preaching their own positions.

At the April 16 board meeting, in regard to the ethnic studies contract, Trustee Gabriel Medina talked directly to select members of the audience, saying, “I gotta point out the propaganda techniques you are using,” “you used guilt by association” and “utilizing your grandchildren as a cover in order to get us to feel some sort of emotion is insane.”

He continued to say that the audience members were manipulative, called them segregationists, and noted what he considered lies that he had heard from them.

Trustee Joy Flynn clearly spoke from a place of hurt and compassion, until she also talked to audience members citing their ”lack of acknowledgement of the economic power historically held by the Jewish community,” and pointing out “the power and privilege that comes with presenting as white.” Her comments were picked up by at least two national wire services.

The ethnic studies consultant, Community Responsive Education, whose curriculum the state of California does not support, was approved. Additionally, there was a unanimous vote for PVUSD Superintendent Heather Contreras to send a letter of apology to CRE on behalf of the board, but the motion was not specific. From discussion, it can be assumed that the reason was that a previous trustee had called the curriculum antisemitic.

In San Jose, people are suing a district that put a similar program like this in place.

The board also has committed a number of Brown Act violations. They should know better or, at least, listen to the superintendent’s counsel. Medina’s motion at the last meeting to censure Kim De Serpa for actions taken by the agenda committee and board in regard to the ethnic studies consultant was not an agendized item and could not be acted upon. They acted on it anyway, but the motion failed.

Another violation occurred when the board approved a motion to reorganize Maintenance and Operations. They made the approval contingent on performance of those recently added employees and a one-year re-evaluation that could results in layoffs.

The district’s chief business officer pointed out that that would be impossible to do as the one-year timing would be past the date to notify employees that their jobs were being eliminated. The board still approved the motion.

Another instance of not knowing what they are doing and violating the Brown Act is when Medina “ceded” his time to a union rep. Not only is this not allowed, it gave the union rep more time for public comment without giving other members of the audience the same chance to speak.

Yet another blatant Brown Act violation by Medina was when he divulged a closed session vote on a personnel issue to a local newspaper and was quoted as saying, “I didn’t think it was done in the right way.”

In one board meeting, a union rep complained about an item and asked the board to stop the meeting while they caucused. The superintendent explained to the board that this was their meeting, but they still stopped the meeting. It was reported that the union rep took the cards for speakers from the dais while the board was out of the room and reordered them to favor those in sync with the union. The district discovered this and reordered them based upon the number they had written on them when received from community members.

In regard to the PVUSD budget, the trustees were unwilling to make the necessary cuts needed due to one-time COVID funds ending and lower enrollment. Claims of listening to what the public wants don’t cut it. The trustees have detailed information about the budget of which the public usually isn’t knowledgeable. The result is that the district’s budget for 2025-26 will have 95% of its income dedicated to employee salaries and benefits. The state range is typically 88-90%. This leaves just 5% of the budget to cover utilities, maintenance, supplies and other miscellaneous costs.

Live Oak School District’s financial problems will seem small in comparison to PVUSD’s.

The state’s standings for school achievement were released in March. The results were put under the consent agenda without any discussion, despite the fact that the district scored at the 27% statewide level. Even though most scores went down during COVID, every other district in the region improved its scores.

The superintendent was right to bring this back to the last meeting with a PowerPoint presentation showing the community where PVUSD stood.

I finish with advice for the PVUSD board: Partner with the administration — this is their life’s work, and they know more than you. Learn to trust and listen. Be humble. Learn to govern. Take more Brown Act training and have your attorney attend meetings so they can guide you as needed.

I look forward to improved governance.

Jane Barr is a former PVUSD trustee and is a member of the Sentinel Editorial Board.