WATSONVILLE >> More than a year after the Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees declined to extend its contract with Community Responsive Education to provide an ethnic studies curriculum for the district’s high schools, members of the community are still fired up. The public comment sections of most meetings since have been dominated by teachers, students, parents and community members urging the board to reconsider its decision.This culminated in a rally of approximately 20 people outside Watsonville Civic Plaza, where board meetings are temporarily being held, just ahead of the board’s Wednesday meeting. As usual, this spilled over into the public comment period of the board meeting itself, but the outcry over the board limiting the overall speaking time to 30 minutes led to the board going into recess for the same length of time.

In 2021, the board approved a contract with Community Responsive Education, a for-profit consultant firm founded by San Francisco State University professor Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales and other ethnic studies instructors, to offer an ethnic studies curriculum at the district’s three comprehensive high schools. However, when the contract came back for a one-year renewal at the Sept. 13, 2023, board meeting, the board did not vote to renew the contract but rather to bring back the item with another consultant. The district still has an ethnic studies program but not the training provided by Community Responsive Education.

When the matter went before the board’s Agenda Setting Committee Nov. 2, the committee voted 2-1 to not place the item on a future agenda, with Trustees Georgia Acosta and Kim De Serpa voting not to put it on the agenda and Trustee Jennifer Holm dissenting. The reason for rejecting the contract renewal apparently was due to allegations that the Community Responsive Education curriculum was antisemitic, claims that appear to stem from a rejected framework that was presented to the California Department of Education, which Tintiangco-Cubales co-signed, that was criticized by the California Legislative Jewish Caucus for lacking meaningful discussion of the Jewish experience and having minimal mentions of the Holocaust and hate crimes against Jews. Tintiangco-Cubales has denied allegations of antisemitism in the material, and supporters of the curriculum have said there is no evidence to support claims of antisemitism.

Sara Webb, an art teacher at Watsonville High School, said she took ethnic studies classes in college, which opened her eyes.

“I think it helped me choose what I wanted to do with my life and understand California and people around me,” she said. “I did some training with CRE, and Allyson helped me a lot with my teaching. They were fabulous and very committed to anti-racism.”

Webb said she was disappointed the board has not even bothered to vote on the contract again.

“I think it’s super messed up that they won’t even put it on an agenda,” she said. “They could have a fair vote.”

Bobby Pelz, an ethnic studies teacher at Watsonville High, said the rally was about making the same plea the community has been making for the past year but also calling out some of the board’s actions he considers unjust.

“Throughout this whole process, it isn’t just that they’ve been denying the return of the CRE contract, but they’ve been cutting down public speaking time, they’ve been rearranging the agenda, they’ve been using the agenda committee to prevent the contract from being put on it,” he said. “They’re really abusing the powers that they have in addition to not bringing back their contract.”

While other ethnic studies curricula exist, and students in California will be required to pass an ethnic studies course as part of their graduation requirements starting with the class of 2030, Webb believes the Community Responsive Education curriculum is the best because it has been providing such a curriculum since long before it was required.

“It’s people who have been doing ethnic studies since the beginning,” she said. “They’ve always been in it. They’re not meddling or interfering. They created it and fought for it.”

Additionally, Pelz said Tintiangco-Cubales is one of the most respected professors in the field.

“She founded multiple organizations around multicultural ethnic studies education,” he said. “When it comes to ethnic studies, she’s one of the best. I’ve always said to this board, ‘Our kids deserve the best.’”

Omar Dieguez of Barrios Unidos said the fight today is similar to when he fought to bring a Chicano studies course to Aptos High School when he was a student there in the ’90s.

“We were successful because we didn’t give up the fight,” he said. “We came to plenty of school board meetings, and we had plenty of support, and we were able to win the battle because we didn’t give up. What everybody’s doing here today is the same way that we were doing it. It’s a different day, same battle, and we’re gonna have the same results.”

Maximiliano Barraza Hernandez, a sophomore at Pajaro Valley High School, spoke about the power of knowledge.

“I’m able to navigate the world because I’m learning a lot,” he said. “To see these people in power just dismiss us as if we don’t matter, it starts a fire in my heart to keep going.”

Christine Sleeter, a retired ethnic studies professor at California State University Monterey Bay who has continued to do research since and helped recommend Community Responsive Education to the district, told the Sentinel that having a strong ethnic studies contract was vital to the district, especially as ethnic studies become a requirement.

“It’s no longer an option as to whether or not to do ethnic studies,” she said. “With PVUSD having a large proportion of Latino students, ethnic studies makes sense because of the impact that it has on student achievement, student identity, student sense of self, student engagement with school. It has all kinds of benefits.”

Sleeter reiterated these remarks to the board, emphasizing her disappointment that Tintiangco-Cubales’s work was being derailed over allegations.

“To compromise the district’s work in ethnic studies is to do a disservice to the students of PVUSD,” she said. “As you are probably aware, the research is clear that ethnic studies benefits all students, and particularly students of color. … Dr. Tintiangco-Cubales is the best person I know who can help ensure that the students of PVUSD benefit from a well-conceptualized and well-taught ethnics studies program.”

The board capped the overall public comment period at 30 minutes, which prompted a verbal outcry from members of the public who submitted speaker cards but did not get a chance to speak. This resulted in Acosta calling for a board recess where the board left the room for approximately 30 minutes. During that time, those who were unable to speak delivered their remarks through a microphone to those still in the chambers, and some placed signs at the podium and Acosta’s seat on the dais demanding she and Vice President Oscar Soto be voted out in this year’s election.

When the board returned to the room, Acosta cautioned that any further disruptions would result in the room being cleared.

“It’s the purpose of the board to conduct the district’s business in public,” she said. “Unruly conduct is not allowed at board meetings. I have given now already, this will be the second warning on this item. If I have to recess the meeting again, we will and we will clear the room.”

Although there were verbal outcries during later items, the rest of the meeting largely continued without incident.