Quick Take
Three incumbents on the Pajaro Valley Unified School District governing board lost their seats to three newcomers in the November election. District community members talked to Lookout about how they think that happened.
Perhaps no elected board in the county will see more change next year than Pajaro Valley Unified School District. The November election ousted three sitting incumbents. Another two seats have turned over because of departures.
Several district parents and educators, along with current and former trustees, say the change is welcome after months of tension over a controversial ethnic studies contract and to add fresh voices to a board that some say was not responsive enough to their concerns amid a period of uncertainty with budget challenges and declining enrollment.
“To be quite honest, I am not surprised about the results because I feel that the community is ready for something else,” said Edith Ruiz, a parent and bilingual kindergarten teacher with the district.
Last month’s election saw three trustees lose their seats: Board president Georgia Acosta lost to Carol Turley, vice president Oscar Soto to Gabriel Medina, and trustee Adam Bolaños Scow to Jessica Carrasco.
Misty Navarro joined the board in October after Jennifer Holm, trustee for Area 7, resigned. And the board will also have to decide how to fill a vacancy left by Kim De Serpa, who was elected to the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors. The board will ultimately have to vote on whether to hold a special election with an $80,000 price tag or appoint someone to replace De Serpa.
In the end, there will be five new faces on the seven-member board next year, leaving just Daniel Dodge Jr. and Olivia Flores as trustees who have been on the board for any length of time.
One of the biggest issues in the election was an ongoing controversy over the district’s ethnic studies curriculum.
Last September, the board voted not to renew a contract with Community Responsive Education, a consulting firm run by Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales, a professor in the Asian American studies department at San Francisco State University.
Tintiangco-Cubales had helped the district develop its ethnic studies curriculum and was going to train school administrators. But the board opted not to renew her contract for a third year over allegations of antisemitism stemming from Tintiangco-Cubales’ involvement with a 2019 state model curriculum that erupted in controversy over how to characterize the Israel-Palestine conflict.
The curriculum, which is currently being taught in classrooms, has found widespread support among teachers and students. That has prompted repeated calls from many district community members to renew Tintiangco-Cubales’ contract for a third year in order to continue training administrators. But the board has not reopened discussions in the past year under Soto and Acosta’s leadership.
Acosta and Soto didn’t respond to repeated requests for comment for this story. Outgoing trustee Scow said he valued his time on the board and was happy with what he achieved, but did not respond directly to questions about what he believed led to his election defeat.
“It has been my honor to serve as a PVUSD board trustee and succeed in protecting vital arts and music programs, awarding substantial raises to our teachers, classified staff, and administrators, and bringing an excellent and fair superintendent to our district,” Scow said. “While the district continues to deal with several long-standing challenges, I’m optimistic that the improvements we’ve made have positioned PVUSD to move forward in a positive direction.”
Trustee Dodge said he believes the ethnic studies curriculum debate was probably the biggest factor in the election. “It was kind of surprising, the way the board shifted,” he said about the results. “But I’ve known, for the last year, we’ve had issues that people felt strongly about – the ethnic studies contract. People felt passionately.”
In particular, several people pointed to frustration with the lack of opportunity for their voices to be heard on the issue by the board. That was made worse when Acosta, as board president, announced in July that the board was limiting the public comment period at meetings to 30 minutes, said student trustee Daniel Esqueda.
“There’s been a lot of tension on the board, obviously, with the whole CRE contract and the limit that was put on public comment, that has also kind of enraged the public,” he said.
Watsonville Adult School teacher Pam Sexton said Acosta and Soto disappointed community members in how they handled the ethnic studies controversy. “I feel like [the election results] reflect the community spirit. I’m really happy,” she said. “It really had to do with a reaction against, particularly the leadership of the current board.”
Turley said she promised voters that she would work to understand the dispute and if nothing in the curriculum was antisemitic or racist, she would support renewing the contract with CRE.
“All I ever said was, I want to listen to all sides. I want to understand it. I want to have a better understanding of how the program or that curriculum is used and taught,” she said. “I’d like to understand better what the objections are, and if no one can really show me in that curriculum something that’s clearly racist, I will support bringing it back.”
Candidates and election observers cited several other forces that likely shaped the final results.
Turley, who previously led an unsuccessful recall campaign against Acosta over her efforts to fire former superintendent Michelle Rodriguez, added that she believes community members also remembered that controversy when they were casting ballots. Rodriguez was fired by the board in 2021 but reinstated a few days later. She left in 2023 for a school district in Stockton.
“I think a lot of people remembered the way that Georgia orchestrated firing the superintendent in 2022,” said Turley. “I think people thought that was pretty shady.”
District 4 County Supervisor Felipe Hernandez lives in Soto’s area, Area 3, and endorsed him. Hernandez said he thinks what elections come down to is feet on the ground and outreach.
“The only thing that candidates have is how much they contact the voters, how much they knock on doors – that makes a big difference,” he said. “I think that that’s probably what happened in these elections.”
Esqueda, the student trustee on the district’s board this school year, said he also heard from many voters that Turley, Medina and Carrasco canvassed strongly across their areas.
“Speaking to Carol, Jessica and Gabriel, their canvassing efforts were much stronger,” he said. “I’ve talked to voters, and I know, they also had a lot of volunteers. They were constantly going out. That also plays a big part in the election, speaking to voters directly.”
As for Medina’s victory over Soto, Medina said he thinks he led a stronger canvassing campaign.
“I think one is just making myself available to the community,” he said. “I would be really out there just kind of relaying my message, talking to people at the market, going for walks and just talking to people.”
He added that Soto campaigned as someone who could bring continuity, while he himself campaigned on change.
“I am a change candidate,” he said. “I am young. I am from the area. I was born within these systems that were put on me by the school district, so I know how they impact us.”
Looking forward to a board of mostly new members, Esqueda said he’s excited to serve with them.
“These board members will have a lot of challenges presented in front of them,” he said. “I’m hopeful that they’ll do the right thing and listen to the community’s input.”
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