PVUSD trustee Gabe Medina demands $35K, threatens defamation suit after failed censure

Days after a failed censure attempt against Pajaro Valley Unified School District Trustee Gabe Medina, he threatened the board’s president and vice president with a defamation claim unless they agreed to go to arbitration and settle for $35,000.

In the email addressed to board President Olivia Flores and Vice President Misty Navarro on Friday, Medina wrote that his email was a “formal offer to resolve a defamation claim stemming from false and damaging statements made against me.” 

In an interview Monday, Medina told Lookout that he believes the censure resolution, which accused Medina of “disrespectful and confrontational behavior” and violating board policy, was defamatory. He said he doesn’t dispute the veracity of the events outlined in the resolution but argues that it omitted context which would have portrayed him in a better light. 

As an example, Medina pointed to an exchange he had with Navarro during a closed session, which was referenced in the censure. The resolution noted that Medina told his fellow trustee, “Come at me, Barbie!” But, he said, it neglected to note that Navarro had compared Medina to President Donald Trump and gave him a middle finger, which he said prompted his outburst. 

Medina also argued that the board failed to provide him due process before holding a vote to censure him, saying that he wasn’t adequately informed and that the vote was rushed. 

He added that statements from Flores and Navarro that he is engaged in bullying and misogynistic behavior have also “tarnished” his reputation. Organizations have since canceled five speaking events he had scheduled with them, including several he said would have paid him $500 to $800 each. 

“Rather than pursue immediate litigation, I am offering to resolve this matter through private arbitration,” he wrote in the letter. “I believe this path serves the public interest by avoiding unnecessary legal costs and keeping this dispute out of the courtroom. As part of this resolution, I am seeking $35,000 in damages.”

He said the damages include reputational harm, professional impact and $8,000 to $10,000 in legal and counseling expenses. Medina declined to provide a breakdown of the fees at this point or provide the name of his attorney – who he said helped him write the email to Navarro and Flores. Medina is a freelance video producer and teaches digital media at Cabrillo College. 

His email says that if the trustees reject his demand or if he doesn’t get a response by May 26, he’ll move forward with filing a formal defamation claim in the Santa Cruz County Superior Court.  

However, in an interview with Lookout on Monday, he said he would drop the threat of a lawsuit and the demand to pay him $35,000 in damages if the trustees issue him a formal apology.

“I will accept a formal apology, and I’ll drop this completely from them,” he said. “So if they’re willing to do that, I’ll let this go, but I just need them to make a statement saying that this was extremely one-sided, that not all the facts were presented and they were willfully trying to put me in a bad light and if they could admit to that, I’ll drop this whole thing.”

By Monday afternoon, Medina said he had not received a response from the trustees to his email about a potential defamation claim. 

In an interview with Lookout, Navarro described Medina’s request for arbitration and demand for $35,000 in damages as “sounding like a blackmail letter.” She added that the district’s legal counsel, who helped draft the censure resolution, saw many of the interactions laid out in the resolution: “It’s not hearsay. It’s not a ‘he said, she said.’ These are facts.”

Navarro told Lookout she had no comment about Medina’s request for a formal apology in exchange for dropping his demands, or whether she could comment on the likelihood of trustees’ issuing an apology.

“I don’t really know what to say about that,” she said. “I don’t have a comment on that other than we would not have brought this censure had it not had merit, and it was vetted by the lawyers.”

Navarro and Flores were the only trustees to support passing the censure resolution while trustees Jessica Carrasco, Carol Turley, Joy Flynn and Medina voted against it. Trustee Daniel Dodge Jr. was absent and declined to comment for this story. Navarro told Lookout she initially thought the board had enough votes to pass the item as Turley had agreed to put the item on the agenda.

“It would have never been put on the agenda if trustee Turley was not on board,” said Navarro. “Because she’s on the agenda setting committee, and she changed her mind. That was kind of the domino that fell, but we would have never brought this into action had we not actually thought it would get passed.”

Flores, Carrasco and Turley didn’t respond to requests for comment by publication; Flynn wrote in an emailed response that she was “out of the office” and referred Lookout to fellow trustees. 

Turley told the May 8 meeting that while she had initially approved putting the resolution on the agenda, she later changed her mind and was requesting that the board not move forward with the vote. She said she worried the resolution would further divide the board when she rather hoped for more unity.

Turley also referred to some of Medina’s comments as “alarming” but said the board could have said more to Medina previously to address his comments. 

“I now have a pact with Gabe that when I feel uncomfortable, I’m going to tell him, ‘I feel uncomfortable with what you’re saying. You’re making me anxious.’”

Medina told Lookout that he appreciated feedback from Turley and also Carrasco – who both voted against the censure – that the trustees were alarmed by some things he had said or disagreed with how he delivered his message.

“I think that’s good feedback. This is my first time – I’m only five months in, I think people need to realize that. So I’m getting my footing in,” he said. But yeah, I’m learning as I go. And cool, if I need to scale stuff back, that’s fine.” 

Trustees and community members have lamented that the disputes between board members are distracting the district leaders from addressing the critical issues its schools face right now, like budget cuts, declining enrollment and student achievement. Medina said he still thinks this dispute is important, comparing it to the Trump administration’s efforts to deport some immigrants without due process. 

“Because at a time where nobody’s getting their due process, I feel like this is important for us to state, ‘No, we’re not going to allow these types of things to happen when they’re politically motivated by people,’” he said. 

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