Quick Take
The Pajaro Valley Unified School District board voted to nullify two controversial April decisions — a failed censure of former trustee Kim De Serpa and an apology letter to a consultant — amid allegations of violating California’s Brown Act. While the board denied wrongdoing, it agreed to cease potential violations to avoid litigation.
Pajaro Valley Unified School District trustees voted this week to overturn two contentious decisions related to its ethnic studies program — a failed attempt to censure former board member Kim De Serpa and an apology letter to a consultant — after accusations that the board had violated state open-meeting laws.
Community member Marta Bulaich wrote a letter on May 16 to PVUSD Superintendent Heather Contreras and the board accusing trustees of violating the Brown Act, the laws that promote transparency in public meetings, during an April 16 meeting.
At that meeting, trustees approved a resolution that included an apology letter to Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales.
Tintiangco-Cubales is the founder of Community Responsive Education, a consulting firm that helped the district develop its ethnic studies framework, which teachers used to plan their lessons and curriculum. During the April 16 meeting, the board voted to renew a contract with Tintiangco-Cubales more than a year after the district ended its relationship with her over allegations of antisemitism by De Serpa and another former trustee.
At the same meeting, trustee Gabe Medina attempted to censure former trustee De Serpa in a failed vote. Medina argued that De Serpa was responsible for the cancellation of Tintiangco-Cubales’ contract in September 2023, when the trustee accused the consultant of being antisemitic.
The censure and apology were not on the agenda of the April 16 meeting.
On Wednesday, a majority of trustees voted to send a letter to Bulaich saying the board does not admit to any violations of the Brown Act, but was committing to “cease and desist” from any future violations of the law in order to avoid “unnecessary litigation.”
Following Wednesday’s majority vote to declare the apology letter null and void, Contreras reassured attendees that the apology letter to Tintiangco-Cubales would be on the agenda of the next meeting on June 25. Medina abstained from the vote.
Tensions between Medina and board president Olivia Flores surfaced again at Wednesday’s meeting during discussions about revisiting a vote to censure De Serpa. The trustees voted unanimously to declare the censure vote null and void.
Medina asked if trustees would vote again on the censure. Flores, the board president, replied that they wouldn’t: “It did not pass, so no.”
Medina asked if the board’s agenda-setting committee could release a report on the discussion of whether or not trustees would have another vote on the censure item.
“I want it in writing and I want it sent out to the public,” he said.
Flores said she would let Medina know what was discussed and that there wouldn’t be a report, as the committee doesn’t produce minutes or summaries of those meetings.
“Well, we should because a lot of us don’t trust you in that group,” he replied.
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