PVUSD board weighs future of ethnic studies contract as community rallies behind program

Pajaro Valley High School sophomore Maximliano Barraza Hernández could have been anywhere else on a Friday afternoon to start his weekend, but instead the 16-year-old was standing at a mic speaking to a meeting at the Watsonville city council chambers. 

He was talking in front of the Pajaro Valley Unified School District’s seven-member governing board and a crowd of more than 50 people. The topic of the meeting was the district’s ethnic studies program. 

Hernández praised the program and the consulting firm Community Responsive Education (CRE) that helped teachers develop the framework that led to the creation of the program at the district’s high schools. 

“I’ve learned that I am free to stand up to authority, that I shouldn’t let myself be pushed around, or that I shouldn’t stay quiet for fear of being shunned,” he said. “I’ve learned about my identity, my family history, and how important it is to be connected to your culture, which is one of the reasons why I’ve started to consume more media in Spanish.” 

For more than a year, dozens of students like Hernández have been regularly attending PVUSD’s board meetings to tell trustees the importance of CRE and to demand they renew a contract with the firm after the board declined to do so in September 2023. The board hasn’t taken any action on the contract since then, but has maintained the district’s ethnic studies program. 

The board’s decision not to renew the contract stems from concerns about antisemitism by several community members and two former trustees involving CRE co-founder Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales, a professor in the Asian American studies department at San Francisco State University. The concerns relate to Tintiangco-Cubales’s involvement with a 2019 model curriculum developed for the state that was rejected by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The district worked with CRE and Tintiangco-Cubales between 2021 and 2023, responding to California legislation that requires all public schools to offer ethnic studies courses by 2025 and makes such courses a graduation requirement by 2030. 

During a series of board meetings for more than a year, dozens of students, teachers, district staff and even trustees have said they haven’t seen anything antisemitic, discriminatory or hateful in any of the district’s ethnic studies materials or courses, as several community members have alleged. Rather, they’ve seen the opposite. 

Trustee Joy Flynn said after reviewing the program, she thinks it powerfully helps students get to know themselves. 

“I saw no antisemitism,” she said. “I saw love. It jumped out at me.”

The board scheduled Friday’s study session in January to allow district staff to present information on the history of the development of the district’s program, how it worked with CRE and to begin talking about the next steps – for example, a new contract with a professional development firm. The district staff and teachers say they need an outside firm to help create a professional development series so that when new ethnic studies teachers join they can receive support and training to align them with the program. 

In addition, they scheduled two town halls to have more dialogue between the community and trustees and district staff. The first town hall will be at the Aptos High School cafeteria on Tuesday, April 1, at 6 p.m. and then a second one Wednesday, April, 2 at 6 p.m. at the Henry J. Mello Center for the Performing Arts at Watsonville High School.

The district plans to present the board with a new contract for a professional development consultant on April 16. Should trustees decide to go ahead with hiring a consultant, they will then vote on a new contract at a May 7 meeting. The district has not indicated if it plans to rehire CRE or a different consultant.

While the majority of the 19 people who spoke during public comment at Friday’s meeting were in support of the district’s program or renewing the CRE contract, five people either spoke directly or indirectly against CRE and the district’s program. 

A longtime vocal opponent of CRE, Roz Shorenstein was one of those who spoke against renewing the contract. She said concepts of “oppressor, oppressed, power struggles and decolonization” should not be brought into schools. 

“This ideology can be weaponized to violate civil rights and promote hatred and violence against Jews, Hindus and others,” she said. “There are many other choices for professional and curriculum development, emphasizing accurate history, critical thinking and civil discourse at a level appropriate for young students. Take this opportunity to choose education, not indoctrination, resilience, not resistance, tolerance, not hostility. Please do not rehire CRE.”

She added that she’s provided resources to the board and superintendent to show how the ethnic studies structure that “CRE has provided is deeply anti-Zionist and antisemitic. That’s for us to determine, not for these other people. And please, believe me, it is.” She didn’t cite any specific examples of antisemitism during the meeting.

The other speakers during public comment, and district staff and trustees, however, spoke very highly of the program throughout the presentation and discussion. 

One of the presenters was Rich Moran, director of English language arts, social studies and ethnic studies, who said he’s seen the impact the courses have on students.

“The motivation level is through the roof,” he said of students’ commitment to learn.   

During the district presentation, two teachers spoke about lessons they teach students in ethnic studies history and English courses. 

Aptos High School English teacher Greg Ford described a project he does with 12th graders in his English ethnic studies class. The students spend four to five weeks writing a book focused on an identity or trait that they have and wished they had read in a book when they were growing up. 

“It’s all an effort to increase empathy and understanding,” he said. “The project is designed to leverage each student’s lived experience as a vehicle for empowerment of themselves.” 

Pajaro Valley High School History teacher Sandino Gomez described an assignment where students compared different texts about the Santa Cruz Mission. They read a brochure developed by California State Parks and another brochure developed by the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, whose native ancestors inhabited the area. 

He said students immediately noticed the difference between the State Parks brochure, which describes the “hard work of the original Indian inhabitants” to build the mission, and the phrase “forced labor and slavery” to describe the same thing in the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band brochure.

Later in the meeting, Gomez addressed the concerns of antisemitism in the program. He said he helped develop the ethnic studies world history course and knows what educators teach in those courses. 

“I do not believe the Israel-Palestine conflict is included there. We do talk about the Holocaust and the genocide,” he said.  “We absolutely discuss it in the world history class. We talk about antisemitism as another form of oppression during the U.S. history class as we’re talking about immigration.” 

He added that he never heard one antisemitic word taught and no one teaches hatred. 

“It’s insulting to hear people claim that we’re doing that,” he said. “Because they’re not in the classrooms, they’re not in the meetings, they’re not in the training.”

After the presentation, the trustees shared a range of personal stories about why they value ethnic studies, and several spoke highly of what they’d seen about the district’s program. Trustee Daniel Dodge Jr. talked about his upbringing, including the importance of the Filipino community, and apologized for how his vote to not renew the contract impacted the Filipino community.

“I didn’t know two years ago that my vote would affect the histories of these people,” he said. “I would like to apologize to the Filipino community of Watsonville and to all the Filipinos whose history, sacrifice and dedication help shape the Pajaro Valley.”

Trustee Gabe Medina said “the last thing that we need is somebody telling us that our history doesn’t matter” and added that he felt he and two other trustees were elected by many of the attendees to advocate for the renewal of CRE. 

“I hope my fellow trustees really see that you have a big decision in your hands,” he said. “Three of us were elected because the people chose to put us in these seats to advocate for them.”

Trustee Carol Turley said it’s important that stories aren’t erased and shared that her daughter, who is a teacher, attended a meeting with CRE staff at her school in the Bay Area.

“My daughter said that she grew such insight into her students,” she said, “and how she could understand behaviors she might see in students that are triggered by things that she, in her experience, couldn’t understand. It’s helped her – she’s become a better teacher.”

Trustee Jessica Carrasco, a former ethnic studies teacher, said she misses being in the classroom and thinks ethnic studies helps students to have empathy and learn to listen. 

“I firmly believe that ethnic studies guides students in a positive direction and helps them build resilience, confidence and understanding,” she said. “Ethnic studies is why I do art, because I understand the impact that images, symbols … can have on people.”

Trustee Misty Navarro said that one of the stakeholders she met recently with was Tintiangco-Cubales. 

“I don’t think it’s her intention to do anything but spread love,” she said. 

Navarro also addressed the “elephant in the room” as the Israel-Palestine conflict and the war in Gaza. She said she hopes teachers, if they address it, do so carefully. 

“I think everyone’s stories are important, and that would be the one guardrail that I would want to put out there,” she said. 

Toward the end of the meeting, trustee and board chair Olivia Flores asked Assistant Superintendent Claudia Monjaras about potential legislation and its impacts, if any, on the program. 

Monjaras mentioned Assembly Bill 1468, put forward by Assemblymember Dawn Addis, whose district includes portions of Santa Cruz County, and coauthored with Assemblymember Rick Zbur. The bill would set standards for ethnic studies curriculum, require reviews of districts’ curriculum by the State Department of Education and report on compliance annually to the state legislature. 

Monjaras said it wouldn’t impact the program, but would just help PVUSD align with state standards. 

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