Fresno Unified board votes to extend trustee’s censure, asks for grand jury investigation
Update: Why Fresno Unified Trustee Terry Slatic’s censure is different as it enters year 2
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A strict censure of a Fresno Unified trustee that asks for a Fresno County Grand Jury investigation and more has been approved by the board in a 6-0 vote.
The vote Wednesday evening extends Trustee Terry Slatic’s censure. Slatic abstained from voting. Last August, the board voted 6-0 to censure Slatic following multiple incidents at Bullard High School.
The censure extension prevents Slatic from attending internal staff meetings and requires him to notify school administrators before visiting a campus throughout the district. In addition to extending the censure, the board is also asking the Fresno County Grand jury and “other appropriate regulatory agencies” to further investigate Slatic’s conduct.
Slatic was elected to a four-year term in November 2018.
Investigations into the Bullard High incidents concluded that Slatic violated board policies, including failing to “govern responsibly” and blurring the distinctions between board and staff roles. The completed investigations involve incidents with an Army recruiter, a wrestling coach, and the time when Slatic grabbed the backpack of a Bullard student and an altercation ensued.
Slatic has also been involved in a controversy since July 2019 surrounding his behavior at a Bullard High cheer practice when he scolded certain cheerleaders over a blackface incident. One cheerleader’s family sought a restraining order against Slatic but failed to convince a judge Slatic’s behavior amounted to harassment. Slatic eventually won $1,000 from the 16-year-old girl’s family to help him recoup part of the legal fees he racked up defending himself.
The censure prohibits Slatic from attending internal staff meetings and requires him to notify school administrators before visiting a campus. If Slatic does go to a school in the district, he needs to be with a chaperone.
The censure also removes Slatic from leadership and committee roles until he takes anger management classes. Slatic has continued to say that he won’t be attending anger management classes and only a judge can order him to.
Slatic asked the board to consider lifting his censure in January but the board didn’t budge. In response to the board’s decision, Slatic filed a formal complaint for damages against Fresno Unified in February as a last-ditch effort to avoid a lawsuit and force the district to eliminate terms of his censure.
As of Wednesday, Slatic has not filed a lawsuit against the district.
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This story was originally published August 12, 2020 at 9:43 PM.