Why Fresno Unified Trustee Terry Slatic’s censure is different as it enters year 2

Fresno Unified School District Trustee Terry Slatic has been embroiled in controversies for most of his time on the board and on Wednesday night the board voted to put stricter guidelines on his censure.

When Slatic was censured last year it prohibited him from attending internal staff meetings and required him to notify school administrators before visiting a campus. If Slatic does visit a school in the district, he needs to be with a chaperone.

The censure also removed 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.

The revised censure asks the Fresno County Grand Jury and “other appropriate regulatory agencies” to further investigate Slatic’s conduct. In addition, it is asking Slatic to attend implicit bias, cultural, and sensitivity training.

Slatic said he does not intend to go to those trainings because he doesn’t believe he needs them and the board can’t order him to do so.

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 to force the district to eliminate terms of his censure.

As of Wednesday, Slatic had not filed a lawsuit against the district.

A ‘liability’ for the district?

“It’s absolutely no surprise to me,” Slatic told The Fresno Bee after the vote. “It doesn’t stress me out in any way and I laugh at the hypocrisy of my fellow trustees. My constituents love what I’m doing and they want me to keep on doing it so I’m at complete peace. I’m going to go have a freaking martini.”

Most of the six other board members said they had hoped they wouldn’t need to revisit Slatic’s censure, but incidents kept happening. The most recent came to light in June involving a local pastor alleging the retired Marine major belittled him and told him “to go back to the barrio.”

Slatic denies the allegations. He was elected to a four-year term in November 2018.

“Trustee Slatic has continued to create a liability for our district,” Trustee Veva Islas said during the meeting. “I have not witnessed any change in his behavior that would merit us rescinding a censure. In fact, I think he is continuing to provoke us to question whether he should remain on this board.”

Islas said she is “worried” about what Slatic might do next and “encourages” him to “take appropriate actions and resign his position so we can bring in a trustee that would fulfill the role as an adequate representative for the Bullard region.”

Slatic said most of the trustees said they haven’t seen him change and “that’s absolutely a true statement.”

“It’s been over five months since any of those trustees, with the exception of Trustee (Carol) Mills, have seen me,” Slatic said.

Last August, the board voted 6-0 to censure Slatic following multiple incidents at Bullard High School. The incidents involved an Army recruiter, a wrestling coach, and a time when Slatic grabbed the backpack of a Bullard student and an altercation ensued.

Investigations into these incidents concluded that Slatic violated board policies, including failing to “govern responsibly” and blurring the distinctions between board and staff roles.

Slatic also has 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 investigations into incidents involving Slatic have cost the district more than $250,000, Trustee Valerie Davis said, the first happening about a month into his term.

Board President Keshia Thomas said she was saddened the board had to have this kind conversation about Slatic with her fellow board members. She said Slatic has bullied her, other board members and district staff.

“You (Slatic) need to get engaged and involved with other people in the district who don’t look like you,” Thomas said. “Everything is not about people who look like you, you have to expand.”

“My feelings are so hurt about this whole process. I was hoping it would be over by now.”

The Education Lab is a local journalism initiative that highlights education issues critical to the advancement of the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by donors. Read more from The Bee’s Education Lab here.

This story was originally published August 13, 2020 at 5:10 AM.