Slatic called ‘racist’ - again - during argument at Fresno Unified schools meeting

Two Fresno Unified School District board members called comments by Trustee Terry Slatic racist at Wednesday night’s regular meeting.

Board members were discussing a project that would replace a fence around Bullard High School to increase student safety and security. It would cost $1.2 million.

“Bullard High School has a more ethnically diverse student population than the majority of other Fresno Unified district high schools,” Slatic said. “Fences exist at many FUSD schools and high schools to limit entry and exit points to the campus and help manage campus safety.”

Slatic said he’d heard from police officers that there’s a correlation between schools with large numbers of intra-district transfer students — like Bullard High — and school safety issues.

Trustees Veva Islas and Elizabeth Jonasson-Rosas said the idea that diverse schools require more security was “racist.”

“I find offensive the idea that having a diverse campus necessitates security,” Islas said. “That is an illogical argument.”

Slatic responded: “Fresno PD will tell you, trustees, if you were to inquire that the diversity of the student population has a direct correlation and causation with gang activity. It’s the way it is, trustees, whether you like that narrative or not. Ask your favorite cop. So it’s not me saying it, ask (police). I know you’re very anti-cop, Trustee Islas.”

Islas responded and said she is “offended” to be called “anti-police” but said she is “anti-racist.”

“I find your remarks to be very racist,” Islas told Slatic.

Slatic responded and said Islas remarks are full of “hatred.”

Jonasson-Rosas proposed not to move forward with the project, and the board passed it 4-2, with Slatic and Trustee Claudia Cazares casting no votes. Trustee Keshia Thomas was absent.

Jonasson-Rosas said she doesn’t think having a fence would prevent student altercations or violence and said the board has more pressing matters like getting students back on campuses during a pandemic.

“I might have been more amenable to changing my motion prior to Trustee Slatic’s comments, which were obviously racist and have nothing to do with the fence,” Jonasson-Rosas said. “I’m sorry there are increased altercations on the Bullard campus, and maybe that has something to do with the culture, and culture comes from the top.”

After the meeting, Slatic told the Ed Lab that he didn’t mean to imply diverse schools need more security but that schools with high district transfers need more security. He acknowledged that higher numbers of district transfers creates more diversity on campuses.

“My response is there are trustees on this board, those are two of them, with the most vitriolic race haters that I’ve seen in my 34 countries, 49 states, and two wars,” Slatic said, a retired U.S. Marine.

Islas said Slatic calling her a “race hater” is a “baseless” claim, and he made the conversation about race, not Jonasson-Rosas or herself.

“He doubled down on his racist remarks by stating that ‘any good cop’ will tell you increased diversity will lead to increased violence,” she told the Ed Lab. “He frequently reveals his racist tendencies. What is factual is his culturally destructive bias.”

Jonasson-Rosas told the Ed Lab that if any comments were racist, it was Slatics.

“The irony of the situation is he, with comments like those, fuels the fire of fights and discord that ultimately cause fights and stuff to happen, which is why he is pushing for the fence,” she said. “It’s comments like those that really incite violence and fights and animosity, you see. As leaders, we ought to know better and do better.”

Why get the fence?

In the last two years, he said during the meeting, Bullard High has had two of its campus police officers injured in “brawls and altercations” with students. There have also been numerous student arrests.

The Bullard High fence is currently smaller than the standard size fences at other Fresno Unified schools. It was built in the late 1950s early 60s when the school opened, said Karin Temple, chief operations officer at the district.

Officials at Bullard High have requested the fence be replaced with a taller fence because of incidents of vandalism and students entering campus after hours, Temple said. It’s the highest priority for the Bullard community, and it’s been on a project priority list for about two years.

“I’ve heard this board voice the importance of facility equity and campus safety hundreds of times on my time on this board,” Slatic said during the meeting. “I don’t understand why this one is any different.”

Islas said fencing is a security feature and creating single points of entry onto campuses is needed.

“What was at issue was the priority of this investment now given the many other urgent needs that the district needs to address,” Islas said. “Students are not on campus and we have no idea how soon that will even happen.”

Slatic controversies as FUSD board member

It’s not the first time Slatic has been involved with controversy or clashed with others, including FUSD trustees, over issues of race.

Last year, a prominent Latino pastor in Fresno said Slatic told the pastor to “go back to the barrio” after an argument erupted during an informal meeting. Slatic flatly denied using the phrase and said the pastor was “bearing false witness.”

Other trustees also criticized Slatic in October after he cast the lone “no” vote on a resolution formally declaring Fresno Unified an anti-racist institution. Slatic said the resolution was unnecessary and “political.”

Slatic has been involved in a string of controversies since his election in late 2018. He previously was censured by his fellow FUSD trustees, a move he has challenged.

The censure stemmed from incidents in 2019 when Slatic grabbed a student’s backpack during a confrontation and a separate incident when he scolded Bullard cheerleaders during practice.

The 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.

However, two district investigations concluded Slatic had violated board policies.

This story was originally published February 3, 2021 at 7:58 PM.