Fresno school board moves forward with Slatic’s second censure. Here’s what’s next

Three Fresno Unified trustees have formally requested Terry Slatic be censured a second time.

Trustee Veva Islas formalized the request for censure in an email to the FUSD administration dated Sept. 3. A second censure comes just days after Slatic’s 2019 censure was lifted.

The board voted 4-1 Wednesday to move forward with the process to censure Slatic. A board subcommittee will review the issues and prepare documents for a censure resolution. The board is expected to discuss the censure next at its meeting on Oct. 13.

Islas was the lone “no” vote. Slatic did not vote. Islas said she voted “no” because she wanted an expedited process to censure in this case.

“I think expediting it and making it done as soon as possible is what is being called for us to do,” Islas said.

Slatic said he couldn’t comment on the matter until he sees the formal censure documents detailing his alleged violations of board bylaws.

Slatic’s tenure on the board of California’s third-largest school district has been fraught with in-fighting, but tensions boiled over during the board’s Aug. 27 meeting when Slatic appeared to stage a kind-of filibuster during FUSD’s regular school board meeting.

“The loud talking is totally unnecessary. There are people who experience abuse and violence, and that tone is a trigger. We have decorum. We have stability that requires respect and listening,” Islas said. “We are a school board. We are not the senate. A filibuster is not what we do at the school board.”

Trustee Keshia Thomas said Slatics’s tone, “the cursing, and yelling,” is what led to her wanting the second censure.

“The filibuster was just the cherry on top,” Thomas said. “I refuse to be in a place where I feel unsafe, and right now, I feel unsafe.”

Some members of the public who attended Wednesday’s meeting supported the second censure.

FUSD Board President Valerie Davis ended the Aug. 27 school board meeting after less than a full hour following numerous failed attempts to silence Slatic, who continued to speak even after his microphone was shut off and parents were trying to address the board directly.

Slatic later told The Bee that he was already frustrated by another new rule limiting the time trustees can spend with the superintendent one-on-one. Slatic said he used to meet with Superintendent Bob Nelson “two to three times a month” and said his fellow trustees have “taken away” that opportunity.

But the fight escalated again last week when Slatic publicly accused four trustees, including Thomas, as well as the superintendent, of violating California education laws that require the district to inform teachers when a transfer student has a history of violence. Slatic also said he’d filed a formal complaint with the Fresno County District Attorney’s Public Integrity Unit.

Slatic has said he believes laws that require administrators to disclose to teachers when students have a documented history of violence. While providing no details, Slatic said, “this law has been violated hundreds of times in the last thirty-three months. Each violation (sic) putting our students and staff at risk.”

“Contrary to Trustee Major Slatic’s press release earlier (Monday), Fresno Unified School District is in full compliance with the notification procedures in California Education Code Section 49079,” the district said in a statement.

District officials said Slatic raised the same issue two years ago.

“The District responded with a Board Communication dated October 4th, 2019 that details Fresno Unified’s compliance with each of the requirements in this Education Code provision,” district officials said.

District officials also said Slatic might have violated other school board bylaws by issuing a formal statement on district letterhead “to publicize his own personal viewpoints without the Board President’s approval and without clarifying to the media and the public that his statements are his alone and do not reflect the viewpoint of the Board.

Slatic’s second censure

Slatic has fought with his fellow trustees before, and he’s no stranger to controversy in recent years.

In 2019, the school board formally censured 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 was also involved in a controversy in July 2019 surrounding his behavior at a Bullard High cheer practice when he scolded some 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.

On multiple occasions, trustees have accused Slatic of racism, a charge he has denied each time.

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.”

He’s frequently at odds with trustees, voting against the majority on many issues, including the vote to change Fresno High School’s decades-old logo and the naming of Fresno’s newest school campus.

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. Learn about The Bee’s Education Lab on our website.

This story was originally published September 8, 2021 at 8:21 PM.