Fresno Unified makes big changes after second chaotic meeting but tensions remain high
Wednesday’s regular meeting of the Fresno Unified school board will see significant changes after its last meeting ended in shouting.
Speaking with The Bee’s Education Lab on Monday, FUSD Board President Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas described the changes as a necessary response to the chaos that ended the board’s Feb. 2 meeting. Jonasson Rosas abruptly halted that meeting following numerous tense exchanges between people in the audience and among trustees.
But it was a heated exchange between Trustee Terry Slatic and resident Jessica Mahoney that ended the Feb. 2 meeting. Mahoney, speaking during the meeting’s public comment period, used some of her time to lament that a recall effort against Slatic had failed to get off the ground.
The meeting devolved as Slatic spoke over Mahoney and demanded that Jonasson Rosas have Mahoney removed.
The angry argument was the culmination of a tense meeting that saw more than a dozen community members call for the resignation of Trustee Veva Islas over recent comments on Twitter regarding people refusing COVID-19 vaccinations.
It was the second time in the last six months that a Fresno Unified board meeting ended with unfinished business.
Fresno Unified changes security, rules
Jonasson Rosas said the district has requested more security from the Fresno Police Department and added metal detectors.
Additionally, Jonasson Rosas confirmed, the portion of the meeting dedicated to communications to and from trustees and the superintendent in open session has been eliminated.
Finally, Jonasson Rosas said the public comment period reserved for residents to address the board on any topic has been moved to the end of the meeting.
The changes are expected to begin Wednesday and continue until further notice.
“People have the right to feel safe (at board meetings) and many (people) expressed they didn’t feel safe, and this is a response to that,” Jonasson Rosas said.
But the changes will do nothing to quell tensions between school board trustees.
In an interview early Monday, Slatic said the changes were “unprecedented” as well as “unnecessary” and “hypocritical.”
“I’m fine with the metal detectors, and I fully support the police, so I’m fine with adding (four more) cops,” Slatic said. “But what does eliminating board communications have to do with security? It has nothing to do with security.”
Slatic said his fellow trustees never object when someone from the public criticizes him, including calling him an “American terrorist,” which occurred during the Feb. 2 meeting, or a “racist,” which has happened on multiple occasions during Slatic’s tenure. Some of his fellow trustees have also criticized remarks made by Slatic as racist.
Jonasson Rosas said the agenda changes were less about security and more about “maintaining orderly conduct of board meetings.”
“He (Slatic) necessitates these changes with his continuously escalating behavior,” the board president responded. “If he didn’t want these (changes) put in place, then he shouldn’t have behaved the way he did.”
But Slatic said Jonasson Rosas is performing to advance her political career. He also repeatedly said his fellow trustees were trying to “shut down any speech they don’t like.”
“I think the board president has lost her mind. It’s probably an aneurysm,” Slatic said. “She’s simply looking to quiet anybody who disagrees with her on anything. It’s that simple.”
Slatic insisted trustees pushing for these changes are “only trying to sell their radical leftist agenda.”
“These morons who serve on this board — these radical leftist, race-hating, victimhood proselytizers — just want to stifle opinions,” Slatic said.
When asked whether calling his fellow trustees “morons” and “crazy” contributed to the district’s problems, Slatic said no.
“If someone does something this far outside the lines, I’m comfortable calling it ‘crazy,’” Slatic said. “My constituents know the hypocrisy filter on this board is full and overflowing.”
Jonasson Rosas brushed off Slatic’s comments.
“I’m not going to respond to name-calling, but I will say that it’s wrong to characterize it as ‘crazy’ when other jurisdictions have metal detectors, and he’s the one necessitating these changes with his behavior,” she said.
She said the continuing issues with Slatic “are detracting from the really good work being done by the district.”
“The inappropriate behavior is overshadowing the important work of thousands of staff, students, community members, and parents do every day in this district,” Jonasson Rosas said.
She noted among recent accomplishments the expansion of career technical education at Duncan Polytechnical High School, construction plans at the new Farber educational campus, and the approval to hire more than 300 district employees to combat staffing issues.
“The story of FUSD is what we are doing on behalf of kids, not adult drama,” Jonasson Rosas said.
Tension running high among Fresno Unified trustees
A meeting in late August ended after Slatic appeared to stage a kind-of filibuster, which he later described as a response to board rule changes he said limited his access to Superintendent Bob Nelson.
Then-FUSD Board President Valerie Davis ended the school board meeting after less than a full hour following numerous failed attempts to silence the disgruntled trustee. But Slatic continued to speak even after his microphone was shut off and parents were trying to address the board directly.
In the days following the late-August meeting debacle, Slatic accused Nelson and four trustees of violating California education laws that require the district to inform teachers when a transfer student has a history of violence.
The Fresno County District Attorney’s Office investigated the case but said they could not prove “that any individual knowingly failed to provide information as required.”
Slatic’s tenure serving on the board of California’s third-largest school district has been fraught with in-fighting and other controversies.
Slatic first was censured in 2019 following multiple confrontations involving Slatic 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.
Those investigations concluded that Slatic violated board policies, including failing to “govern responsibly” and blurring the distinctions between board and staff roles.
The board censured Slatic again in October last year in connection with the incident in late August.
This story was originally published February 14, 2022 at 12:39 PM.