Cordiality followed by anger and threats: A night at the Fresno Unified school board meeting
Two hours of tedium followed by 50 minutes of anger and threats.
How to describe Wednesday night’s Fresno Unified School Board meeting in 12 words.
Compared to the Feb. 2 meeting, an uproarious affair that concluded with a speaker shouting “Stand down, Marine!” at rogue trustee Terry Slatic (a moment of pure hilarity, if you ask me), the latest gathering was rather tame. Largely because only one side of the argument involving masks and vaccines on school campuses bothered to show up.
Thanks in part to a re-worked agenda that pushed public comment to the end and did away with the usual trustee-board communications — probably to prevent Slatic from further haranguing Superintendent Bob Nelson — board members got through all their scheduled business. But not before absorbing 20 tongue-lashings from the COVID-protocols-are-bunk and you’re-all-part-of-the-tyranical-government crowd.
Charming group, I tell you.
School board meetings across California have become even more absurdist political theater during the pandemic. This was my first time seeing the performance live in person.
The drama at Fresno Unified meetings escalated following a tweet by Trustee Veva Islas (on her locked personal account) that local conservative firebrands seized upon to both lash out at her and stoke their own base.
Right-wing video streamer Josh Fulfer admitted as much. Until Islas’ tweet, he was attending Clovis Unified School Board meetings. But once Fulfer heard “Brown Berets” were rallying at the Feb. 2 Fresno Unified meeting in support of Islas, he made darn sure his side was well-represented, too.
“It’s red vs. blue,” Fulfer told me in the lobby at FUSD headquarters.
Unlike two weeks ago, the blue side was largely MIA. No sign of Brown Berets or any civilian group with militaristic tendencies. Rather, the seating area was filled to capacity by maskless conservatives (90 percent of them white) looking to either witness or be part of the show.
Extra security measures were enforced. For the first time in recent memory, those in attendance were wanded with hand-held metal detectors before being allowed inside. Three Fresno police officers were on duty instead of the usual one.
Before getting to the main event (public comment, natch), we were treated to two hours of presentations and discourse about such mundane topics as classroom air filters, how the Project Labor Agreement ensures Fresno workers will be hired for district construction projects and a new program to fast track interested high school students into apprenticeship trades.
The questions posed by board members, Slatic in particular, were detailed and earnest. The tone between the trustees, both among themselves and with Nelson, was cordial. For one meeting, at least, the internal strife that has plagued this board was set aside.
How did the public take it all in? With a collective yawn. Sitting in a chair against the back wall, I could see many people with drooped heads thumbing through their phones. One woman, who later chastised board members in harsh tones for enforcing masks, played Tetris.
Normally, members of the public are given three minutes at the lectern. Board President Elizabeth Jonasson-Rosas must’ve not been in the mood. Citing the 25 people who signed up in advance, she slashed each speaker’s allotment to 2 minutes even though (as one pointed out) they could’ve been given 3 minutes each and the meeting still concluded by 9 p.m.
Felt as if 50 minutes of negative feedback, some of it quite threatening, is all board members could handle.
After listening to the majority of it, honestly, I can sympathize.
Public comment or coordinated stunt?
Allotting time for citizens to speak their peace to elected officials at public meetings is a necessary part of our democracy — even though very often it feels like a pointless exercise.
Wednesday felt like a coordinated stunt. All but one of the 22 speakers lashed out at the board for some reason or another, the majority armed with falsehoods and ridiculous analogies.
No, COVID-19 vaccines administered to billions of people worldwide cannot be compared to the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. No, board members are not held to the Nuremberg Code. M-RNA vaccines are not experimental drugs lacking Food and Drug Administration approval. The contract between the district and Fresno Police Department was not “defunded.” Trustees are not looking for the Biden administration to “save” them.
Then came the impotent threats. One angry speaker threatened that if the district doesn’t stop requiring students to wear masks, end all COVID testing for staff and close up all vaccine clinics on school campuses — and within five days — then each and every board member would be voted out. (All except Slatic, presumably, who is going an bang-up job of that on his own.)
As if a few dozen white conservatives could ever hope to oust the school board member representing Edison High. Or the ones who represent the McLane, Roosevelt or Sunnyside areas. No matter how many cardboard boxes filled with file folders they carry into a meeting and set in front of the dais.
Since every board member besides Slatic wore a mask, it was impossible to tell if they maintained any semblance of a poker face. But credit to them for managing to avoid rolling their eyes. Unlike myself.
This story was originally published February 17, 2022 at 3:21 PM.
