PVUSD trustees reject Medina censure

Editor’s note: This story has been updated from a previous version.

The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees rejected a move to censure Trustee Gabriel Medina during a clamorous public board meeting on May 7 that included public outcry and bickering among board members.

Trustee Misty Navarro and Board President Olivia Flores cast the only yes votes. Trustee Daniel Dodge Jr. was absent.

The move to censure Medina came after several meetings in which some board members accused him of bullying behavior, antisemitism and making motions not on the board agenda. Reports on that meeting were picked up by Jewish news outlets around the world.

PVUSD Chief Business Officer Jenny Im, who in March announced she was leaving the district, directly addressed Medina at a recent meeting, saying she has never been treated the way he treated her.

During the May 7 meeting, three women sitting on the Board were crying as they discussed the censure. 

Speaking about an April 23 closed-session meeting, Board President Olivia Flores described aggressive, bullying behavior by Medina.

This includes him yelling continually at fellow board members, and repeatedly telling one to “shut the f**k up,” according to the resolution.

He also repeatedly addressed a female fellow Board member as “Barbie,” and shouted several times, “Come at me, Barbie.”

Flores penned the resolution with Roman Muñoz from the law firm Lozano Smith, who also witnessed the incident.

“I have never in my entire life been treated the way I was treated that night,” said Flores, as she battled tears. “I can’t stand here and allow someone to speak to me that way and let it go unchecked.”

Trustee Misty Navarro, who works as an emergency room physician, said she wanted the censure to send a message to the community.

She said that Medina uses his social media platform to bully and intimidate people, and that she has spoken with district employees, teachers, community members who say they are afraid to speak up for being afraid of being “caught in his crosshairs.”

“It would be a disservice to my kids to not stand up to this bullying behavior,” she said. “It would be a disservice to the students of our community to not stand up to this bullying behavior. I got called Barbie, that’s Doctor Barbie to you, thank you very much.”

Allegations in the resolution

Jan. 15: Medina objected to an agreement with a volunteer student teacher because of her affiliation with a Christian university associated with the evangelical movement. The volunteer tearfully explained she wouldn’t bring religion into the classroom, according to members of the Board.

Feb. 25: Medina posted on his “medina4pvusd” Instagram page a picture of an employee wearing a MAGA baseball hat, which the district says subjected the employee to “public scrutiny for expressing his political views,” and said the district should take “immediate and decisive action” against the employee.

April 16: Medina referred to a group of Jewish audience members as “you people,” accusing them of coming to Board meetings so “[they] can tell Brown people who they are.”

April 16: Medina made a motion to censure former Board member Kim De Serpa, a Jewish woman who was against a proposed ethnic studies course because she said it contained antisemitic text, and direct the superintendent to issue an apology letter, neither of which were on the agenda.

The responses

In his rebuttal, Medina said the resolution to censure him was “politically motivated.”

“This censure is not about ethics, policy or decorum,” he said. “It is a politically motivated attempt to discredit me for doing exactly what I was elected to do: ask difficult questions, speak uncomfortable truths and represent my community without apology.”

In aiming to censure him, Medina said the board was “curating punishment, not upholding policy.” 

Medina also questioned why Board criticism is not fairly applied, and asked why no action occurred when former trustee Oscar Soto publicly reprimanded Student Trustee Daniel Esqueda. 

He also gave more context to the name-calling allegations.

“I did call her Barbie. Do you know why? Because she called me Donald Trump, flipped me off and said ‘F you’ under her breath,” he said. “Why isn’t that mentioned in this (resolution)?”

Navarro acknowledged she used that name.

“I think how he speaks to people reminds me of Trump, and that’s what I told him,” she said. 

Trustee Joy Flynn said she has been under scrutiny for comments she made during the April 16 board meeting that were labeled as antisemitic when she spoke of “economic power historically held by the Jewish community.”

She addressed and apologized for those comments, telling the public that the Jewish community is “wide-ranging” and “is not a monolith.” 

“My hope is that we can use this opportunity as a turning point,” Flynn said.

Several times throughout the meeting, spectators jeered at the trustees, prompting Navarro to threaten to clear the room.

Community members were divided in their stance on Medina’s and Flynn’s comments and the resolution to censure Medina. 

Judy Yokel, President of Temple Beth El in Aptos, said that Medina’s previous comments sent a “shockwave of pain, fear, and anger” through the Jewish community.

Another member of the Jewish community, Gil Stein, told Medina, “Enough is enough. Your conduct is unacceptable for a public officer.” 

Many people came out in support of Medina. Some held up signs that said “We stand with Gabe” while others spoke. 

“Gabe Medina does not deserve to be silenced or censured,” said Shirley Flores Munoz, an instructor at Cabrillo College. 

Bobby Pelz, an English Ethnic Studies teacher at Watsonville High School said he did not consider Medina’s comments at the last board meeting antisemitic.

“I heard Gabe Medina giving voice to a long-silenced and overlooked community,” Pelz said. 

Members of the UC Santa Cruz chapter of the organization Jews Against White Supremacy also defended Medina’s comments and held up signs protesting Israel.

A number of public speakers were more concerned about the community as a whole. 

“This community deserves better,” said Omar Dieguez, a youth outreach specialist at Barrios Unidos in Santa Cruz. Condemning the Board, he told the trustees, “If you can’t do your job, you shouldn’t be up there.”

Bonnie Morr, from Temple Beth El in Aptos, told the board they have a “huge responsibility,” and part of that responsibility is “helping students understand world ethnicities.”

Before making her comment, Trustee Carol Turley began to cry as she took Medina’s hand.

While Medina made comments that “were alarming to me,” Turley said that she had reservations about the agenda, saying it could hinder the board working together effectively.

“I feel like if we take this action, we’re going to make it harder for ourselves to get there,” she said.

Prior to the board’s vote on Medina’s censure resolution, Medina and Navarro each accused the other of name-calling, bullying and lying.

Navarro said that she has invited Medina to talk out their differences. 

“I’ve tried really hard,” she said. “It’s really hard when someone decides who you are without actually taking the time to get to know you.”

But Medina accused Navarro of belittling behavior, saying he is rejecting her offers because of the way she talks to him.

“You also have to acknowledge the way you reach out,” he said. “You constantly pick on me, do you notice that at all?”

Flores and Turley discussed implementing training and mediation programs to help them overcome their conflicts. According to Flores, the trustees have been working in a “hostile and unsafe environment.”

“We hopefully will approve some training…and be able to have some conflict resolution and move beyond this,” Flores said.

Todd Guild contributed to this report.