Fallbrook High School Board met Tuesday February 28
Here is the YouTube video of the meeting. The open meeting started at the 1:30 mark. The first hour and a half was the closed meeting.
On the Agenda was an appeal of the Superintendent’s decision to keep the book, Beyond Magenta, on the shelf of the library. There were numerous speakers for and against and then each Board Trustee weighed in with their thoughts on the topic. Supporters of keeping the book, as well as staff, were called names such as pedophile, groomer, grandpa and pedophile supporter by some supporters of banning the book.
Jennifer Jeffries presented the Vince Ross Community Service Scholarship to Domingo Martinez on behalf of the Fallbrook Arts Association. The staff of the Ivy School was also recognized.
The first public speaker was Jason Neese. He said he has 6 children, one of whom attends Fallbrook “Unified” (Ed. note. We don’t have a unified school district. Fallbrook has a Fallbrook Union High School District and another Fallbrook Union Elementary School District.) Neese previously lived in Bonsall where they do have a Unified School District. He is a pastor in Point Loma for the Rock Church. He sometimes makes guest appearances at The Vineyard Church in Fallbrook which was started by Dave Baxter, Fallbrook Public Utilities District Trustee. Baxter’s wife, Stephani, is on the Fallbrook Planning Group as is Jason’s wife, J.J. Dave Baxter spoke out against these books they find objectionable at the last meeting. He’s an “Aw, shucks” kind of guy. Neese ended his speech by saying, “With the exception of Paul (Christiansen), you are on notice… Charges will be filed!”
Mark Mervich spoke on the other side and said a small group was trying to bully the Board into banning books. Several other speakers agreed.
Neese spoke a second time on the topic of Trustee appointed at the last meeting. He said he “needed a cleansing from all this ‘grooming’ going on.” He criticized the Board for not being inclusive by appointing a woman for the seat.
3 1/2 Hours Later
After the public speakers, more than 3 1/2 hours into the meeting, the Superintendent gave her report. Some speakers had threatened a Special Election so they could run against Trustee Dooley. The Superintendent explained that after the elected Trustee, Hilborn, submitted her letter of resignation to the County Board of Education after her first meeting, the Board had voted unanimously to appoint a replacement in order to avoid the cost of a Special Election. The cost would be between $100,000–225,000 for a Special Election. Dooley is a provisional Trustee until 30 days have elapsed from February 13th when he was appointed. He will become permanent at that point unless a petition calling for a Special Election is delivered to the Board with enough signatures from Area 1.
During the meeting, a presentation was given explaining how parents could access a program called Blocksi Parent Dashboard which would allow parents to monitor their child’s screen time and remove access to certain programs and applications beyond those already blocked by the school on their Chromebooks.
The Board voted 3–1, with Christiansen the sole nay vote, to not overrule the school administration’s decision to retain Beyond Magenta in library.
Christiansen said he had 17 pages of things that are wrong with the book nationally. He also said the topic of rape should be introduced by parents or guardians.
Editor’s note: According to Laurenskids.org: (National Association of Adult Survivors of Child Abuse) 1 in 3 girls are sexually abused before the age of 18. (The Advocacy Center) 1 in 5 boys are sexually abused before the age of 18.
The Board also voted for Christiansen’s proposal to change the calendar to hold only one regular meeting a month instead of two. Christiansen had said he heard from his supporters who said they wanted to be able to attend both the Elementary Board meeting and High School meetings.
Fallbrook Regional Health District Meets Wednesday, March 8 at 6 pm
Here is the agenda:
History of Fallbrook Regional Health District — Fallbrook Historical Society
At the last Regional Health District Meeting, some of the new Board members wanted to get a history of the Fallbrook Hospital. The Fallbrook Historical Society published the background of the Regional Health District prior to 2014.
In 2014, the Union Tribune published an article about the closure of the hospital.
Fallbrook Elementary School District Met Monday, February 27th
At the February Elementary School District Board meeting the search for a new superintendent was the dominating topic. Two executive search firms gave presentations, including McPherson and Jacobson, which is partnered with the non-profit California School Board Association. The search firms emphasized how they would help identify the best qualified and most talented educators for the board to consider.
The meeting was well attended, with 26 people attending in person, plus a few others were on-line in in this hybrid meeting. Many of the attendees who lined up to speak during public comment spoke in rambling, disjointed sentences, urging the board not to hire a professional search firm. The common suggestion was that the Board just put an ad in the Village News and hire someone local. The public speakers did not say whether or not they themselves were candidates for the typically more than $100,000 a year superintendent job.
However, the public speakers did urge the Board to not consider education or experience when hiring a superintendent. The public comment speakers’ objection to hiring an educated candidate was that this could result in a “woke agenda person” who would then indoctrinate the children with CRT (Critical Race Theory) and “transgenderism”. The speakers didn’t appear to be joking when they strongly proposed that the Board partner with the Village News to select an uneducated, inexperienced person to lead the Elementary School District.
No decision was made on the matter.
Editor’s note: From ScienceDirect.com, “According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, transgenderism refers to the broad spectrum of people who transiently or persistently identify with a gender different from their natal sex (DSM 5, APA, 2013).” In other words, it’s a medical term, not a political ideology.
