The night demonstrators took over the school board

It was not your ordinary board meeting. Two hundred people, signs waving, demonstrators chanting, police at the ready. It happened Wednesday night, May 23, 2001 during a meeting of the Pajaro Valley Unified School District Governing Board.

On the agenda of the meeting was the certification of the Supplemental Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the latest incarnation of the District's proposed third high school, the one the District has been planning since the need was identified more than 15 years ago.

Much has been said about the project, pro and con and most readers of this publication have tired of it. The preponderance of opinions amount to: "Just build it," or "Just build it somewhere." The back and forth regarding environmental degradation vs. education and student safety vs. the needs of Latinos often elicits "So what."

But the arguments hit a new low on that Wednesday night in May. The District, in its haste to beat a November funding deadline and have the school built for free — that is, paid for by the people of the State rather than by the people of District — wrote and certified a questionable EIR. The list of half-truths, untruths and misinformation within its various bindings is quite staggering.

The people assembled at the Rolling Hills multi-purpose room — the regular Board room could not accommodate the demonstrators invited — were not there to discuss the technical details of an EIR. They came to express their support for the proposed school and their frustration that it has taken so long. They weren't interested in arguments that they deserved better.

They didn't want to hear that the site was too small for a comprehensive high school — no football, no track, no baseball, no swimming pool, no performing arts center. Neither did they appreciate that some people with absolutely no financial stake in the game, no political hay to make, no "home in the 'hood," no "dog in the hunt," supported their needs but insisted on a school site equal to those elsewhere in the county.

A comparison of the proposed site vs. other comprehensive high schools in the county is a real eye opener. No other school has nearly as many negative impacts — airport crash zone, landfills, pesticides, isolation — and none lacks the previously mentioned features. And it's curious that the District solves its overcrowding problem by proposing the most crowded high school in the county — approximately 70 students per acre vs. an average of about 31.

But let's get back to the Wednesday night debacle.

The meeting began like other school board meetings but quickly spun out of control when a young Latina woman addressed the largely Latino audience. A Sierra Club Environmental Justice employee, she argued the site was an example of environmental racism — dedicating toxic or environmentally inferior land for minority use and preserving superior land for whites. The predominantly Latino demonstrators would hear none of it.

The protesters and others, who spoke against what they saw as an outsider mingling in Watsonville affairs, apparently knew the Latina had snubbed the political establishment just three days earlier. Lead by the Assemblymen from Boulder Creek and the one from Salinas, the politicians had offered to discuss her concerns in a public forum. When the public forum became an "invitation only" meeting, she refused, infuriating the politicians. This school board meeting would be their revenge. Custer would have fared no better had his ambush occurred there.

Leading the charge surprisingly was the Superintendent who attacked the Latina for not meeting with the "community." The protesters, including the Brown Berets, a self described group of Latino youth claiming the social justice high ground, seized the moment and chanted for the Latina's exit. The school board gavel was curiously silent.

One Brown Beret wore a tee shirt with the likeness of Che Guevara who, I suspect, was turning in his new Cuban grave. Rebellious Latino youth siding with businessmen seeking development opportunities, upwardly mobile politicians, school administrators who live far away, and growers whose fortunes were made on the backs of mothers and fathers of these same Latino youth simply strains the imagination.

Again, back to the meeting.

An opponent of the site took the floor and started to make her case. When she mentioned environmental racism and the Sierra Club Latina, the protesters erupted. The chanting was loud and rhythmic. This publication called it an "angry outburst." The chant has been reported as "guera, guera, guera" meaning "white woman" or "fuera, fuera, fuera," meaning "get out." Neither is appropriate for a governmental meeting, but the gavel remained silent.

Some may want to settle the dispute about what was chanted, but alas, that will be impossible. Though the district routinely makes an audio recording of all its meetings, the recording equipment reportedly failed at this one, and the Superintendent claims there is no tape.

One witness said the divisiveness exhibited at the meeting set the District's efforts to improve communication between Latinos and Anglos back for many years to come. The Superintendent, on the other hand, wrote that the meeting represented the "heart and soul" of the district.

I hope both are wrong.

Peter Nichols is a writer and publisher of this web site. He also teaches Adult Ed. for P.V.U.S.D. His opinions do not reflect those of his employers, any print publication or of any site linking to this one.

© Peter Nichols, 2001