6/22 Weekly Newsletter
Barrios Unidos cut, Spanish-speaking AP win at Pajaro, legal overreach, and a call to organize, speak up, and protect and support our students.
Hola Communidad!
The past few meetings have raised serious concerns, not just about decorum but about democracy. Despite all trustees receiving training and materials on how to run meetings under the Brown Act and Robert’s Rules of Order, we’ve now brought in two attorneys paid directly out of our general fund to reinterpret those same rules at the direction of Board President Olivia Flores. This has left many of us asking: Who is truly leading our board? Is it the President? The Superintendent? Or outside legal voices and county officials from Santa Cruz who were never elected by our community?
This is not just a procedural issue. It’s about power and priorities. Since January, I’ve requested that the board take up urgent matters like a resolution condemning ICE raids, lowering the voting age for school board elections, and holding a special session on bullying. None of these were agendized. Instead, President Flores prioritized a censure attempt to silence me after I spoke out about a MAGA-aligned employee who came onto one of our school campuses and intimidated students and staff. This happened right after we passed a resolution in support of immigrant families. Rather than defending our students, I was targeted.
When I raised concerns about the lack of temporary windows during the Moss Landing fires, I expected us to hold the administration accountable for failing to act. Instead, the board president blamed me for the resignation of a cabinet member who had overseen the project. That’s not leadership. That’s deflection.
Our community continues to face real challenges, from climate disasters to displacement to enforcement actions. Yet President Flores placed two resolutions on the agenda that cater to a small group of individuals who have smeared board members and oppose ethnic studies. She’s ignored emails from constituents, rubber-stamped administrative decisions, and stayed silent on issues that demand a response.
Leadership requires courage. It means responding to constituents, questioning authority when needed, and showing up for the people you were elected to represent. I no longer believe President Flores is willing or able to do that. I’m asking her to step down as board president. At our next meeting, I will make this request formally.
Things are not going to get easier in the months ahead. If we are going to move forward, we must be clear-eyed about who is with our community and who is not.
In solidarity,
Trustee Medina
Agenda Overview
ENGLISH
ESPAÑOL
Next Board Meetings
Regular Board Meeting
Date: Wednesday, June 25, 2025
Time: 6:00 PM
Location: City Council Chambers
275 Main Street 4th Floor Watsonville, CA 95076
Agenda: Access Here
Watch Live: PVUSD YouTube Streaming
Items of Interest
9.2 Special Education Local Plan Area-Annual Service Plan and Budget Plan
9.4 Renewal of Superintendent's Contract
9.6 English Learner Instruction Board Policy - Final read
9.8 Family Engagement Policy and Plan
10.1 Youth Truth Survey Data
10.2 Board Member Reflections on Effective School Solutions Training
11.15 Pajaro Middle School Mural
Pájaro Middle School Gets a Spanish-Speaking Assistant Principal
After the last board meeting, I was extremely disappointed to learn that the Superintendent had hired an outside Assistant Principal who does not speak Spanish. This decision was made despite the fact that the majority of our families at Pájaro Middle are Spanish-speaking and have been asking for better communication and support for years.
I met with students and families, and then brought this concern directly to the Superintendent. I made it clear that this is not just a preference—it’s a necessity for our community. Later that week, after I posted a video expressing my frustration, I received a phone call from the Superintendent letting me know they had found someone who does speak Spanish.
This pattern is becoming clear. When we make requests during board meetings—whether it’s agenda items or urgent topics affecting our schools—they’re often ignored. But once the community speaks out and media begins to circulate, suddenly things start to move. That’s not how public service should work.
As a Trustee, my role is to bring the voices of our community to the district and push for the resources and leadership our families deserve. But under the current leadership, that work is often met with resistance instead of collaboration.
Stand With Barrios Unidos ✊🏽
A few weeks ago, I was informed that the Barrios Unidos contract at Pájaro Valley High School had been quietly canceled. But when I asked who made the decision, the answers didn’t line up. The principal says it came from the district. The district says they had nothing to do with it. So who made the call to remove a program that students rely on?
What we do know is this: Barrios Unidos has been a vital support system for many of our students—especially young men and mujeres looking for a safe space to process their emotions, talk about what they’re going through, and stay focused on their future. The space they created at PVHS was more than a room. It was sacred. It was healing. It was consistent mentorship rooted in cultura, not punishment.
In times like this, when students are navigating trauma, poverty, identity, and pressure inside and outside the classroom, we need programs like Barrios Unidos—not more surveillance, not more police, and not more excuses.
I find it deeply troubling that a group like Barrios Unidos, which has stood with students and spoken out at board meetings, is now being pushed out. It fits a pattern we’ve seen too often: when people advocate boldly for our youth, leadership retaliates instead of reflecting.
This isn’t just about one school or one program. It’s about the kind of district we want to be. Do we invest in community-based healing and mentorship, or do we silence the people doing the work because they speak uncomfortable truths?
I’m asking you to take a moment and send an email to the Board of Trustees and PVHS Principal Todd Wilson. Let them know that our students need Barrios Unidos. Let them know that our youth deserve spaces where they are heard, protected, and empowered.
📧 Principal Todd Wilson
todd_wilson@pvusd.net
📧 Board of Trustees
Olivia Flores – olivia_flores@pvusd.net
Misty Navarro – misty_navarro@pvusd.net
Joy Flynn – joy_flynn@pvusd.net
Carol Turley – carol_turley@pvusd.net
Gabriel Medina – gabriel_medina@pvusd.net
Jessica Carrasco – jessica_carrasco@pvusd.net
Daniel Dodge Jr.– daniel_dodge@pvusd.net
If you want to hear directly from students, check out this powerful podcast episode featuring PVHS youth speaking on what the program meant to them. Their voices say more than any report ever could.
What AI Thinks Is Holding Me Back
Lately I’ve been experimenting with how AI reflects more than just our tasks. I asked it to create an image based on our conversations with this prompt:
“Based on our conversations and what you know about me, create an image that shows what is holding me back and what could move me forward.”
The image caught me off guard. One side showed symbols that felt too familiar: chains labeled "Bureaucracy" and "Gaslighting," a locked school door, and money floating above. It reminded me of what it feels like to push for change inside a system that resists accountability. It reflected the way power is protected through silence, contracts, and delay.
On the other side, the image showed students, organizers, a camera, and a megaphone. That felt like home. It reflected the parts of my work that are about building with others, using storytelling and organizing as tools for change. The things that keep me going—teaching, making films, standing with students—were all there.
But the most unexpected part was this: the AI made the central figure in the image a woman.
That detail made me stop and think. Much of the leadership I’ve learned from and worked alongside comes from women, especially Latinas. In schools, neighborhoods, and movements, it’s often women holding it all together, demanding justice, and doing the work others avoid. Maybe the AI picked up on that pattern. Maybe it was showing who carries the weight and who keeps moving forward when others give up. I don’t have one answer, but I do think the choice means something.
What stayed with me was not just the image itself, but what it reflects. The struggle is real. So is the strength. And maybe it takes a strange tool like AI to show us what we’ve been carrying all along.
NEWS
We Need Critical Transformational Leaders Now More Than Ever
It’s a chilling reminder that in America today, even the highest-ranking Latino officials are not immune from the forces of erasure.
‘There was a lot of fear’: Central Valley immigration raids drive up absences in schools, study finds
Absentee rates in five districts cumulatively increased 22% after immigration raids in the Central Valley earlier this year. Raids increase stress levels in school communities, making it difficult for students to learn. Fewer students in class means less funding for schools.Community college adjunct professors optimistic as two lawsuits over pay progress
A pair of recent court decisions may bode well for the state’s part-time community college professors, known as adjuncts, who have argued for years that they work unpaid hours to meet students’ needs.What you need to know about California’s Prop. 28 arts education initiative
Amid a national reckoning over learning loss and chronic absenteeism deepened by the pandemic, arts education may be one of the keys to boosting children’s engagement in school, research suggests.
Winds and dry weather brings elevated fire risk, but no planned power shutoffs or weather warnings
Although Santa Cruz County will get some windy, dry weather accompanied by the summer sun this weekend, Pacific Gas & Electric did not have any power shutoffs planned for the county as of Friday afternoon, and the National Weather Service is not warning of especially high fire danger in the region.Housing Matters aims to buy Soquel Ave. motel with city, county aid
Housing Matters aims to buy Soquel Ave. motel with city, county aid appeared first on Santa Cruz Local.PVUSD announces Measure M citizens oversight committee
Pajaro Valley Unified School District has formed a citizens committee to oversee expenditure of funds from Measure M, the $315 million facilities bond district voters approved in November.As top bureaucrat retires, Santa Cruz County’s ‘generational shift’ deepens for local government
As Carlos Palacios steps down from his post as Santa Cruz County’s executive officer, a national search will begin for his replacement.Watsonville police overuse handcuffs, detentions for minor crimes, county watchdog says
A new Santa Cruz County Civil Grand Jury report found that the Watsonville Police Department handcuffs, detains and transports more people for misdemeanors, such as theft, trespassing and DUIs, than other local law enforcement agencies.‘Gente Unidos’: No Kings Protesters Speak Out About Immigration System
“We don’t want a revolution. We demand reform. We are not fighting our government; we simply hold it accountable to its promises of liberty and justice for all."
As White House wavers on visas, Chinese students at California colleges face uncertainty and worried parents
About 18,000 Chinese students are enrolled at the University of California, 2,600 at California community colleges and 850 at California State University.
Thank you for reading this newsletter. I hope to see you at the next board meeting—your presence matters more than ever.
From the removal of Barrios Unidos to legal roadblocks at meetings, and even the fight to get a Spanish-speaking AP at Pajaro, one thing is clear: when we speak up, we make change. When we’re ignored, we organize.
Please stay safe. If you see something, say something. And let’s keep taking care of each other the best we can.
In solidarity,
Trustee Medina
Pajaro Valley Unified, Area III
Feel free to email me at gabriel_medina@pvusd.net or leave a voicemail at (831) 331-4208.