May 3, 2018 — Chino Valley Unified Board of Education Recap

The board's meeting opened with a closed-session personnel action — an elementary school principal appointment — and closed roughly two hours later having approved a four-year contract for the district's incoming superintendent. In between, three community members used their three minutes at the podium to raise two very different concerns: two parents pressed the board on an incoming comprehensive sex-education curriculum, and a third speaker, representing student advocates, described unsupervised misconduct among freshman football players at Don Lugo High School and a failure to notify affected families as federal law requires. That account visibly affected the board and drew an unusually personal, extended response from one trustee later in the meeting.

No official minutes are on file for this meeting. Because speaker identity in the video transcript cannot be verified against an official record, this recap does not attribute any statement, position, or vote to a named individual — public commenters, board members, and staff alike are described by role only.

🏫 A new superintendent, and a new principal at Butterfield Ranch

Coming out of closed session, the board disclosed that it had voted to appoint a new principal for Butterfield Ranch Elementary School, effective July 1, 2018 1. The incoming principal came to the podium and thanked family, colleagues, and the Butterfield Ranch community for the opportunity 2.

Later in the meeting, the board approved a revised superintendent salary schedule, adding three new steps and raising the top step by $5,519 to $281,472 annually 34. It then approved a four-year employment contract, running July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2022, for an incoming superintendent chosen to succeed the district's outgoing chief, at an annual salary of $265,237 plus an $8,201 annual health and welfare benefits cap and $2,292 in professional-association dues 56. No members of the public spoke on either item.

📣 A wrenching account from Don Lugo High School

The evening's most serious moment came during public comment on items not on the agenda. A speaker representing student advocates for freshmen at Don Lugo High School told the board that poor supervision during the prior football season had allowed "severe sexual conduct carried out by a few of the players," witnessed by 45 to 50 teammates 7. The speaker said the conduct occurred on school buses, on the football field, in the weight room, and in a classroom during an unsupervised sixth period spanning several days, and that most parents remained unaware of what their children had been exposed to 8.

The speaker argued the district had not met its federal Title IX obligation to notify affected students of the outcome of any investigation, and had taken no visible steps to check on students' physical or emotional well-being 9. Addressing a board member directly, the speaker referenced press coverage of that member's recusal from a related vote earlier in the year and urged them to "speak up" about what they knew 1011. The speaker warned that continued inaction would be "ignored by the community" and could expose the district to "heavy financial burden" 12.

The account drew a lengthy, emotional response during board comments later in the meeting. One trustee — who said they could not recall the speaker's name — said they had been "very aware of what took place at Don Lugo" and that it had "affected me for months," explaining an absence from board duties as an effort to get answers rather than avoid them, and describing dozens of unanswered emails to the district 1314. The trustee said the families of students who went unsupervised "would have appreciated to know what was going on," and described feeling blamed whenever information about the situation became public, saying anything disclosed was assumed to have come from them 1516. The trustee closed by saying they were not conflicted about what needed to be done — only about when 1718.

📚 Parents press the board on a new sex-education curriculum

Two parents used public comment to raise concerns about California's 2015 comprehensive sex-education law and the curriculum the district was preparing to adopt. The first speaker, a mother of two daughters, said the candidate textbooks were "explicit, extremely provocative" and written "with too much suggestions," argued the material emphasized performance over abstinence, and asked that curriculum selection be placed on a future agenda for discussion 1920. A second parent, whose two sons attend a district elementary school, asked whether the board would give parents a voice in the decision, said they did not want their children exposed to explicit material, and also requested the item be agendized 212223.

The topic resurfaced later, during board communications. One trustee, responding to a question about how new health courses are piloted, argued at length against the incoming curriculum, saying comprehensive sexuality education is "dangerous assault on the health and the innocence of children" 24. The trustee noted that state law lets parents excuse their children from most of the health and HIV-prevention curriculum, but not from separate instruction on gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation, framing that gap as a loss of parental authority 25. Citing a psychiatric diagnostic manual, the trustee argued most children who express confusion about gender identity resolve it by adulthood absent outside encouragement, and described the broader curriculum push as an "insidious" effort at cultural change 2627.

A second trustee thanked the parents who had spoken, argued that decisions about children belong with families rather than "Sacramento nor... Washington," and compared state curriculum mandates to socialism, saying "I would call it communism if we become all same made from a factory" 28. The same trustee cited a news report's claim that Planned Parenthood "kills 32,000 babies a year" in making the broader point 29.

📊 Local Control and Accountability Plan: the year's final Goal 2 update

Staff delivered the seventh and final annual update on Goal 2 of the district's Local Control and Accountability Plan, covering parent involvement, student engagement, and school climate 30. Reported figures included 698 families served through the Hope Resource Center and 1,011 families using the Care Closet for basic needs 31; 850 health-clinic patients as of April with 1,500 vaccines administered 32; a multi-tiered behavioral support system serving over 4,400 students 33; and a reported 20% drop in office referrals 34. Expulsion (0.08%) and suspension (2.5%) rates both fell below county and state averages and had decreased year over year 35, and attendance (97.39%) exceeded the state average, with chronic absenteeism at 7.1% in its first year of measurement 36.

Trustees pressed for specifics: one asked whether suspension-alternative training was reaching classroom teachers, not just administrators 3738; another, citing a teacher who lent a student a jacket and a vice principal's daily greeting, argued culture change starts from genuine care rather than metrics 39; a third pressed for year-over-year comparisons, eliciting 2015–16 baseline figures of a 0.09% expulsion rate and 3.2% suspension rate 4041.

🏆 A national win for Briggs K-8's Rube Goldberg team

The board opened its presentations with recognition for a team of Briggs K-8 students who won the 2018 national Rube Goldberg machine contest in Chicago on April 21, building a machine that poured a bowl of cereal 42. Presenters said the team spent 224 days and over 1,000 hours testing and redesigning the machine 43. Trustees and staff offered enthusiastic congratulations to the students, their teacher-advisors, and their families.

🖥️ A contested bid for classroom display technology

A vendor representative pulled a consent-calendar item to appeal the district's award of an interactive-whiteboard contract to a competing bidder, ViewSonic — arguing the firm's initial bid had ranked lowest-cost until a re-tabulation using different criteria dropped it to fourth, at an estimated cost to the district of $285–$313 more per unit, or roughly $30,000 across 100 boards 444546.

District staff responded that price wasn't the only factor: the firm's displays weren't UL (Underwriters Laboratory) listed, had reported speaker and durability issues, offered support only from outside the U.S., and lacked a track record with the state's educational-technology professional association 4748. Staff called the ViewSonic units, procured through CDW-G, the better overall value, and the board approved the award 49.

✅ Consent calendar, retirements, and other business

One trustee said they opposed just one item on the consent calendar, explaining that the board's process didn't allow pulling a single objectionable item and that the objection didn't extend to unrelated items like employee retirements 50. Staff announced roughly fourteen retirements, spanning 5 to 33 years of service in positions including assistant principal, classroom teacher, speech-language pathologist, custodian, and support staff 51, ahead of a May 22 dinner honoring 95 retirees, 292 employees for years of service, and four Hall of Fame inductees 52. The board also noted the resignation of its multimedia communications specialist, departing to become managing editor of a local newspaper 53.

The outgoing student board representative reported on the year's final Student Advisory Council meeting 54. A CSEA representative, speaking for the chapter's president who could not attend, announced Classified Employees School Week (May 20–26) and congratulated the newly appointed Butterfield Ranch principal 5556.

This is an independent, community-maintained summary of public records and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Chino Valley Unified School District. No official minutes are on file for this meeting; because speaker identity cannot be verified against an official record, this summary does not attribute individual statements, positions, or votes to named speakers.