Board of Education — September 23, 2025

I would like to call this meeting to order at 6.04. Thank you all for coming. We're going to start off with roll call. Board Member Ayala-Contero? Present. Vice President Hollihan?

Present.

Board Member Olsen? Here. Clerk Wilson?

Here.

And I am here. Tonight we have our Citrus Valley High School cheer students here to lead us in the pledge. If you guys could come up to the front. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay, and right now we'd like to do a moment of silence for Janet Korfmacher. She was a past RUSD board member. The Redlands Unified School District mourns the passing of past RUSD school board member Janet, otherwise known as Jan Korfmacher. She served the board from 1983 to 1995, a resident of Redlands for over 50 years. Jan passed away on Wednesday, July 30th, 2025 at the age of 90. Please join me in a moment of silence. Thank you very much. Tonight's empowering positive moment will be the Citrus Valley Cheer, the cheer team. They are the three-time CIF champions of cheer. They are led by Coach Sidney Shreve and represented by cheerleaders here tonight, Rachel Stockham, Caitlin Chow, Taylor Cobb, and Quinn Johnson. Welcome. Girls, you want to come up and... Say anything? Do a cheer? You can do a cheer. And is your coach here? You want to come on up too?

Hi, everyone. I'm Rachel. I'm Tiffany. I'm Finn. I'm Taylor.

And we are members of the Spirit Youth Program at Digital. As emergency room champions, sports such as football, basketball, volleyball, and our early-teens, we also compete ourselves in the USA Regionals, USA Nationals, and the Six. We pride ourselves in being three-time SEGA champions in the three-level division, as well as 2024 USA Spirit National Champions in the large college show championship.

We also compete in many other fun divisions, like .

At City Spirit, we promote school culture by giving involves in rallies and spirit games, and also joining clubs . At City Spirit, we promote the head of the classroom by having good, respectful, and .

Can you come on up here for a picture?

Yes, I just .

All right, now we need a motion to approve the agenda with flexibility.

So moved.

Second. Any discussion? We'll call for the vote.

Board Member Ayala-Quintero? Aye. Board Member Olsen? Aye. President Rendler? Aye. Vice President Hollihan? Aye. Clerk Wilson?

Aye.

Motion carried, 5-0.

Is there a motion to approve the minutes of the August 19th, 2025 special board meeting workshop? So moved. Second. Any discussion? I'll call for the vote.

Board Member Ayala-Quintero? Aye. Board Member Olsen? Aye. President Redler? Aye. Vice President Hollihan?

Aye.

Clerk Wilson?

Aye.

Motion carried, 5-0.

In closed session, the board unanimously took action to appoint Rashaun Hendricks to the position of Coordinator 1, Behavior Analyst, effective to be determined at Step 5 of the management team's salary schedule. Rashaun, are you here tonight? Yes.

Hi. Did you bring anybody with you?

Did you bring anybody with you? I did. I have my husband here, as well as our 5-year-old daughter and our 8-year-old son as well. Oh, well, welcome to Redlands. Welcome. In closed session, the board unanimously took action to appoint Crystal Perrazzo to the position of Secretary 3, Confidential, effective to be determined at Step 5 of the management team's salary schedule.

Crystal, are you here? Hi. And who did you bring tonight?

Thank you. Well, welcome. I know you live here, right? So welcome back to your community. Thank you. Now we're on to public participation. Community input for agendized items. Members of the public may address the board on matters within its jurisdiction by submitting a completed registration card to the clerk or designated staff member prior to the start of public comments on agenda items. This is not a forum for debate. Policy related complaints will be referred to the superintendent. When called, speakers may proceed to the podium, state their name and trustee area, speak for the allotted time. The amount of time will be announced by the board president before the first speaker begins and will not exceed three minutes. How many speakers do we have? We have three speakers. One of them has two cards.

Okay, so you'll be getting three minutes. And we'll call the first one. Michael Paisner, followed by Aaron Fernando and Peter Hall.

Welcome, Michael.

Thank you. Michael Paisner, Area 5, parent of a high school student here in Redlands. I'll be super brief. I just wanted to acknowledge the amendment that was added to the Point Loma Nazarene University and Russia University agreements. The change is noted and greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Thank you, Michael. Thank you.

Aaron Fernando? Welcome, Aaron.

Hello, I'm Aaron Fernando from Area 2. This is regarding item 13B, mandated reporting for child abuse training. I just wanted to make sure that this training is truly comprehensive. So as an example, would an employee who took this training know what to do if a student confided in them that a weird adult man was taking creep shots of their butts as they spoke at a school board meeting? Would the employee understand that in order to protect this child, they'd have a duty to act even if said perverted creep moved to the opposite side of the room after being confronted? Additionally, does the training clarify that there is no provision that allows creeps to sexualize children if they happen to be a Christian nationalist? I know that protecting the abusers among their own is a core tenet of right-wing Christianity, but surely the training specifies that a legal mandate trumps this particular expression of religious values, correct? And just for the record, the event I'm describing did indeed take place on the night of July 8th, 2025, right in this very room, and the weird, creepy pervert is named John Barry. Thank you.

Thank you, Aaron. Peter Hall? Peter Hall? Welcome, Peter.

Like Aaron Fernando, I'm also going to speak out about the ratification of the child abuse and neglect training or whatever. Since he brought up the fact that he thinks he was being sexually objectified by somebody taking pictures of him, I would like to ask if he thinks that it should be considered child abuse if students are subjected to teachers or staff talking about private personal issues like their sexual orientation or their gender identity or talking about other personal explicit things that they shouldn't be talking about in classrooms.

Excuse me. Excuse me. It's not your turn to talk. Thank you.

I mentioned you. I didn't address you. So yeah, teachers and staff have been doing that, and they've been using the First Amendment to get away with it. They have been talking about things in school that are not appropriate for school lectures or discussion or don't have anything to do with education at all, and that should be considered child abuse. Thank you.

Thank you, Peter. Thank you, Peter.

All right, now we're moving on to board committee reports.

Does anybody have anything to report tonight?

Nothing to report.

Nothing.

And I have nothing to report tonight.

Thank you.

All right, moving on to... Superintendent's report. First, we have... Oh, no. Superintendent's report. Sorry.

Yes, thank you. Short report. I just want to update the board on compliance in general. Also related to training... We have six weeks from the time school starts to ensure that staff have all gone through our mandated trainings, which is not only for compliance but also for legal purposes. Happy to report that our staff have complied. We had, at the deadline, I think there were 50 staff members total. And just as a reminder, we have about 2,500 employees. And everyone, including yourselves, have to go through that training. And all of you complied, so thank you for doing that also. We're very happy about that. We do believe that the training is working. However, we have not had 100% compliance as we have had cases since school started. And we are working through those. We are investigating. We continue to have the majority of our cases are related to student on student. And we continue to go to our classrooms to provide training. We're going to do that again. We have videos that you all are aware of that we are going to implement. And so we are full steam ahead. Dr. Wilson's office is doing a great job. We do want to solve the issue of having cases in general as we continue to educate our students on what it means to keep your hands to yourself. We will hopefully improve in that area. We will be transparent, just like we were last year. You can look online to see the amount of cases that we've had, and it is broken out by, you know, students Thankfully with respect to staff We're doing okay any questions I'm just wondering how this all this training all this stuff how it's impacted our budget Good question So in general, I would say that we're experiencing higher costs with respect to overall budget compliance in general. We have, for example, started the school year off with a team of five. Last year at this time, we had a team of one. So there's the additional cost of that. Legal costs have also doubled. Not necessarily because we have more cases, but because each investigation might cause We have a team of investigators. Yes, bless you. We have a team of investigators, but at times we do have to ask that outside investigators get involved. And when we do that, we likely spend double the amount of money that we would spend on an investigation. So there's that cost. Legal fees in general have doubled from 2324 to 2425, unfortunately. And you have seen some of those numbers. And some of that is related to some employee separations that we had that you are very aware of. But also, we went from one legal group that was helping us through our DOJ. But once we had the stipulated judgment signed, we switched over to F3. And now they are our primary legal support for all things DOJ, OEG. So, yes, it has been significant. And we can get you exact numbers, but yes.

Thank you. Yeah, it's hard to hear, but thank you.

Well, number one is that we have the safety. And so it is going to cost us and it's going to continue to cost us, but we're not going to compromise the safety of our students for legal costs.

Thank you very much. Any other questions? No.

Okay.

Now, under business services consent items, Mr. Hill, do you have any changes or additions?

No changes or additions tonight. Thank you.

Is there a motion to approve item 10A, consent items B through H?

So moved. Second.

Thank you, Patty. Thank you, Jeanette. Any discussion?

All right, I'll call for the vote. Board Member Ayala-Quintero? Aye. Board Member Wilson?

Aye.

Board Member Olsen? Aye. Vice President Hollihan? Aye. President Render? Aye.

Motion carried, 5-0. Business services action items. Is there a motion to approve the district's membership in the statewide educational wrap-up program, SOAP, to use for cost-effective construction specific insurance to protect the financial interests of the district and bond? Do we have a motion?

I'm up.

A second. Thank you, Melissa. Thank you, Patty. Any discussion? Can you explain this? What this actually means?

I'll ask Mr. Hill actually to help the board understand what SOAP is.

It's an insurance policy to help protect us against construction accidents. So with the bond, we want to protect the dollars. So with all the construction work that we'll be having over the next five or ten years, we want to make sure that if there's any faults by the contractors, any accidents or any bankruptcies of contractors, that our assets are covered. We add it per project, so we could choose not to add it if we don't need it, and we can choose to add it to certain projects that we deem risky.

Okay, thank you. Any more discussion? I had a question. What projects would be considered risky?

Some of our facilities are really old, right? So if you're looking at renovating a 100-year-old building, there's a lot of unknown in those buildings. And if anything were to happen during those renovations, this insurance could cover it.

All right, I'll call for the vote. Board Member Ayala-Quintero? Aye. Board Member Olson? Aye. President Redler? Aye. Vice President Hollihan? Aye. Clerk Wilson? Aye. Motion is carried by vote.

All right, moving on to educational services action items. Are there any changes or additions that we know? Oh, did I miss? Oh, I read that. I'm sorry. I read the wrong thing. All right, moving on to educational services consent items. Any changes or additions on any of these that you know of? Because Patty's not here. All right. Do we have a motion to approve all consent items, I mean action items as detailed in item 12B through 12G?

I'll move. I'll second.

Thank you, Patty. Thank you, Melissa. Any discussion?

Just very thrilled to see all our kids going, elementary students going on their science camps.

Oh, I was just going to ask if the superintendent could provide a little more explanation regarding the in and out event and explaining really what it's for, because I've had a few community members ask me about this cost.

Thank you, yes. This is an idea that our principal went over with her leadership team as an incentive for all students to start off the year strong, not only with respect to academics but also behavior. We have a no cell phone policy, for example, and you earn tickets. They call it a talent ticket. And kids who show that improvement, not improvement, but show that they can maintain academic status and behavior, this would be something that they're afforded, which is a meal that you don't usually get on a campus. with her leadership team agreed to use their LCAP funds for this, which is we do allow our principals to look at their LCAP budget and determine how to best use it. We do ask that they get guidance from us in this particular situation. I would say that we generally would not want to see this much money spent on an incentive. However, for this situation, which I believe is unique, is we have a new principal of COPE who's had a strong start, and we have a school like at COPE where I'm hearing we're going in the right direction. And I believe that this helps maintain that momentum, and so that's why I agreed to bring it forward as a recommendation. The main reasons are... She is using her LCAP funds, so it's not something that we're having to help her with. And they have been able to encumber their funds for the rest of the school year, meaning that they're not going to miss out on other events or opportunities because of the money being spent here.

So it sounds like it's a kickoff to the incentive program.

Correct. It's a first quarter incentive. So it's about kickoff is a good way to put it. We're just getting started in the school year. And so this is something that they can have. And then the momentum that will take us through the rest of this school year is what the hope is.

So all students will be getting the kickoff reward of In-N-Out, and then what is the reward later with the kids that achieve the, what is the program again? The talent ticket initiative. What is the reward for those kids?

I don't know if there's like a next level. I think once you get in and out, it's hard to say that there'd be a next level kids. And I've seen this on campuses during my career. For some reason, kids go crazy over in and out burger. Um, the staff do too. Yes. Uh, it's a great question that I can ask principal caress as far as what happens next.

Yeah. What is their reward when they achieve their

Maybe they get a pencil.

Yeah. So will the rewards, though, those wouldn't come out of LCAP? Is that right?

I am not saying for sure because they do budget their LCAP money for the year, and it might include additional incentives, but it doesn't include this amount of money on any other specific incentive the rest of the year.

But the LCAP would have to serve all students, right? So they couldn't use those funds for the reward part.

Correct. Well, you can if all students are going to participate or have a chance to participate.

But not all kids will reach that achievement.

Hopefully they will.

Well, if they did, it would be great.

Maybe they get a patty. Okay.

I just do hope. I mean, I'm all for an incentive program and that they do get some kind of reward.

It's a lot of money. And that we recognize that it's a lot of money. I recognized it right away when I saw it in front of me. We connected with Principal Kores and basically asked for a breakdown as to why we are doing this. It's not something that we want to see become common amongst all of our sites, but I do support Principal Kores because of the reasons I stated, which is the momentum of a new school year. They're off to a strong start. She is in her first year as a principal, and I believe that this will help carry us through a positive student behavior and academics for the year.

All right, we'll call for the vote. Board Member Ayala-Quintero? Aye. Board Member Olsen? Aye. President Redler?

Aye.

Vice President Holohan?

Aye.

Clerk Wilson? Aye. Motion carried, 5-0.

Okay, moving on to consent items under human resources. Mrs. Bruick, do you have any changes or additions? Is there a motion to approve volunteers and field trip chaperones for the 25-26 school year? So moved. I'll second. Thank you, Candy. Thank you, Melissa. Any discussion?

It's great to get more volunteers approved. Very good.

Okay, we'll call for the vote. Board Member Ayala-Quintero? Aye. Board Member Olson? Aye. President Rundler? Aye. Vice President Hollihan? Aye. Clerk Wilson?

Aye.

Motion carried, 5-0.

Is there a motion to ratify, approve confirmation of completion of mandated reporting for child abuse and neglect training by all employees in compliance with AB 1432 for the 2025-2026 school year? I'll move. Second. Thank you, Melissa. Thank you, Patty. Any discussion?

Call for the vote. Board Member Ayala-Quintero? Aye. Board Member Olsen? Aye. President Redler? Aye. Vice President Hollihan? Aye. Clerk Wilson? Aye. Motion carried. 5-0.

And I now have action items under human resources. Mrs. Bruick, any changes or additions? Is there a motion to approve addendum to the clinical experience agreement between the Redlands Unified School District and Point Loma Nazarene University effective September 9th, 2025 through June 12th, 2030? Move. Second. Thank you, Melissa. Thank you, Patty. Any discussion?

All right, call for the vote. Board Member Ayala-Quintero? Aye. Board Member Olsen? Aye. President Rendler? Aye. Vice President Holgen? Aye. Clerk Wilson?

Aye.

Motion carried, 5-0.

Is there a motion to approve addendum to the memorandum of agreement between the Redlands Unified School District and Brescia University Incorporated, effective September 9th, 2025? Do you have a motion?

So moved.

Second. Thank you, Patty. Thank you, Melissa. Any discussion on this?

Call for the vote. Board Member Ayala-Quintero? Aye. Board Member Olsen? Aye. President Redler? Aye. Vice President Hollihan? Aye. Clerk Wilson?

Aye.

Motion carried, 5-0.

All right, now we're moving on to public participation. Public comments are permitted upon submission of a completed registration card prior to the start of public participation. This is not a forum for debate. Policy concerns? will be referred to the superintendent. When called, speakers may proceed to the podium, state their name and trustee area, and speak for the allotted time. The amount of time will be announced by the board president before the first speaker begins and will not exceed three minutes. How many speakers do we have tonight?

Eleven. Okay, we'll do three minutes. Erica Grossman, Michael Paisner, and Aaron Fernandes.

Welcome, Erica.

Thank you.

Okay. Erica Grossman, trustee area two. Teachers deserve the same free speech protections Candy Olson claims for herself. Awakened Redlands, where Candy serves as executive director, posted content that triggered doxing and harassment, visible even without a Facebook account. It's bizarre that Awakened Redlands has shown far less urgency in condemning the teacher recently charged with child sexual abuse. Once again, Candy and Janet's group seems more invested in ideology than in protecting children. This brings me to the recent opt-out system tied to Mahmood versus Taylor. That case specifically addressed LGBTQ plus picture books, but RUSD quietly expanded the opt-out to include LGBTQ plus clubs. That's a clear overreach and a distortion of the ruling's intent. Temecula Valley even tried to let parents opt out of having LGBTQ plus teachers. This kind of legal manipulation harms both students and staff. You need to get serious about protecting students' safety and wellbeing. I worked in a special education elementary classroom today. The paras were upset, really upset. Too many students, not enough staff. They told me they cannot carry out any meaningful instruction under those conditions. I stepped in and helped as if I were a para, as usual. I was beaten by a student, which is a common experience for paras. This whole situation is unacceptable. School is not a daycare. If you want adequate staffing, you need to pay people accordingly. Or we won't have money for special education because there will be additional legal costs because of you. Thank you, Erica.

Welcome, Michael.

Michael Paisner. Last night, Ms. Olson crossed the line. She made a libelous false accusation against Together for Redlands on social media. Unlike Ms. Olson, we do not advocate violence as she has on social media. The reason I bring this up is not just to highlight another instance of Ms. Olson's outrageous behavior, but to prepare you, Ms. Rendler, for what is to come. Last week, Ms. Olson publicly stated she wanted to have an extra board meeting to send a culture war letter to the Supreme Court. And when you didn't bend to her will, Miss Olsen showed her mean girl colors and threw some shade at you on social media, at least twice by my count. And if her history is any guide, that is just a taste of what she is capable of. Personally, I want to thank you for not, at least in this one instance, not wasting our tax dollars with an extra meeting. At a time when we have a $20 million hole in our budget and our legal fees have doubled in the past year, the district cannot afford to engage in culture war legal drama. I just wish you had shown such courage sooner. But make no mistake, if you continue to defy Ms. Olson, she will turn her social media vitriol against you as she did against us. Perhaps you can now see that she was never your friend. She will go into attack mode against you as soon as you stop being useful to her. And when that day comes, perhaps we can collaborate on legal strategies against her libelous behavior. Finally, let me repeat my call for civil discourse. Together for Redlands has thousands of followers and represents a viewpoint in our community that you should take the time to listen to and consider. Witnessing Ms. Olsen's libelous behavior, I don't have much hope of having a productive discussion with her, but I always remain open to discussion with anyone who is open to sincere discourse. Ms. Vrendler, will you talk with us? Thank you.

Thank you, Michael.

Welcome back, Aaron.

Hello again.

Aaron Fernando, District 2. I'd like to start off by reading a famous poem based on words by the German pastor Martin Niemöller in 1946 about the rise of the Nazi Party and the people's complicity in it. It reads, first they came for the communists, and I did not speak out because I was not a communist. Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. And then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me. I share these haunting words because, despite what some would like to believe, Americans are now facing a similar problem. The Trump administration and the Republican Party as a whole are scapegoating marginalized communities in their push to consolidate power in the face of deeply unpopular economic policies. And what community makes an easier target than the transgender community? They make up around 0.8% of the population, and their mere existence challenges many people's deep-set views on gender. When this community comes under attack, they need far more than just their own voices to push back against it. And to be clear, the transgender community is under attack. Last Monday, a trans woman was brutally assaulted by four young men in Washington. But even though the attack left her needing multiple reconstructive surgeries, it's not random hateful teenagers she's scared of. It's the Trump administration's policies that lead to this environment. Just in the last few weeks, the Trump administration has floated the idea of restricting transgender people's right to bear arms, and intelligence officials have sounded the alarm that the FBI is planning to designate transgender suspects as violent extremists. They're trying to push a narrative that trans people are inherently violent, and they're willing to twist whatever data they can get to support that, while ignoring inconvenient data like the DOJ's own findings that right-wing extremists have killed more Americans than any other terror group. Let's look at some specifics of how they're pushing their narrative. Take these two graphs making their way around social media being shared by big right wing accounts that claim to show trans people make up a disproportionate amount of mass shooters. First off, they're really only one graph. This one here, you'll notice, takes the same numbers from this one, adds together male and female, and divides by two, and says that's for all trans people. Anyone who knows anything about math, that's bogus. That's not how math works. So we can ignore that one. Then we've got this one here that claims to show trans non-binary people are disproportionately at the top of... mass shooters, but it leaves out the fact that this is from a sample size of 32 people, of which two of the shooters were allegedly trans or non-binary. Two out of 32. One of them, also worth pointing out, they may only be claiming to be non-binary to get out of a hate crime charge for targeting an LGBTQ establishment. All right. That's why it's important we stand up for the trans community right now. This board has passed policy after policy attacking them. You either outright hate them or you don't understand them. You're happy with the current climate. But remember, the fascists won't stop with them. They'll come for you. Women aren't looking too good in Project 2025.

Thank you, Aaron. Next, we have JB, Dale Broom, and Peter Hall. Welcome, JB.

Thank you. Thank you, boy, for being here. I'm from Area 1. The devil believes in God, and so should the hate group together for Redlands, or as I like to call them, together for racism and division. Instead of calling our board members Nazis, like Amber Easley and Tricia Keeling have, and threatening to kill them like Mason Anthony Guerra has, how about trying to open this, being open to discussion? Dog whistling every psychopath within your small sphere of influence by spreading lies about the people who have a different opinion than you will never work. You didn't silence Charlie Kirk with your dog whistling. You're not going to silence us either. Just like the Mason Anthony Guerra, death threats against Candy will not work. She's a mom, not a Nazi, Mason. She doesn't like the direction this district was heading, so she ran for office and won. Obviously, the voters agree with her. Thank you, Candy and Jeanette and Michelle. We, the parents, are grateful to you and will stand in the gap with you as long as it takes to protect the little ones from Together for Racism and Division. and any other group of brainwashed, reverse racist, low IQ people that come along.

Thank you, JB. Welcome, Dale.

Dale Broom, Area 1. You know, over the last four years, Together for Redlands and formerly Safe Redlands Schools has been calling conservative parents, citizens, and school board members in this district inflammatory names, including fascists, Nazis, racists, extremists. White Christian nationalists and even KKK members. And now we have perverts. They're calling us perverts. So what kind of moral conclusion can you come to? What do they expect their people to do? Gun down Nazis? That would really be heroic. This is crazy. You can imagine this is exactly the type of twisted thoughts that motivated Tyler Robinson to assassinate Charlie Kirk. And this week we learned that together for Redlands member Mason Anthony Guerra made statements on Facebook that Candy Olson deserved to be killed just like Charlie because Candy is a Nazi and her politics warrant her death. These false and inflammatory name-calling and threats have got to stop, particularly at public meetings. At the school board meetings over the last four years, people like Michael Paisner, Tricia Keeling, Samantha Trad, Erica Grossman, Aaron Fernando, and others of the group Together for Redlands have repeatedly used these slurs against Candy and Jeanette, former school board candidate Lawrence Hebron, and even members of the ARC Church. Trisha Keeling, in particular, of Highland, California, has been a ringleader in stoking this disrespectful and hate-filled and incendiary language. She has been recruiting and grooming naive Redland school district students to come and speak at the school board meetings, providing pizza and applause for their profanity, lies, and disrespectful behavior. She fills their minds with her hatred, her salacious lies, and malicious name-calling. She hands out talking points before the school board meetings to everybody. She's been pushing for porn in our school libraries, gay pride flags in the classroom, and grooming these kids to be LGBTQ, stealing their sexual innocence. She aggressively researches her opponents, doxes them, and files false reports and damaging reviews with their employers and licensing agencies to get them fired or cause them to... to lose business. She's intimidated city council members in our community and pastors in our community not to endorse or support conservative school board members. She takes social media likes, videos and statements of school board members completely out of context, manipulates them and propagates them on social media to purposely deceive the public and harm good people's reputations. She tries to falsely link them to Proud Boys, Hitler, and KKK to denigrate their reputations. If it weren't for her immorality, she'd have no morality at all. Just like her father, who is the father of lies, she seeks to steal, kill, and destroy her opponents. Just like her father, Satan, she won't be satisfied until her opponents are dead.

Thank you, Bill.

Welcome back, Peter.

I'm here to talk about the assassination of Charlie Kirk and the public's divided response. Most of us are upset that Charlie Kirk was assassinated even if we didn't agree with him. But a bunch of people have been saying that he was a homophobe and a racist. Charlie Kirk literally took a black man on stage with him, a gay black man. on stage with him to try and broaden MAGA's appeal. And he upset most of his audience members when he did that. A bunch of people were upset that he brought a gay man up on stage. They weren't upset that the guy was black. They were upset that he was gay and that Charlie Kirk was championing gay marriage. Because Charlie Kirk has publicly said that he doesn't mind gay marriage, he doesn't mind things like adoption for gay couples or anything like that. So he was trying to broaden MAGA's appeal by bringing in homosexual people, even though he did speak out against transgenderism and stuff like that, and he was in support of common sense regarding males and females not being able to change their gender identities. He was still... in support of gay marriage, adoption for gay couples, and stuff like that. And a bunch of MAGA people did not like that. So Charlie Kirk was not a racist. Charlie Kirk was not a homophobe. People are lying about that. And when people like Michael Pizner say they don't support political violence, I think people like that are lying. I think people like Michael Paisner and everybody in Together for Red Ones celebrated Charlie Kirk's assassination. Even if they didn't post about it publicly, I know they were happy about it. And anybody who posts about assassinations of political figures deserves to get fired from their jobs as long as the government does not punish them officially, then their free speech was not violated. Liberals supported the government roundabout punishing people for speech it didn't like when Joe Biden was president. Joe Biden's presidency leaned heavily on social media companies like Twitter, Facebook, etc., to ban conservative speech, and people got in trouble for questioning the vaccines, criticizing the COVID mandates, et cetera. But now, all of a sudden, when people are getting in trouble for publicly celebrating a person's assassination, suddenly, oh, we have the right to be offensive. Where's our free speech? The government isn't doing anything to you. Your private employers are doing it to you because they don't want to be associated with people who celebrate public murder. You deserve what you get.

Thank you, Peter. Valerie Sabas, Catherine Appleby, and Dr. Kimberly Hillier. Welcome, Val.

Thank you. As a member of this community, I'm bringing to your attention a very concerning matter. Once again, there are violent and threatening messages being relayed on social media regarding Candy Olson in particular. These people identify with the group Together for Redlands, many members of which are at these board meetings often. You will know them by their cursing and their threats while at the podium and their hate-filled antics during meetings, appearing unstable and unhinged. An example of some of these threats, quote, pretty soon Redlands will have to do something about Candy Olsen or her politics might just be the end of her. Another, Candy Olsen is a Nazi. If that gets her killed, then that really is on her. And another, America ended World War II after we killed all the Nazis and liberated the Jews and all other political descendants. Candy Olsen would deserve it, just like Charlie Kirk did. These words explicitly promote violence, celebrates the death of a political figure, public figure, and encourages others to see the targeted school board member as an enemy who deserves harm. And I am deeply alarmed also that board member Ayala Quintero affiliates with this group. Threats to the safety of a school board member create an environment of intimidation that undermines public service. When rhetoric dehumanizes a person and calls for their death, it significantly raises the risk of real violence. When such messages are posted online, they have consequences, such as radicalizing others, provoking copycat behavior, or even escalating into a direct threat of action. I request the board as a whole condemn any threats of violence directed at Candy or any board member and make it clear that threats will not be tolerated. While we enjoy freedom of speech in this great country, speech that threatens or advocates for violence crosses the line and cannot and should not be permitted. And just another point, a member of Together for Redlands, Michael Pazeder, mentioned civil discourse. I did try to have civil discourse with Mr. Paisner after he accused me of making a Nazi sign, and all I was saying was speak to the hand. I tried to communicate with him civilly, all by himself, and he still continued with his name calling. So, so much for civil discourse. Thank you, Valerie. Thank you.

Catherine? Catherine? Catherine? I'm sorry. I'm sorry. No. Catherine? Thank you. Welcome, Catherine. Catherine?

Good evening, board members and Superintendent Cabral. My name is Catherine Appleby, and I'm a parent of a Citrus Valley student and a resident of Area 4. Tonight, I come to you with two invitations and a request. This Saturday is the RHS Preview of Champions, and it is the only time that you can see the marching bands of all three high schools in one place. I am providing each of you with the schedule and information about the competition etiquette so you know what to expect. This information was prepared by Mr. Miners, CVHS's band director, for the band families, but I hope that you will find it useful. I hope to see all of you there. The weather will be delightful. It's the evening. It's three hours of your time, max. But if you find yourself getting free admission into the Preview of Champions because you are board members and the superintendent, I would encourage you to please consider purchasing concessions or an airgram to support RHS's band program. The second invitation is to the Citrus Valley Classic on Saturday, October 11th. This is the band competition hosted by the CVHS Black and Gold Brigade. Finally, a request. For the student highlight at the upcoming December 2nd meeting, I would like you to invite the drum majors and the band directors of all three high schools to share about their 2025-2026 seasons. This will be the perfect timing as their marching band seasons will have just ended. Thank you, Catherine.

Happy Hispanic Heritage Month. It's refreshing to see that today we will finally be allowed to have the community have adequate time to speak. Your repeated decision as the board to limit community voices in past meetings reveal a profound disregard for the very students and families you were elected to serve. When fellow board members proposed divisive, racist, and homophobic policies, your response has been not to challenge them, but to silence us as a community. As Trustee Candy has said in the past, 45 seconds should be enough. If that's true for us, then perhaps you should hold yourselves to the same 45-second limit for your own statements. President Rindler, this is just one of the ways you have failed our students. You promised families that you would protect all children and support anti-racist work, yet when it mattered, you voted to pass policies that do not protect children, but instead weaponize vague and sweeping languages to censor books, erase voices, and punish marginalized communities. This is what systemic racism looks like. It doesn't always wear a hood or shout slurs. It hides in policies that look neutral on the surface but are applied in ways that silence black, Latino, LGBTQ+, and other marginalized students. It is a system where those in power lacking training or expertise decide whose stories are appropriate and whose are erased. It is a system where leaders promise equity but then create structures that reinforces harm. Policies like the ones you have pushed create an environment where hate festers, where the most vulnerable and marginalized are dehumanized, and where violence becomes inevitable. You betray the brave students and families who came forward with their stories here. You endorsed it hate by refusing to censure a fellow trustee for racist posts. And you now hide behind lawyers wasting taxpayers' dollars to defend yourselves and the policies that will cause lasting harm. I pray we will never have to hold a moment of silence for students here in Redlands from the breeding ground that these actions are laying a groundwork for.

Thank you, Kimberly. Thank you. Next, we have Gregory Britton, Chris Ortiz, and Bea Hamilton. Welcome, Greg.

Thank you. When last we talked, I want to thank Jeanette and Candy and Michelle for your courage in doing what's right for the children in the face of what is an unprecedented campaign of smears and lies and nastiness and name-calling and harassment not only before the board meeting but in your lives outside. The way representative democracy is supposed to work is ordinary, particularly at the local level, is ordinary citizens take time out of their lives to serve on a school board or a city council or other local agencies and then go about their lives. And we can have a discussion here. You may not like it. You may want to run somebody else at the next election. And that's all fine and good. But not to the left. See, because, as I've explained before, Abraham Lincoln said that the philosophy in the classroom in one generation is the philosophy of government in the next. And the left absolutely understands that. And Michelle and Candy and Jeanette, you got in between them and the children. Hence, you see all of this and what they've inflicted on you. But in the last two weeks, things have gotten a lot worse. As we've seen, a crazed leftist assassinated Charlie Kirk, pumped up on the same kind of stuff. Nazi, he's transphobic, all the name-calling that we've heard here. And most people aren't going to act on that. But you get somebody who is mentally challenged, they're crazy, they may act on that. There is a presumption in the law that that one is presumed to intend the natural consequences of one's actions. So for the left to say, well, Mr. Paisner, well, we are for civil discourse. We don't want any violence. But at the same time, the people of his group are coming up here and calling you names like Nazi. And of course, the implication being, sure, if you're a Nazi, wouldn't it be great if you're crazy, if you have mental issues? Couldn't I be a hero if I killed the Nazi? And then they say, well, we didn't mean that. Yeah, right. And it's also... nastiness to discourage people from getting involved. Last week, one of the students here, last meeting, said, Candy Mothers should have had an abortion. And that was all fine and good, and all the lefties here applauded that young man. They want to discourage you. I will talk about John, but I don't have time. They want to discourage not only you from getting involved and getting in the way, they want to discourage members of the public from getting in the way and blocking their agenda. Thank you, Greg.

Welcome, Chris.

My name is Chris Claudus. I am a resident of Redlands, a retired public school teacher, a school board member, and grandfather to four RUSD students. I understand that the intensity and quantity of public comments is lesser now than it was three or four months ago. But then again, you are not currently attempting to strip our students of any additional of their constitutional rights. Now, I have heard someone get up here and say that you should prohibit discussions of human sexuality in an age-appropriate manner in our schools because you are, quote, unquote, encouraging students to pursue this level or that level or something like that. In schools that teach teenagers have a long history of trying to prohibit discussions of human sexuality with the hope that if we pretend it doesn't exist, it won't exist. You will fail at that every bit as much as every other school has tried to for years. I think we have an obligation to let our students know about the world, the whole world, even parts of it you're not comfortable with. And I think that if you do that, you will be putting out a far superior student than following this current policy of trying to indoctrinate them to hate others. Thank you.

Thank you, Chris. Welcome, B.

So, President Rendler, I wanted to speak with you today about the current legal expenditures of the district. Right now, they are over $1 million for this fiscal year, more than double what they were the previous year.

We told you this would happen, and it did.

During the last meeting, I mentioned that the Ark Church has been using you to pass hateful policies and that as soon as they were done with you, they would discard you. They already have. Candy Olson wanted to schedule a special meeting. You decided that wasn't appropriate, and she turned to social media and called you out. We told you this was going to happen, and it did. I want to believe that you thought that this was what was best for our students. I'm hoping that since you have seen the outcome that you can agree that this was not what was best for our students. I'm hoping that you can see that this is draining funds from other programs and services that can help our students. And I want, I'm hoping that you can see that there's still time. there are two other members on the board who would be happy to work with you to walk these policies back. They could help you prevent the district's legal fees from tripling next year, as we have stated has been the trajectory of every other school district that has ever entertained these policies. You can still meet with Together for Redlands. I know they have reached out to you, and I know they would like to reconnect with you and support you. You do not have to be a tool of the art church. You can still reconnect with your community. Thank you.

Thank you, B. Do we have any more speakers? No. Okay, we're going to board comments. Melissa, would you like to start? No? Patty, do you have anything? Jeanette, do you have anything for board comments?

Yes, I just wanted to first of all mention that I was able to attend the RHS mural contest, the murals that the different classes painted, and they were super impressive, the artwork, the creativity, and they all did a great job. The freshmen, I believe it was one, They had the most creative, I guess. So that was really fun. And then also was able to visit Angel's Closet this week and tour the services they have for the students in Redlands School District. And it's amazing. The work that they're doing, it's a nonprofit, but their mission is to help Redlands USD and residents, children with clothing and some supplies and prom wear. And they just, it's amazing the job they do. And then I just wanted to bring up that some of you have mentioned tonight all the lies that continue to be said in our meetings. And I want to start addressing those lies. because it's just, in my opinion, not right for people to be able to lie and try to deceive others. For example, last meeting, it was said by a community member that I invited some man to the meeting. I had never met the man, but can't even remember his name. Those things are lies. It was also said that I was involved in having someone run against Michelle, a lie. It's very important to me that the lies need to be called out and stopped. And in line with that also, I would like to ask the superintendent to speak to the not factual information that's been presented tonight about some of the legal costs. And I also... am so saddened by our community stooping so low to make threats and threatening comments online about another board member that their political beliefs should easily be cause for them to be killed. That is absolutely abhorrent. And I am very saddened, like I said, about our community.

Candy, do you have anything? Oh.

She asked you. Well, you can wait until you're part, if you want. Or you can do it now. Sure.

Oh, right, because you have...

Yes, I agree with Jeanette. The allies are so many, so frequent. It's hard to keep track, and sometimes you wonder if it's best to address them or just let them go. Many lives were told about me throwing Michelle under the bus, and that's not true at all. I never threw Michelle under the bus. Also, it's been said that I'm running someone against her. That is also not true. I really don't want to... always be giving legitimacy because it's just so frequent and so numerous. The lies are just constant. The KKK, the Nazi, all of the affiliations that we bring proud boys to these meetings. I don't even know a single proud boy. So all of the associations and the lies that have been constantly spewed, this is the problem that... Some of the speakers have mentioned before, when lies are constantly told, people begin believing it. And if they're believing that we're Nazis, homophobic, hateful, racist, this and that, then people can take action and can harm any of us. I don't want anyone on this board to be harmed physically. We all deserve to be safe, and we all deserve a voice, even if I disagree with them. um i had a great week moving on to a different subject we went to a site visit which was wonderful kimberly was just amazing i just have to say the best site visit yet and a huge shout out to miss emily elgin and she rolled out the red carpet for us and literally Rolled out the red carpet for us. It was so great. I was wondering who the red carpet was for. I thought they had an event or something. But it was for us. And the student leaders, I thought they were just in the office doing something or waiting for their parents to pick them up. Kids are always in the office when you come by. And they were there to introduce themselves to us and shake our hands. And they are quite some leaders. And I'm excited to see their path. They showed us around the campus, and that was just a lot of fun. She made us feel right at home with gift baskets, too. So shout out to her. Also, the Angels Closet. I went with Jeanette, and I was just extremely impressed. So if you know of anybody that... might not have the funds or the means to have a prom dress, tuxedos, or daily clothing, even toiletries. It is by counselor referral only and appointment only, and a parent needs to go with them to Angel's Closet. But they have everything that a student could want to make them feel comfortable and give them some self-esteem. And it's all in style clothing. It's not from 20 years ago. It's all updated with tags. It's all new. And I had no idea. I've heard of Angel's Closet for years, but I had no idea. The place is amazing. And they say they have a student every hour coming. So they do do a lot of volume. And it does need to go through a counselor. And it's not just our district either. That's another thing. If you know somebody that's through a different district, it needs to go through the counselor or the teacher referral. But it's for anybody. It's not affiliated under the leadership of Redlands, even though they do comply. And, yes, the Title IX, Rudy, they do comply with all of the Title IX, yeah, but they're not our employees. Anyway, those were some great highlights, and that's it for me.

First, I just want to talk also about the lies that are being thrown around. You've never heard me talk about it and say anything or dispute or whatever because I don't give any credibility to lies. When people lie, I don't give them any credibility. That's just the way I am. And I think that most people can see through a lie. So there's that. Then I just want to thank everyone for being here tonight and staying with us until the end. I appreciate all the work and effort that went into putting together the College Fest last week. I was not able to attend, but my grandson went and received a lot of wonderful information. There were about 50 representatives there, he said. So I want to thank everyone for providing this opportunity for our students every year. Attending football games is always a highlight of the week. Last Friday was no exception. Homecoming at Rev in their new stadium and at RHS was very entertaining. I'm looking forward to CV's homecoming this Friday. Yesterday, I went with Candy and Jeanette and Juan to Kimberly, and we were given the royal treatment, for sure, by Principal Elgin and the fifth graders, Mason, Arlo, Ellie, and Tara. They were so, so nice and so mature for fifth graders, introducing themselves, taking us around to classrooms. They were a little embarrassed to go into their own class at first, but then I think they thought they were pretty cool because they got to be out of class. So we were given a glimpse of what students do in the classroom and what our classified staff does in our cafeterias every day for our students. And we also met the amazing office staff who coordinate all that happened at that school. It's a great school. Today, I watched a volleyball game between Beatty and Moore. I had to leave before it was over, so I just wish good luck to both teams. Moore had won one game, and I don't know who was winning the second one at that time. the boys were playing. I love that our middle school students get the opportunity to play on school sports teams before they get to high school, because not everybody can play AYSO or Y basketball or any of that. So it's nice they get that opportunity. And I want to thank the staff members and volunteers who sign up to help coach our middle school students. I'm also looking forward to the Superintendent Awards next week and more school visits and another evening of Redlands League supporting our district by helping our most needy students with clothing and shoes. That will happen on Thursday at Kohl's. If you're not able to make it to the Charlie Brown musical, you can still support Citrus Valley's Blackhawk Theatre Company by going to Chipotle tomorrow in Highland. And I want to welcome to Redlands Unified Rashaun Hendricks and Crystal Perrazzo. And I also want to thank Catherine, that was a very good suggestion for our positive moments to have the band directors and some of the band students come. So I'll figure out a meeting that that will work out. So thank you for that. And that's all I have tonight. Superintendent's comments.

Okay, I have some things to talk about. Okay, did you have a question, Jeanette? I wasn't sure if you were asking a question or you want me to look into it so that I can come back and report something.

Oh, I was hoping you could report on it now, but yes, I would like a report back regarding the statements that the Increased legal fees are because of decisions that the board has made since Candy and I and Michelle have voted certain ways.

Okay, I can speak generally. I kind of, Michelle asked a question earlier and I was kind of alluding to it. And I can get more specific numbers by the next time we meet. But it is a fact that we've gone from, I think it's 400 and something thousand in 23-24 to about a little over a million dollars in legal fees in the school year 24-25. There are a couple of significant changes that happened in 24-25. The board is very aware of those costs having to do with personnel matters, specifically separations, employment separations. Adding to that is compliance, which is a cost that we have incurred that is very different than 2324. I can get you specific numbers broken down. I don't have that this evening, though.

Compliance, meaning adherence to the state and federal oversight requirements.

The stipulated judgment, one main cost would be that we meet with the OEG at least once a month, sometimes more than once a month. And every time we meet with them, we have our lawyer with us. So that's an added cost that we wouldn't have had in 23-24. Lawyer fees, much like many things, go up every year. And so that... generally costs about $400 an hour. So, I mean, I can get it broken down for everybody, but that would be an example. Also, if we have to get an outside investigator, because we either need somebody who is not connected to the district to carry out the investigation, that comes with a cost that we wouldn't have had previously as well that would be related to compliance.

And the stipulated judgment was a result of some long-term issues that had been going on in the district for years.

It was a direct result of an investigation that the OAG did. They investigated a time frame of 2017 through 2023, I believe, predominantly 2017 through 2021, where they found us... at fault for not complying with all mandates. As a result, we are giving 96 mandates in June of 2024. One immediate impact of that was for us to switch to the F3 legal team. We had been using ALR predominantly for DOJ. We switched to F3. I made that decision because F3 was going to provide support that was going to be more direct, and I felt it was going to be better for us. That's proven to be true up to this point. It's not like they cost us more money. It probably was neutral as far as the amount of money we were spending with ALR. We're just spending more money because of the mandates.

And the other thing I would just add, that one thing that is not correct, that the million dollars, it was said that under my leadership and this board, the first five months was a different board, right? It was us and two other people and a different person in this role. So you've got to weigh it all.

Well, and I know you said that most people can see through the lies, but unfortunately, I don't think that is so much true anymore. And so the lies that were posted in Facebook about the three of us being on the board and decisions we've made actually... You know, it's a lie. Why do that? It's false information, and all it is doing is trying to deceive the left to stir up anger and hate and brew trouble.

I'm going to stick with facts, okay? The facts are that in 23-24, we spent almost $500,000. In 24-25, which is last school year, our legal fees were 1.3. No, not that much, $1,030,000. That is a fact. So we more than doubled from one year to the next. We had bond, legal support for our bond. I mean, there was just some costs in 24-25. That we didn't have. That we did not have in 23-24. Okay, I do have other comments though. Okay, go ahead. I started the school year off and I wanted to make sure that we're hearing from our students. And so I explained to the board that I call it conversation with students tour. And I love talking to students. It reminds me of why I had so much fun as a high school principal. So I've gone to Orangewood and spoken to leaders at Orangewood, to Beatty, an ASB class full of over 30 students. And then I went to Rev to speak to the BSU students. Every single conversation was better than the last. And we're doing it a little bit different. Usually I go and they have to hear me talk. But what I do is I do a little intro, but then I have about 10 to 11 questions that I ask them. Because I want to hear from them. What do they like about the school? What don't they like about their school? Do they have an adult that they can go to if they are in need of something? Can they identify an activity? I mean, awesome. Some of the answers I'm getting back, everybody wants a gym, just so you know. So they hear about $500 million, and everybody says they want a gym. So that's pretty awesome. The BSU group at REV, Black Student Union, awesome conversation. They asked me specifically if I would match their funds. And I'm like, what are you talking about? They want to take a trip next summer to visit black colleges. There's a black college tour that is very popular among the Inland Empire students. and they would like to participate in going to see specifically HBCUs, which is Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and they're trying to raise money right now. They showed me where they are with their funds, and they asked if I could match. I took out my CalCard, and I said yes. No, I'm just playing, Jason. I did not do that. But I am trying to figure out if there's a solution somewhere because I would love for our kids to participate if possible.

Is that all three schools?

It would be the entire district. Yeah, it would be the entire district. But it was the Rev. BSU that had the idea, and it was a great conversation I had with them, and I promised that I would go back. I am trying to go to as many schools as I can. I started with the secondary, so I already have lined up to go to the other high schools and all of the other middle schools. And then our site visits is you are invited to join us for those site visits. We had one this Friday that I thought we were going to Clement, but we reached out to them and there was a mix-up. So that one isn't going to happen this Friday. But I am going to Clement Monday to speak to students. And then we have other site visits that everybody is aware of, and I'm looking forward to going there. And I will also say, Ms. Elgin, thank you so much. We had a good time over at Kimberly. And so great school, great community, and the kids were awesome. And the teachers that we got to see, wonderful things happening. Superintendents Awards, our first one is September 30th, which is coming up next Tuesday. Please come out. And then the bands, yes, I did have that on my calendar. And I'm hoping that I can go. So all three of our high schools will have a chance to perform. And you've got the schedule right here, so you can even go at 5 and then leave and go have dinner and come back at 7 for the other schools. So hopefully I'll be able to go. I think I got my allowance, so I have the $10. I don't think I spent it yet. But thank you. That's all I have to report today.

All right. Wow. This meeting is adjourned at 7.20.