📋 June 24, 2025: about 500 speaker cards, 45 seconds each, and three policy first readings

President Rendler opened the meeting at 3:30 p.m., with Melissa Ayala-Quintero, Patty Holohan, Candy Olson, Michele Rendler and Jeannette Wilson at roll call, and the board adjourned to closed session at 3:32 p.m. 1. The board returned to open session at 6:01 p.m. and the regular meeting was called to order at 6:10 p.m. 2. It adjourned at 11:30 p.m. 3.

Three things were reported out of closed session: the appointment of Robyn Rivera as Principal of Judson & Brown Elementary and of Matthew Yost as Director of Safety & Disaster Preparedness, both at effective dates to be determined, and acceptance of a settlement in litigation case #422673, of which $466,666.67 is to be paid by the district — a share the minutes tie to the plaintiff seeking "non-covered treble and statutory damages" and alleging that the district violated Penal Code Section 11166 4. Both new administrators were called up, introduced their families and expressed excitement and gratitude for the opportunity 4.

The agenda was approved with flexibility after President Rendler asked to move public participation to follow the presentations and to pull two items 2. The pulled pair were the first readings of new Board Policy 5010 and new Administrative Regulation 5010, Notification; the minutes mark both "(Item Pulled)" 5.

🎤 About 500 cards, 45 seconds each

Before the first speaker was called, the board stopped to work out how to get through the stack. The count was put at "close to 500 cards", with the options laid out as a division problem: allot a total number of hours, divide by the cards, and give everyone the result 6. A clarification followed that "500 cards does not equal 500 people" 7, because "One person asked for 72 cards, and I think one person was going to talk to every single item on the agenda", and that 500 cards at the meeting's usual minute and a half would run past eight hours 8.

The board settled on "45 seconds per speaker" 9, and the decision drew an immediate objection that "That's not a consensus. That's a majority." 10. None of that exchange is in the minutes, and the recording's speaker labels are automated voice matches rather than a record of who spoke, so the words above are given without names.

Community Forward Redlands reported the same figure from outside the room — more than 500 comment cards, an unprecedented volume — and the reduction of the standard three-minute comment to 45 seconds per card 11.

🗣️ Public comment, pages 4 to 13

The minutes record the comments themselves, name by name, from page 4 through page 13. Most of them opposed the three policies:

• Michael Townsend, representing State Senator Eloise Gómez Reyes, and Ulysses Nera, from Assemblymember Robert Garcia's office, presented a joint letter from the two legislators urging the board to abandon AR 1312.2 and BP 6115, stating that while unity may be the stated goal, the policies risk silencing symbols of identity and belonging for diverse and historically underrepresented students 12. The letter itself, dated the day before the meeting, opposes proposed revisions to AR 1312, AR 5010, BP 5010, BP 6000 and BP 6115 and asks the board to "pause the implementation of these policies and gather further input from community members, educators, parents and students, and experts". It describes the notification proposal that was pulled that night as requiring written notice to parents or guardians within three days whenever a student in a school-sponsored activity requests a change to any official or unofficial school record, and argues that this could result in students being outed without their consent 13.
• Bryan Koonce questioned the omission of anticipated legal fees from the budget, citing millions spent by other districts on litigation, and warned that adopting the policies could deplete reserves 14.
• Nancy O'Connor told the board that some on the school board and in the community are attempting to regress, reminding all that "Liberty dies where books are banned." 12
• Isabel Quintero, a resident and author whose own book the minutes describe as targeted by the ban, said it enables censorship based on personal ideologies over educational expertise, and presented community-collected postcards supporting freedom to read 15.
• Emma Wolf spoke for arts education and dual enrollment and shared a personal account of how a book helped her disclose childhood abuse 16.
• Hannah Edmondson called AR 1312.2 unnecessary and costly and noted that Trustee Olson's election does not represent a full mandate, as 57% of area five voters chose other candidates 17.
• Margo Male alleged a Brown Act violation for not being heard on Item 13.b. and criticized the budget's omission of contingent liabilities 18.
• Katherine Appleby addressed the pool project's costs and timeline under business consent items 12.m. and 12.n., questioned conference reimbursements for board members, and asked for clear definitions of terms like pornography and erotica in AR 1312.2 and BP 6000 19.
• Lawrence Hebron argued the question was not censorship but age-appropriate content 12; from the podium, "The real issue here is appropriateness." 20
• Anita Rhodes opposed LGBTQ+ flag displays and certain books, emphasizing parental rights to control their children's exposure and urging the board to resist pressure from vocal minority groups 18.
• Valerie Taber criticized AR 1312.2 and related policies for lacking expert input, asserting that efforts to ban pride flags will fail because support for LGBTQ+ students will persist through alternative symbols 19.

One speaker's answer to the flag policy, given here without a name because the recording's labels cannot supply one, was to tell the board to go ahead and take away the pride flag: "We will just replace it with rainbows or safety pins or lanyards or a thousand other things." 21 Another speaker, unnamed for the same reason, put the case for the policies the other way round: "Allow parents to make a decision about what they want their children to have exposure to." 22

🗳️ Three first readings, and the division on all three

Items 14.k., 14.n. and 14.o. — a revision of AR 1312.2, Complaints Concerning Library or Media Center Materials 23, a revision of BP 6000, Concepts and Roles, and new BP 6115, Ceremonies, Observances, and Flag Displays 24 — were before the board as first readings. The board approved all three, and the minutes record the same division on each: ayes from Candy Olson, Michele Rendler and Jeannette Wilson, nays from Melissa Ayala-Quintero and Patty Holohan 5. Two second readings on the same agenda were also approved: BP 6146.1, High School Graduation Requirements, and BP 6146.4, Differential Graduation and Competency Standards for Students with Disabilities 5.

The minutes carry no discussion narrative for those items. The recording does, and again the labels on it are voice matches, so the words stand on their own. On the library-materials regulation: "we do need to take all of these policies back to the drawing board" because "We obviously have a lot of constituents in every area that feels there needs to be some more compromise on these policies." 25, and "it's a slap in the face to our librarians who work really hard all the time" 26. On the flag policy: "Your prejudice is showing, and you should all be embarrassed" 27, and "I just don't see how this is going to be a safe and inclusive environment for our students when we had 13 students come today and speak on their summer vacation" 28.

📚 What the two policies say

The text now in the district's policy manual is the version that came out of this cycle, not the draft that was read that night, but it is the closest thing the archive holds to the language people were arguing about. AR 1312.2 sets a two-track complaint process: ordinary challenges go through a district procedure, while a complaint alleging "perceived pornography, erotica, graphic descriptions or depictions of sexual acts, and/or sexual violence, or sexually explicit materials" skips to a separate section 29. BP 6115 states that "No flag other than the United States of America and State of California may be displayed on school grounds or in classrooms, unless it is a country, state, or United States military flag used solely for educational purposes within the adopted curriculum", including posters, digital displays and flyers, with other flags requiring the Superintendent's prior approval 30.

💵 The 2025-26 budget

Kirtan Shah, Director of Fiscal Services, presented the 2025-26 annual budget, sharing updated information from the May Revise and noting deferred payments, a lower Prop 98 guarantee and a funded COLA of 2.30% 31. The presentation put numbers to each of those: the state deferring about $1.8 billion in payments to K-12 schools and community colleges from June 2026 into July 2026; a Prop 98 minimum guarantee $4.6 billion lower across two school years than the governor's January budget; a funded COLA that started at 2.93% and ended at 2.30%; 2024-25 enrollment of 19,181, a drop of 372 from the prior year, with 100 more projected in each of the next two years before stabilizing and ADA held at 93.5%; LCFF funding falling from $256.4 million to $255.9 million as supplemental and concentration funding drops about $1.6 million; special education expenditures up about $5 million; the legally required 3% reserve met in the budget year and the two out years; and a projected ending fund balance of $70.7 million for 2025-26, against $91 million for 2024-25 and $48 million by 2027-28, with deficit spending projected in each of those years 32. Community Forward Redlands reported the same figures the following week 33.

The board adopted the LCAP and the annual budget, both of which had gone to public hearing on June 10, 2025 34, along with the balance in excess of minimum reserve requirements 35. It also approved Resolutions No. 47, No. 48 and No. 49 setting 2025-2026 special tax rates for Community Facilities Districts 2001-1, 2006-1 and 2016-1 35, and Resolutions No. 50 and No. 51 for Districts 2021-1 and 2024-1, then adopted Resolution No. 52 on due diligence and authorization to commit funds and Resolution No. 53 on Education Protection Account spending determinations 36. Two public hearings — on the EPA requirements and on RESPA's initial proposal for the 2025-2026 negotiations cycle — were opened, with no one coming forward to speak 4.

📊 Local indicators, consent and reports

Patricia Buchmiller, Assistant Superintendent, Educational Services, presented the district's local indicators for 2024-2025, the component of the California School Dashboard that is rated met or not met rather than shown on a dial 31. The presentation reported zero misassignments of teachers of English learners, no students without their own copies of standards-aligned instructional material, zero facility deficiencies, staff ratings of four and five out of five for professional development and instructional materials across the standards areas, and 1,668 responses to the March 2025 parent engagement survey 37.

The board approved the Business Services consent calendar 38 — facilities-use agreements for the high school pools, the Grab n' Go food distribution program, master planning and demographic services 39, an adult education subgrant, a change order and an amended award on the Redlands East Valley High School pool project, transportation bid extensions, two claim rejections 40 — and payment transmittals 25002760 through 25002950 in the amount of $7,656,834.91 35. It approved Educational Services consent items XIV.a. through XIV.j., with the minutes recording Melissa Ayala-Quintero abstaining on item XIV.c. 36 — choir trips to Camp Arbolado and La Quinta, and agreements including the three-year College and Career Access Pathways partnership with Crafton Hills College, Mindfulness in Motion, Professional Tutors of America, an administrator on loan to Redlands Educational Partnership, Scoot Education and Solution Tree 41.

Superintendent Juan J. Cabral opened his report with a follow-up on the board's earlier discussion of a racism resolution: staff had been directed to draft a statement, and the draft was presented for the board's consideration 31. President Rendler read it 31: "The Redlands Unified School District Board of Education is committed to maintaining a learning environment that is free from racism, discrimination, and all forms of intolerance. We believe every student and staff member deserves to be treated with respect and dignity." 42

In board comments, Patty Holohan warned that certain actions could lead to lawsuits and said she hoped the board would take responsibility for the consequences; Melissa Ayala-Quintero criticized the policies as discriminatory and harmful to students, particularly LGBTQ+ youth, warned of likely lawsuits and their impact on the general fund, and called for more empathetic, student-centered governance; Candy Olson expressed support for the new safety director and optimism about improvements in addressing bullying and campus violence; and Michele Rendler thanked those who attended, noted the RTA retiree dinner, congratulated the year's retirees and welcomed the two new members of the management team 43. Superintendent Cabral closed by acknowledging the public's concerns about Brown Act compliance, affirming that accountability matters, and stating that legal guidance was sought so that all speakers had an opportunity to comment before the board took action 3.

📌 What the record shows next

The first readings did not settle the policies. At the July 8, 2025 meeting the second readings of AR 1312.2 and BP 6000 were not carried, while the second reading of new BP 6115 was 44. AR 1312.2 and BP 6000 came back to the board for second reading on August 19, 2025 45. KVCR News, reporting the morning after this meeting, described the line to the meeting reaching the parking lot and public comment lasting for hours before the board acted on policies that critics say target LGBTQ students 46.