📋 August 25, 2026: Professional Standards Adopted, Alongside the Fights That Were Not on the Agenda

An hour-long meeting, and most of it belonged to one policy plus two that were not on the agenda at all. The board adopted the second reading of updated Board Policy 4319.21, Professional Standards 1, and the motion carried 2. Around it came eleven turns of public comment, six called for agendized items 3 and five in the open comment period 4, and they kept circling back to the district's stalled parent-notification policy and to a proposal to require political balance in school library collections. The meeting was called to order at 6:18 p.m. 5, against a posted 6:00 p.m. open session 6, and adjourned at 7:18 p.m. 7.

🏫 Professional standards: adopted at the second reading

Per the agenda, the CSBA-maintained revision will "expand prohibited conduct, strengthen requirements for reporting suspected employee misconduct, prohibit retaliation against individuals who report misconduct" and align the policy with rules on adult-student interactions 1. Two numbered lines in the packet draft did nearly all the work in comment. One makes it inappropriate conduct to refuse parents "truthful, accurate, and complete information when disclosure is required by law, Board policy, or administrative regulation." The other covers "Intentionally withholding information or providing incomplete information that creates a false or misleading understanding when disclosure is otherwise required, except where disclosure is prohibited by law. This section does not alter legal confidentiality requirements or mandated reporting obligations." 8

The item's ambiguity showed at once. The opening speaker addressed 16A as "the revised policy for the parental notification policy" 9, and was told from the dais that 16A was Board Policy 4319, "professional standards, not parent notification" 9. The next speaker argued they overlap anyway, pointing to the language on withholding information "either by omission or by actively refusing," and backed adoption 9. From there:

• What does it mean? One speaker asked which policies and regulations "require this disclosure," none being named in the policy, and how each member would read the added adverb "intentionally" 10.
• Is it aimed at staff? Another said it "appears to focus heavily on monitoring, reporting, and discipline" and could read as distrust of teachers, citing a librarian placed on leave and ultimately out of a job "following what was alleged to be a false accusation" 11.
• Does this board have standing? A third argued the board lacks credibility to impose disclosure rules while a sitting member is under a Fair Political Practices Commission investigation over campaign-finance disclosures, urging the board not to pass the policy until that member "is actually in compliance with the laws for legally required disclosures" 12.
• Make it concrete. A fourth asked that an employee who legally cannot share information be required to say so rather than stay silent, backed by a published list of what staff may not disclose 13.

There was no floor discussion: discussion was called for and none came 2, and the motion carried 2. One board member did try to get a question in, "I did have a question really quick," after the vote had already been called 2. Community Forward Redlands had previewed the item before the August 11 first reading, reporting it would classify as inappropriate conduct a refusal to give parents "truthful, accurate, and complete information" when disclosure is legally required 14.

📚 Library "balance" and parent notification: the items that were not on the agenda

Board comments carried the second thread. One board member said the book-balancing language proposed for BP 6144 had not made this agenda, and reported finding an existing policy covering the same ground, BP 6163.1, Library Media Centers, dated by that member to 1995 15. The policy does say it, listing among what libraries provide "Materials that present opposing sides of controversial issues, so that students may learn, with guidance, how to analyze and think critically about what they read." 16 The ask now would be to strengthen 6163.1 rather than amend 6144, with language requiring a "concerted effort to provide a balanced selection" when materials are ordered, and the request was aimed at the next agenda 15. Under the board's governance handbook, a member's agenda request goes in writing to the board president and superintendent "at least 8 calendar days prior to the scheduled meeting date" 17.

A second board member found the resistance puzzling, since the idea is "so similar to the controversial issues policy we already have," in place, by that member's account, since 2013 or 2015 and resting on teachers' professional judgment 18. BP 6144 does read that way, but about instruction: "The Board expects administrators and teachers to exercise professional judgment when deciding whether or not a particular issue is suitable for study or discussion" 19. That distinction is the crux: at the August 11 meeting, whose minutes ride in this agenda packet, staff drew a line between material a teacher presents and library materials students borrow voluntarily, and the board directed staff to develop revised language 20. Community Forward Redlands reported that trustees steered staff toward narrower language focused on books about U.S. presidents 21.

Parent notification was absent for a fresher reason: the first readings of new BP 5010 and AR 5010, Notification, were pulled during approval of the agenda on August 11, the minutes recording only that "No motion was taken. This item was pulled during approval of the agenda." 22 Before the pull, members differed over whether to wait for legal clarification, weighing AB 1955, the absence of higher-court guidance, and the district's obligations under its stipulated judgment and Attorney General oversight 23. Community Forward Redlands supplies the outside context: AB 1955 bars districts from requiring staff to disclose a student's sexual orientation or gender identity without consent, and the district remains under a stipulated judgment with the California Attorney General after a settlement over its handling of past sexual-abuse complaints 24.

The subject came straight back in open comment. One speaker walked through Mahmoud v. Taylor and Mirabelli v. Bonta, arguing parents have a right to be notified when a child's gender status changes at school 25. Another urged the board to take up "the balanced library books item and the parental notification policy item" before the next election, then read from a 1927 Hardy Boys novel to make a point about reading levels 26. One defended naming members of the public who speak at meetings and alleged that a board member's campaign signage went up months earlier than a local ordinance allows 27. Another asked that false statements from the dais be corrected as they are made, and thanked district IT staff for unblocking recorded board meetings on student devices 28. A speaker who had been the subject of an earlier comment questioned how "calling me names is in any way under the jurisdiction of the RUSD board" 29.

🏞️ A 7-11 committee for a 27-acre parcel in Loma Linda

The board approved Resolution No. 6, 2026-2027, forming a district advisory committee, commonly a 7-11 committee, under Education Code sections 17387 through 17391, to advise on the use or disposition of surplus school property 30. No discussion was asked for 2, and the motion carried 2. The resolution directs the committee, once seated, to "evaluate and determine the best use of an approximate 27 acre undeveloped parcel of land owned by the District located in Loma Linda, California" 31; members are chosen separately and appointed by a later resolution 30. District policy anticipates the step: BP 3280 provides that "When required by law, the Board shall appoint a district advisory committee to advise the Board in the development of policies and procedures governing the use or disposition of schools or school building space which is not needed for school purposes" 32. Any actual sale or lease is a later, and usually louder, decision.

🔨 Kingsbury re-roof, and the rest of the business

The board awarded Bid 1-27, Re-roofing and HVAC at Kingsbury Elementary School, to the lowest responsible and responsive bidder, NKS Mechanical Contracting, Inc., for $2,100,000 in Measure D funds 33. It rode the business services consent calendar, moved with discussion invited and none taken 2 and carried 2, alongside settlement of Claim No. 639796 for $283,333.33 and rejection of Claim No. 676086, architectural services for a playground and ADA pathway at Lugonia Elementary, and a change order on the Foothill Groves packinghouse conversion 33, plus payment transmittals of $3,723,517.70 30. The educational services block, including CORE literacy coaching at Mentone Elementary 1, carried next 2, and the personnel items 1 after that 2. Out of closed session the board reported adopting a resolution terminating an employee's employment and approving two student compromise and release agreements funded by special education administrative funds 34.

🎉 The opener, and a voting system that would not vote

The evening began with the agenda's student highlight, the Redlands East Valley High School pep team 6: football captains inviting the board to that week's Thursday game 5, and an invitation to a game billed as a 250th-anniversary celebration 5, set for October 29 5. The electronic voting system then failed on the night's second item, and the fallback was to do it manually 34; the August 11 minutes went to a roll call 34 and the motion carried 34. Board comments also brought a request that the cabinet revive collaborative trainings with the Redlands police department on the consequences of bringing a weapon to school 18 and thanks to the District African American Parent Advisory Council, whose next meeting is October 8, 2026 35; the first two of roughly thirty Williams facilities visits, at Citrus Valley and Lugonia, were reported from the dais 7.

This recap is based on the agenda, agenda packet and transcript on file for the August 25, 2026 meeting, three board policies and the district's governance handbook from the archive, and three articles from Community Forward Redlands. No official minutes for this meeting are on file yet, so under site policy the statements made here are summarized without attribution to named individuals or to individual officeholders; the transcript's automated voice-match speaker labels indicate who was probably speaking, not who the official record says spoke, and are not used to identify anyone. This page will be updated if approved minutes are added.