A school district’s statement against pesticides shows fragility of new agreement.

When Francisco Rodriguez, president of the Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers, attended a May 10 press conference at the Monterey County Agricultural Commissioner’s office, it felt like a celebration. Speakers praised diverse interest groups for coming together.

The union, aligned with anti-pesticide activists in the group Safe Ag Safe Schools, wanted a 1-mile buffer zone between schools and agricultural fumigations. Working with organizers at the Center for Community Advocacy and Ag Commissioner Eric Lauritzen, they’d come to a compromise: Lauritzen would notify three North County schools of planned fumigations within one-quarter mile five days in advance, potentially expanding to more schools. “I believe this is an important step forward for our community,” Lauritzen said.

On the evening of May 11, the board of Pajaro Valley Unified School District was to vote on a resolution calling for tighter restrictions: They wanted 1-mile buffer zones around schools, and a seven-day notification period. It was the same set of demands Rodriguez and PVFT had made before negotiating the new agreement – which will also receive $75,000 in state grant funding – with Lauritzen and CCA.

“This is really calling on us as board members to take a strong stand and protect students’ safety,” PVUSD board chair Maria Orozco said. “As elected officials, we have been elected to do exactly that.”

But because they asked for buffer zones and two more days, Lauritzen appeared poised to renege on the agreement. He wasn’t at the meeting, but a chorus of opposition to the resolution was delivered on his behalf from Orozco’s colleagues; Jeff Ursino and Kim De Serpa said they’d talked to Lauritzen by phone. “He’s so angry he doesn’t feel like he really wants to participate any further with a collaboration,” De Serpa said. Ursino echoed her comments: “At the end of the day, we need him,” he said.

A resolution from a school district isn’t enforceable policy, just a position – but they’re positions that can become political wedges, as proven in the debate over the fumigant methyl iodide in 2011, when a PVUSD teacher went to Sacramento to meet with industry lobbyists.

Rodriguez claimed approving the resolution wouldn’t interfere with the new agreement, and would help him save face: “At the end of the day, I have to turn around and face the people behind me,” he told the board.

The PVUSD board agreed to table their vote until their May 25 meeting, when they’ll consider the resolution, edited to include “collaborative language.”