Pajaro Valley Unified School District brings back ethnic studies consultant, but faces internal rift.

For nearly two years, a group of Pajaro Valley Unified School District students, teachers, parents and community members have fought to bring back Community Responsive Education, an Oakland-based consulting group, to help develop an ethnic studies curriculum. On April 16, PVUSD’s board unanimously voted to bring back CRE, approving a $90,000 contract.

“I’m thrilled that we got it approved, and even more so that it was a 7-0 vote,” says Bobby Pelz, an English and ethnic studies teacher at Watsonville High. “It feels very validating. I’m really hopeful that students who participated recognize their own power and that they can do big things.”

During its third year at PVUSD, CRE will focus on training administrators and new teachers.

The path to bringing back CRE hasn’t been easy. It has been plagued with accusations of antisemitism against CRE’s founder, Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales, as a reason why the PVUSD board declined to renew CRE’s contract in 2023. (In April, the PVUSD board agreed to offer an apology to Tintiangco-Cubales.)

Even with consensus on CRE, newer conflicts between board members, including concerns about antisemitic language, are boiling over. On May 7, the board voted against a resolution censuring Trustee Gabriel Medina.

The resolution included several allegations including: Medina objected to allowing a graduate of a Christian university to become a teacher; posting a photo in February on Instagram showing an employee wearing a MAGA hat, “subjecting the employee to public scrutiny for expressing his political views;” and on April 16 Medina referred to Jewish community members as “you people” and accused them of attending public meetings to “tell Brown people who they are.”

At the May 7 meeting, Medina said the proposed censure was “a politically motivated attempt to discredit me for doing exactly what I was elected to do: ask difficult questions, speak uncomfortable truths and represent my community.”

Following the vote, Medina wrote a letter to trustees Olivia Flores and Misty Navarro, the only votes in favor of censure. He wrote that he wanted “to resolve a defamation claim stemming from false and damaging statements” against him and that he is seeking $35,000 in damages, including $10,000 for legal and mental health costs.

“His claims are baseless and his letter amounts to harassment and extortion,” Navarro says. “We need to remember that we represent the district and our children are looking to us to model good behavior.”

Medina, who represents North Monterey County on the board, did not respond to the Weekly’s request for comment. He told The Pajaronian that if both board members apologized, he would drop his legal claim.

Medina’s letter drew scrutiny from other elected officials. “For a new school board member to demand $35,000 in taxpayer education dollars is just appalling and embarrassing,” Monterey County Supervisor Luis Alejo wrote on Facebook.