Coachella Valley Unified School District earlier this month swore in three reelected trustees following the March 4 special election.
The election was supposed to be held Nov. 5, but what officials called a “clerical error” prevented about 2,400 voters in Imperial County from casting their ballots. An agreement between the counties was approved later that month to allow the Imperial County voters a chance to cast their ballots in a special election with the understanding that Riverside County would not release its results until after the polls were closed March 4.
“This is an important step forward for us all, especially for the voters of Imperial County, District 3, who now have the opportunity to cast their votes in this election,” CVUSD said in a statement at the time.
But with the results now in, Area 1 Trustee Trinidad Arredondo, Area 2 Trustee Jesus Gonzalez and Area 4 Trustee Jocelyn Vargas all took their oaths of office at the March 20 meeting.
“Our district is not in the great position that we were maybe a couple years [ago] with a lot of funding, and as parents, as community members, as educational advocates, we wish we could give the world to our students,” Vargas said. “And so, for me, I’m going to continue to do that. I commit myself to continue to do that impartially, and just really looking for the best way to serve our students and our families again.”
Stay up to date with the latest from The Record. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter today!
In addition to swearing in the reelected trustees, the board also completed its annual reorganization, voting 5-2 to appoint Vargas president of the board, Trustee Silvia Paz vice president of the board and Trustee Valerie Garcia clerk of the board.
“It’s a call for us as a board to be united and to make a conscientious decision that we’re going to focus on the policies that are going to [push] our students and our community forward,” Paz said of her recommendation. “I’m going to suggest these candidates with the belief and the invitation that, by accepting, they will move in this direction, and also a request from our unions that we do the same, that when we’re engaging, when we’re in this room, that we’re focused on the policies.”
However, Gonzalez said he had concerns with Garcia serving as clerk of the board due to her employment with the California Teachers Association.
“The idea that she would be the [clerk] for this board and work for the teachers union, I can’t accept that,” he said.
Garcia, in response, said her employment has zero impact on her ability to serve the district as a trustee.
“This is something that has been legally tested,” she said. “You asked this question the moment I came on the board, and our legal team stated there is not a conflict of interest.”
But Gonzalez wasn’t the only one who had an issue with the slate Paz put forward.
“There’s two individuals here that I will absolutely not vote for because of the past and what they’ve done,” Trustee Joey Acuña Jr. said. “And again, I wish, in your mind, I could be a bigger man, but I think I’ve been doing that for way too long, and I’m just tired.”
The Riverside Record is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news outlet providing Riverside County with high-quality journalism free of charge. We’re able to do this because of the generous donations of supporters like you!