The Orange County District Attorney’s Office says two Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District board members may have violated California’s open meetings law earlier this year.
At a Feb. 2 meeting, board member Leandra Blades criticized board President Carrie Buck for abruptly ending two previous meetings because some residents refused to wear masks during the statewide mask order that ended Feb. 15.
At the time Blades publicly hinted that the move violates California’s open meetings law, the Brown Act.
“I had to keep quiet for a while because of all these unilateral postponements of these meetings. We have had violations of the Brown Act. We have had violations of the law,” Blades said at the February 2 meeting.
But DA investigators found that Blades’ unscheduled discussion at the same February meeting about allowing mesh masks on campuses violated the Brown Act.
“The board considered resolutions proposed by Administrator Leandra Blades that were not on the special meeting agenda and did not qualify as urgent matters,” according to a letter from Deputy District Attorney Jake Jondle to the school district’s attorney, attached to a meeting agenda. the board.
Investigators also determined another board member violated the Brown Act during the same February meeting by not calling into the meeting from a location where the agenda said he would be.
“Additionally, Trustee Shawn Youngblood may not have remained at the remote meeting location throughout the meeting as disclosed in the meeting agenda,” Jondle’s letter states.
The findings prompted a majority of Placentia-Yorba Linda school board administrators at their meeting Tuesday night to vote on a resolution to correct those violations under the state’s transparency law.
“These violations are considered ‘probable’ at this point in time, as the District Attorney is giving the Board the opportunity to ‘address and correct’ these potential violations. If the Board addresses them as the District Attorney has recommended, no further action by the District Attorney’s office will be necessary,” said a report by Superintendent Michael Matthews.
Both Blades and Youngblood abstained from Tuesday’s vote, with Youngblood criticizing OC District Attorney Todd Spitzer’s office.
“Being an avid CSI guy, I’m sure any investigation would require them to talk to the people they’re investigating, and since that didn’t happen, I’m going to refrain from that,” Youngblood said in the on tuesday. meeting
The agenda for the Feb. 2 meeting listed Youngblood as meeting virtually from a hotel room in Texas, but during the meeting, he said he was driving at the same time.
“Wait, I’m trying to drive while I’m doing this,” Youngblood said at the Feb. 2 meeting.
At that time, trustee Karin Freeman called Youngblood who was not at the posted location.
As part of the settlement, school board administrators are expected to undergo training on certain aspects of the Brown Act.
The district attorney’s office investigation stemmed from a complaint filed against Board President Buck, alleging she violated the Brown Act for unilaterally postponing two meetings earlier this year.
“Based on a review of the facts and relevant law, OCDA does not believe its actions were a violation of the Brown Act,” Jondle’s letter said.
The Feb. 2 special meeting was held after Buck unilaterally adjourned the district’s January meeting twice within minutes because many residents refused to wear masks inside meeting rooms amid a statewide mask mandate at the time .
At that meeting, trustees considered postponing their board meetings until after the mask mandate was lifted, but decided against it.
[Read: After Mask Revolt, Placentia-Yorba Linda School Board Meetings to Resume Next Week]
Blades, Youngblood and some residents criticized Buck for the move, while other residents applauded her decision to end the meetings amid a winter COVID surge.
Issues like masks and vaccine mandates have been points of contention among district administrators, parents, students and teachers in the Placentia-Yorba Linda school district and others across OC.
At the Feb. 2 meeting, Blades added an “urgent” item at the end of the meeting, against the advice of district attorneys.
The article would have prevented students from being removed from class for wearing a net mask or other face covering that did not follow the district’s masking policy.
The February motion failed on a 2-3 vote, but the district attorney’s office said that because it brought up an item not listed on the agenda, it could be a violation of the Brown Act.
On Tuesday, Blades argued that since the vote failed, it should not be considered a violation of the Brown Act and defended her actions. She also said an attorney from the Gavel Project is representing her for free.
“When they looked at what this was, they don’t believe there’s a potential violation of the Brown Act because when I brought this forward, they denied me,” she said Tuesday. “I don’t see how this is a possible violation of the Brown Act.”
Blades also said that since she believed the situation was an emergency, it should be legal to add the item to the agenda.
“How was this not a state of emergency?” Bladed said at Tuesday’s meeting. “Aren’t hundreds of kids getting an education because of someone’s opinion about a mask — is that an emergency?”
She said she emailed District Attorney Todd Spitzer and that Spitzer said he would look into it.
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, an initiative of GroundTruth. Contact him at [email protected] or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.
Angelina Hicks is a reporting member of the Voice of OC. Contact her at [email protected] or on Twitter @angelinahicks13.
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