Noteworthy shift in voting patterns at Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District since election of three new trustees last November

 There's been a noteworthy shift in voting patterns on the Placentia-Yorba Linda school board since the election of three new trustees to the five-member panel last November.

Prior to this year, virtually all votes were 5-0 (or 4-0 when a trustee was absent). The last 3-2 vote occurred 12 years ago, when attendance boundaries were established for Yorba Linda High School, with another 3-2 vote at the next meeting when the boundaries were changed.

This year, 3-2 and 4-1 votes on a number of matters have dotted the agendas of meetings in May, June and July. Of 74 votes taken at four regular sessions, nine were not unanimous, an unusually large number when compared to past years.

The most publicized of the 3-2 votes came at a July 27 meeting on a resolution asking the state's Department of Public Health to change face covering rulings for schools and school-based programs.

The resolution requests the department make face coverings “optional,” thus “giving students, staff and families choice,” while stating the resolution “gives voice to those students, staff and families.”

Supporting the resolution were newly elected trustees Marilyn Anderson, Leandra Blades and Shawn Youngblood. Opposed were 32-year trustee Karin Freeman and 11-year trustee Carrie Buck.

However, less noted at the same meeting were six other split votes on items pulled from the “consent calendar,” where many routine items are bundled together for a single vote.

Two involved 3-2 votes: An agreement with BrainPOP was voted down and a three-year online subscription for Newsela for Kraemer Middle School passed. Anderson, Blades and Youngblood opposed the BrainPOP pact, and Blades and Youngblood opposed Newsela.

In 4-1 votes, Blades opposed membership in the California School Boards Association, its Education Legal Alliance and subscription to its online policy manual and an EDPuzzle online subscription for Valadez Middle School Academy. Youngblood opposed a History Alive! online subscription for the Valadez campus.

BrainPOP aids instruction through games, animated movies and activities, Newsela provides access to standards-aligned articles, EDPuzzle involves interactive video-based lessons and History Alive! supports the social studies curriculum.

At a June 22 meeting, Blades and Youngblood opposed the district's adoption of a Local Control and Accountability Plan.

And in two interesting May 11 meeting votes, Anderson, Blades and Youngblood opposed a resolution designating May as Mental Health Awareness Month. After discussion, an amended version of the resolution was adopted on a 5-0 vote.

Deleted from the original 494-word resolution was the phrase “the long overdue societal reckoning with police violence against African Americans.”

Public participation has increased from an average half-dozen speakers during public comment periods in past years to 14 on May 11, 22 on June 1, 31 on June 22 and 33 on July 27.