Decades long tradition broken as Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District trustees select officers for 2022 on various split votes

 

A longer-than-usual agenda faces Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District trustees when they gather for a Feb. 8 meeting because no business was conducted at two January sessions that were adjourned early due to state-mandated mask policy violations by audience members.

Among the 40 items delayed from the Jan. 19 session was a resolution framed as an “urgent request” to Gov. Gavin Newsom “to reconsider or rescind the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for public and private K-12 students and staff as a requirement in K-12 school settings.”

Other delayed items included the approval of new trustee area boundaries affecting the two westside trustee areas, review of the district policy regarding board self-evaluation and seating Esperanza High School senior Quynh Vo as student trustee for the second semester.

The Feb. 8 session can be seen live or viewed later (click “live board meetings” under “board” at pylusd.org). Four meetings are available on the site: Jan. 19 (2 minutes, 39 seconds), Jan. 11 (4 minutes, 33 seconds), Dec. 14 (4 hours, 23 minutes) and Nov. 16 (4 hours, 51 minutes).

Carrie Buck, selected as this year's president on a 4-1 vote, will chair the meeting. That vote and others cast for vice president and clerk broke a decades-long tradition of 5-0 votes in the annual selection of officers. The motions, seconds and votes reflect current board factions.

Since 12-year trustee Buck was vice president in 2021, she would be in line for president this year, under the district's long practice of rotating the positions among trustees. She was nominated by 33-year trustee Karin Freeman, with a second by Buck.

Joining the vote for Buck were Marilyn Anderson, who often serves as a “swing vote,” and Shawn Youngblood, elected in 2020. Leandra Blades, also elected in 2020, was opposed.

Since Freeman served as president through 2021, one of the new trustees would be up for the vice president position. Youngblood nominated Blades for the slot, seconded by Blades, but she lost, with three “no” votes cast by Anderson, Buck and Freeman.

Freeman nominated Anderson for the position (seconded by Buck), and she won 4-0, with Blades abstaining. Anderson nominated Youngblood for clerk (seconded by Freeman), but he declined and nominated Blades (seconded by Blades), who won 5-0.

Blades also was chosen as nominating representative to the Orange County Committee on School District Organization, with Youngblood as alternate, 5-0 (motion by Youngblood and second by Freeman).

Buck's nomination by Freeman (second by Buck) as the board's representative for a two-year term on the California School Boards Association Delegate Assembly lost 3-2, with opposition from Anderson, Blades and Youngblood.

However, the position was filled at a later meeting, with Buck and Anderson sharing the role (motion by Freeman and second by Anderson). The vote was 3-1; Blades was opposed and Youngblood was absent.