What happened at Vista Unifed School District on October 16, 2008?

David Hubbard (center) of Vista Unified School District

The story below misses a Brown Act violation that occurred on Thursday evening at the VUSD board meeting when Silvia Peters tried to speak about student expulsions.

Ms. Peters writes:

"When Chairman Gibson called my name to the podium, I began to
speak for about 60 seconds before Board Member David Hubbard
abruptly interrupted me. He asked what my comment had to do
with expulsion. I said, that I was commenting on expulsions.
Before Board Member Hubbard abruptly interrupted me, I had just read VUSD’S Board Policy No. 5013 “Suspension and Expulsions,” Section (3), which read: “It is the intent of the Board of Education that its policies and regulations be consistent with current law. Any part of this policy, which is not consistent with current law, shall be void.”

"I asked whether VUSD knew if Guajome Park Academy had
policies for expulsions?...If the policies were allied
with California law and If Guajome Park Academy had a
legitimate Expulsion Board?

"Board Member Hubbard asked what does this have to do with
Section “C.” and that Section C had to do with Readmission of
Students who have been expelled from other school districts?
Board Member Hubbard told me that I had pulled a card for
“Section C.”

"Board Member Hubbard said we have already ratified the item
and you cannot speak on it any more. President of the Board
Gibson agreed. They both insisted that I had pulled the card
for Section C.

"If in fact I had pulled the card for Section C then why would
the VUSD Board ratify Section D before Section C?..."




North County Times
VISTA: School board stays out of gay marriage debate
Trustees decide against taking a stance on Prop. 8
By STACY BRANDT
October 17, 2008

In a lively meeting that drew more than 100 people, the Vista Unified school board decided Thursday night to stay out of the debate over same-sex marriages.

By a 3-2 vote, school district trustees declined to take a position on Proposition 8, an initiative that would amend the state constitution to define marriage as only between a man and a woman.

Board President Jim Gibson asked trustees to pass a resolution in support of Prop. 8 and board member Stephen Guffanti joined him in backing the resolution. The rest of the panel said the board shouldn't take a position on any proposition.

Prop. 8 is one of the most politically charged measures on the Nov. 4 ballot. By Election Day, it's estimated that supporters of the gay-marriage ban will have spent more than $25 million on their campaign and opponents will have spent just as much.

Among the groups opposing the measure is the California Teachers Association, which has contributed about $1.3 million to help defeat the proposition...

In refusing to support the resolution, Trustee David Hubbard said that bringing such controversial issues before the board only further divides the community.

"The only outcome is that we're going to create hard feelings," he said.

The crowd who packed Temple Heights Elementary School for Thursday's meeting included more than a dozen people who spoke to the board on the issue. The speakers were split, with roughly half supporting Gibson's proposal and half opposing it.

Jacob Petty, a student at Rancho Buena Vista High School, presented the board with a petition he said more than 400 students at the school have signed, urging the board to not pass the resolution...

Most school boards across the state have stayed out of the debate over same-sex marriage, though trustees in East County's Grossmont Union High School District voted this summer to endorse the proposition.

Election drama again spilled over into the board room Thursday, with Guffanti and union officials trading jabs. Guffanti is running to keep the board seat he has held for the last eight years.

Representatives from both of the district's unions used part of their normal speaking time to criticize Guffanti and the two candidates running with him in the election for skipping a forum put on by the district's parent-teacher group Wednesday. They also accused Guffanti of not running an honest campaign.

"I have no respect whatsoever for any candidate whose campaign is based on unfounded smear tactics," Henrietta Black, president of the district's classified union, said about Guffanti. "This nonsense has to cease and desist."

Guffanti slammed parents and teachers at previous PTA forums, accusing them of being disrespectful. He also said he thinks most of the members already have their minds made up about how they're going to vote...