Trustee says critics are manufacturing controversy




RALLYING SUPPORT—Parent Steve Schneider speaks during Tuesday’s Conejo Valley Unified school board meeting—the first in over a month— which attracted the attention of TV news as well as several Ventura County sheriff’s deputies.

ATTRACTING ATTENTION—Parent Steve Schneider speaks during Tuesday’s Conejo Valley Unified school board meeting—the first in over a month—which attracted the attention of TV news as well as several Ventura County sheriff’s deputies inside and outside of the boardroom.

Critics of the Conejo Valley school board came out in force Tuesday, but few stuck around to hear the district’s response.

Just as Superintendent Mark McLaughlin began addressing the litany of accusations made against the district during public comment, from allowing a student to masturbate in class to the sexual indoctrination of grade-school students, nearly half in the boardroom got up and left, each exit marked by the slamming of the boardroom door.

“We have 10 information items where we are informing the community of stuff that is happening in our district and I just watched 75 people leave,” McLaughlin said.

Some of the agenda items included discussing the fund balance for the fiscal year, education code changes and more.

“We just listened to two hours of stuff that is the law and being yelled at about the law, when we have exciting things happening in our schools,” McLaughlin said.

The chief of schools said he’s been at the district for 10 years and has seen a cycle of different issues and people. He emphasized CVUSD falls under public education and must comply with state laws whether district leadership agrees with them or not.

IN THE HOT SEAT—School board president Karen Sylvester presides over Tuesday’s Conejo Valley school board meeting; to her left, Bill Gorback. Photos by MICHAEL COONS/Acorn Newspapers

IN THE HOT SEAT—School board president Karen Sylvester presides over Tuesday’s Conejo Valley school board meeting; to her left, Bill Gorback. Photos by MICHAEL COONS/Acorn Newspapers

“Our job in the public school system in California is to follow the law. As much as people don’t like that, it is our job and it is our responsibility to do so,” he said.

With an election around the corner, McLaughlin seemed to suggest he was concerned about the public electing individuals who will encourage the district not to follow the law.

“If they’re going to change anything that deals with the law, I’m going to tell you now, they’re not going to have liability, which means they’re not going to be covered by the district and it’s going to fall on them individually,” he said.

In the days leading up to the meeting, parent Steve Schneider launched a website called ConejoAlert.com that he says will tell parents “what’s really going on.”

Schneider, who said he is paying for the site completely out of his own pocket, has been at odds with the board and superintendent since last spring, when an article about a dispute he had with his daughter’s teacher at Maple Elementary School in January was published in a local newsletter.

KEEPING WATCH—A Ventura County sheriff’s deputy observes residents as they watch Tuesday’s school board meeting from the lobby of the Conejo Valley Unified School District. MICHAEL COONS/Acorn Newspapers

KEEPING WATCH—A Ventura County sheriff’s deputy observes residents as they watch Tuesday’s school board meeting from the lobby of the Conejo Valley Unified School District. MICHAEL COONS/Acorn Newspapers

Schneider is upset that a third-grade teacher at Maple Elementary did not ask parent permission before showing the class a video of a child reading from the book “Call Me Max,” which tells the story of a young transgender boy navigating his first day at school. The teacher made the decision to do so, the district said, to support a student who transitioned over the winter break and returned with a different name and pronouns.

After the story was published and the school was vandalized with the words, “PERVS WK HERE,” McLaughlin sent a district-wide email attributing the vandalism to the article.

On Tuesday, Schneider said: “I guess we’ve got to wake up the community.”

“We’re going to see here pretty soon who’s voted for. Joelle Mancuso, Karen Meyer and Sophia DeDomenico (all candidates). I’m sure that they’re going to get more votes than you can think,” Schneider said.

Trustee Rocky Capobianco said seeing the speakers leave before they had a chance to hear the board’s response was frustrating.

“There were certain comments that were made and I see that there must’ve been a tremendous amount of interest in hearing feedback,” Capobianco said sarcastically.

The trustee held up a yellow notepad and said he had notes on top of notes to respond to each comment. Yet, “those people aren’t even sitting in this audience. Do you know how frustrating that is?” Capobianco said.

“I just feel we’re living in the realm of manufactured anger, and that’s all it is,” he said.

“That’s the problem when we constantly base (opinions) on That’s what we hear,’” he said.

As a 17-year parent volunteer prior to being appointed to the board last year, Capobianco said he knows firsthand there are many avenues for frustrated parents to be heard. He said the problem is too many residents believing “what they heard” versus getting the facts.

At least five uniformed Ventura County sheriff’s deputies were present at the meeting, one in the lobby and four were stationed outside. Several more patrol vehicles were parked in the dirt parking lot next door.

Thousand Oaks Police Chief Jeremy Paris said there are normally two school resource officers assigned to be present at all CVUSD meetings. Since July, more deputies have been assigned to patrol near the area and adjust accordingly depending on what’s going on.

A crowd of about 300 “spirited” people showed up at a school board meeting in July, Paris said.

Since then, about four deputies patrol the school board meetings and about 10 stay close by “briefed up and ready to go,” he said.

Police are taking extra precautions as the election nears as they believe it is a driving factor for the larger attendance.

“We want to make sure everyone has the right to voice their opinion in a safe manner,” Paris said of the situation.