Board of education

As of July 2023:

• President – Sonja Shaw
• Vice President – Jonathan Monroe
• Clerk – Andrew Cruz
• Member – James Na
• Member – Donald L. Bridge

^[2]

First Amendment issues

The Chino Valley Unified School District Board has been at the center of a number of controversies in recent years regarding issues of the First Amendment.

The CVUSD Board itself has also faced criticism for multiple years for having public prayers, Bible readings, and Christian proselytizing during its public meetings. The majority of Board members are members of either Calvary Chapel Chino Hills or other similar Christian conservative congregations in the district, and most regularly tout their religious beliefs during Board discussions. Despite numerous letters of complaint from various individuals and groups, the Board has either ignored these complaints or officially rejected to change their practices. The administration actively solicits local Christian pastors to lead Board invocations, and the Board regularly presents recognition awards to religious leaders who provide "support and prayers for the Chino Valley Unified School District".^[3]

In July 2010, the CVUSD approved a resolution to introduce "Bible as Literature and History" courses at its four high schools, based on a curricula provided by the local Calvary Chapel Chino Hills church and the textbook The Bible and its Influence, written by Christian Evangelical educational political activist Charles Stetson.^[4]

On November 11, 2014, the Freedom From Religion Foundation filed a federal lawsuit against the Board claiming violations of the US and California Constitutions. Although the suit alleged that all of the Board members regularly participated in religious proselytizing, James Na, was singled out as a prime violator of religious neutrality during the meetings, regularly including Christian and Biblical references into many of his official statements. The suit alleges at one recent Board meeting, Na "urged everyone who does not know Jesus Christ to go and find Him," and closed the meeting with a reading of Psalm 143.^[5][6] On February 18, 2016, U.S. District Judge Jesus Bernal made a ruling on the FFRF lawsuit, ordering the Board to stop reciting prayers, Bible readings, and proselytizing during school board meetings.^[7][8] On March 4, 2016, the school board voted 3-2 in favor of appealing the ruling.^[9]

On November 3, 2016, the Board changed their policies to explicitly state when board members can and cannot express their faith during meetings.^[10] On July 25, 2018, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit unanimously affirmed the District Court's ruling, holding that the "policy and practice of prayer at Chino Valley Board meetings violates the Establishment Clause."^[11]

School closures

This section needs additional citations for verification. (November 2014)

This section relies excessively on references to primary sources. (November 2014)

On March 5, 2009, the Chino Valley Unified School District Board of Education voted 4 to 1 vote to approve a budget reduction plan which included the closure of El Rancho Elementary School and Richard Gird Elementary School, both in Chino, and Los Serranos Elementary School in Chino Hills. Ms. Sylvia Orozco, Board President, Mr. William Klein, Vice President, Mr. Fred Youngblood, Clerk and Mr. James Na, Board member all voted in favor of the budget reduction plan based on the recommendations of the Chino Valley Unified School District Superintendent, Dr. Edmond T. Heatley. Mr. Michael Calta, Board member was the dissenting vote. These three schools were closed at the end of the 2008/2009 school year and their students were reassigned to other schools in the District.

The process in which these schools were selected to be closed were alleged to violate California Education Code 17387, which states, "It is the intent of the Legislature to have the community involved before decisions are made about school closure or the use of surplus space, thus avoiding community conflict and assuring building use that is compatible with the community's needs and desires". Charges were made against the Board of racial / national origin motivations in choosing the schools that they did close.

A complaint was issued with the US Department of Education Office for Civil Rights regarding the nature and process followed for these school closings. On June 29, 2012, the OCR closed its investigation and released its final report of its findings of the allegations. The report found that, while there were good budgetary reasons for the District to be closing schools at this time, the process used to do so was ad-hoc and disorganized, and appeared to rely principally on the opinions of the District Superintendent with little documentation, public input or transparency. In response, the CVUSD agreed with the OCR's findings and adopted new formal policies for school closure which provided greater transparency and public input into the process.^[12]

Conflict of interest and perjury

In 2006, a member of the school district board was charged with conflict of interest and perjury for allegedly benefiting from a contract between the school district and his employer. He is accused of steering district business to Office Max and failing to accurately report his income at that company in his annual conflict-of-interest statement with the school board. ^[13]