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Board debates editing interview questions for trustee-area vacancy, including whether to include restrooms/Title IX issues
Summary
Trustees discussed wording and timing for interview questions to fill a trustee-area vacancy, debated adding specific items (restroom policy, Title IX and parental notification) and agreed questions will be provided to applicants in advance with time limits during public interviews.
Murrieta Valley Unified School District trustees spent a substantial portion of the meeting refining the packet of interview questions for applicants seeking a provisional appointment to the trustee-area 3 vacancy, debating whether to narrow or add specific questions and how to preserve fairness during public interviews.
Superintendent Dr. Andrus reviewed the existing packet and recommended limiting the live interview to four or five questions to keep the evening manageable if many applicants appear. Board members discussed replacing or clarifying question 4 (which asks applicants to identify an important issue in education and explain how they would balance competing considerations) so it would prompt examples such as Title IX, the science of reading, class-size concerns, parental notification and restroom policy without introducing an unexpected "gotcha" at the hearing.
Trustees agreed applicants would receive the questions and full application packets in advance, and the board discussed time limits per answer and the logistics of bringing applicants forward individually for a public interview in Board Room B. Several trustees explicitly raised restroom policy and Title IX as legitimate district concerns that fall within board purview and said they wanted candidates to state how they would address such issues. Other trustees cautioned against inserting partisan or unfairly targeted questions and recommended the language be politically neutral and focused on the board's jurisdiction.
The board did not adopt a final, amended packet during the meeting but directed staff to circulate revised language ahead of the scheduled interviews and confirmed that clarifying follow-up questions would be allowed during interviews, while entirely new questions would be discouraged to preserve fairness.
Board members also reviewed the timeline for making an appointment: if the trustees cannot agree, the process can extend to a special meeting or ultimately to a special election; the provisional appointment would serve until the next election cycle.
No motion to appoint was made at the meeting; the discussion was procedural and preparatory for the scheduled candidate interviews.
