Chino Valley Unified board and public clash over PERB ruling, parent-notification and ‘History Rocks’ assembly

Board President Sonia Shaw used a public discussion item to challenge a recent PERB decision and to defend the district—s parent-notification and classroom flag policies, prompting extended public comment and back-and-forth among board members. Shaw framed the PERB decision as limiting teachers—duties to inform parents and described union litigation over the district—s parent-notification rule and a flag policy that restricted classroom displays to the U.S., California and military flags.

Shaw told the board she considered the union—s cases "wasted time, money, and focus away from our kids' education," and said the union had "weaponized the legal system." She said the PERB ruling gave teachers the right to negotiate whether notifying parents is an essential duty and added, "They won the right to hide bullying from parents." Shaw urged the board and community to treat the issue as one of parental constitutional rights and classroom neutrality.

The discussion unfolded alongside intense public comment about a district-hosted Department of Education event for its 250th anniversary, referred to in remarks as "History Rocks," which several parents and staff called partisan because outside groups such as Turning Point USA and PragerU were named by speakers. One public commenter, Christie Hurst, said parents had not been given transparent information about guest speakers and that some families felt their students were being used for political messaging. Another speaker, Gloria Ciccarelli, criticized the appearance of outside organizations and said the events had shown "what it's like to be a marginalized person in CBUSD." Several parents requested clearer opt-out procedures and more direct communications in advance of assemblies.

Board members offered differing emphases. Trustee Cruz defended the district—s decision to host the federal program and called the event "an education program focused on our founding documents," arguing that preventing the assembly would amount to censoring a U.S. Department of Education program. Cruz said teachers must remain neutral in the classroom and that it was "educational malpractice" to urge students to judge an event before they had seen it. Trustee Cervantes and others urged unity and recommended posting recordings for transparency. Trustee Smith and others acknowledged strong feelings from the community and called for clearer communications to prevent intimidation of students and parents outside schools.

District officials said the district did not pay for the outside video and that an out-of-state team made the recording to be used as training material for other districts. Superintendent Enfield (on behalf of district staff) and Deputy Superintendent Dr. Grace Park told the board they would look into options to post video or provide public access to the assembly so parents could review the content.

No new board policy was adopted at the meeting. Several trustees emphasized a desire to "focus on education, not politics," while also defending the board—s authority to set classroom-display and parent-notification expectations. The board did not take action on the PERB decision itself during the session; Shaw framed the moment as public education for the community and called for continued advocacy.

The meeting record shows the PERB matter was discussed as an information/discussion item and that the board encouraged staff to pursue transparency measures regarding the assembly. The board closed the meeting later without reversing previously adopted policies and adjourned in memory of two district teachers.