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Parents, students and advocates press Pajaro Valley Unified over pesticide drift and a blocked speaker
Summary
Dozens of speakers urged the district to address pesticide spraying near schools and criticized the district’s decision to block hunger-strike organizer Omar Die9guez from speaking in classrooms; speakers cited air-monitoring figures and called for organic buffers and fuller disclosure.
Dozens of community members urged the Pajaro Valley Unified School District on Oct. 8 to act on pesticide drift they said imperils students and staff, and dozens criticized the district for preventing activist Omar Die9guez from presenting in classrooms.
At the boards public-comment period, speakers repeatedly described older and recent air-monitoring data for fumigants near schools and accused the district of "censorship" when it blocked Die9guez, who conducted a hunger strike earlier this year, from classroom presentations. Frank Wolsfeld, who said he lives in Aptos, cited Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment guidance and local samples and said measured 1,3-dichloropropene (1,3‑D) at one site registered about 0.09 parts per billion—above a state "safe harbor" benchmark of 0.04 ppb referenced by advocates. Wolsfeld urged the board to encourage adjacent farms to adopt organic practices.
Several speakers described community-organized monitoring and mapped pesticide applications in the Pajaro Valley Unified School District. Woody Wihanak, a Safe Ag Safe Schools campaign volunteer, said the district boundaries contained millions of pounds of various fumigants and called for district support for organic transitions by local growers.
Multiple speakers asked the board to explain why the district limited who may present pesticide-related material in classrooms. "My students deserve truth, not silence," said Bobby Bell, a Watsonville High staff member who said he had invited Die9guez to speak. Ricardo Martinez, a student speaker, told trustees he believed information about pesticide use around schools had been withheld.
Board members did not decide on new pesticide policies during the meeting. Trustees acknowledged the concerns and discussed next steps for getting information back to the board and public; Trustee Medina asked staff to prepare follow-up details and said she wanted an agenda item that would provide more background on why Die9guez had been blocked from school presentations.
The public speakers included appeals for concrete actions—such as expanded public monitoring, transparent disclosure of monitoring data, and consideration of buffers or organic transition near schools—rather than only further study. The board directed staff to provide additional information and to consider options for public reporting and future agenda preparation; no formal policy change was adopted at this meeting.
