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Trustee demands workplace-violence item after board declines to add it to closed session
Summary
Trustee Nancy Loera said she submitted two timely written requests to place a workplace-violence restraining-order matter on the April 17 closed-session agenda and accused the board majority of ignoring her, calling the omission retaliation and warning she will include it in a civil-rights case; the board rejected a late amendment to add the item.
Trustee Nancy Loera told the Hacienda la Puente Unified School District board on April 17 that she had submitted written requests on March 30 and April 10 asking the board to place a workplace-violence restraining-order matter on the closed-session agenda and that she was denied notice of any postponement or denial. "I was simply ignored," Loera said during public comment, adding she had cited applicable procedures and statutes in her requests and that some of the supporting documents are privileged and therefore could only be reviewed in closed session.
Loera said the repeated exclusion of her request amounted to "obstruction, retaliation, and selective enforcement" and said she would include the board majority's actions in a civil-rights case she said she is building against the district. She formally demanded that the item be added to the next meeting's closed-session agenda.
Board members debated a friendly amendment during the agenda-adoption portion of the meeting to expand the proposed closed-session item; the amendment failed in a public roll-call vote. Trustees who opposed the late addition said they wanted full documentation before placing a sensitive legal matter into closed session and noted the board bylaws and Government Code provisions that govern late agenda additions.
Superintendent Dr. Himenez told the board staff had been directed to gather relevant documentation and that additional materials would be provided when the matter is properly agendaized. Board members repeatedly emphasized a need to comply with the Brown Act and with local board bylaws about notice and documentation for closed-session items.
The row over agenda access echoed through public comment: Loera reiterated that the LA County District Attorney had concluded she did not willfully disrupt a prior meeting, and she said differential treatment—allowing other trustees to make clarifying comments while she was denied the same opportunity—demonstrated a double standard.
The board did not vote to place Loera's requested workplace-violence item on the closed-session agenda that night. Trustees and staff said they would provide additional documentation and consider the procedural questions before the board's next meeting.
