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Parents ask Mission Viejo council to push trustee to recuse from Character Counts events after school-board slur
Summary
Parents and Bathgate Elementary volunteers urged the council to ask trustee Judy Beloukas not to participate in character awards after her use of a racial slur at a board meeting; speakers said school staff and parents feel unsafe and circulated a petition.
Several Bathgate Elementary parents and community members urged the council to request that Capistrano Unified trustee Judy Beloukas recuse herself from participating in Mission Viejo Character Counts awards and school events after her use of a racial slur during a school-board meeting in March.
Roger Perez said he had started a Change.org petition titled "no judybathgate character counts awards" and had 227 verified signatures before the meeting. "I'm asking you Mission Viejo to inform Judy Beloukas to recuse herself from participating in Mission Viejo Character Awards," Perez said, adding that parents "do not want Judy at Bathgate."
Several parents and teachers—including a long-serving Bathgate educator—said they felt the trustee's presence would contradict the values the awards promote. Council members responded that the school-board matter is outside the council's direct jurisdiction and suggested community-of-character leadership and the school district are the appropriate venues for requests or formal discipline.
