At a raucous Grossmont Union High School District board meeting Thursday night, trustees facing public scrutiny over their private communications pledged to adhere to open-meetings law.
Their pledge, along with fresh outrage from teachers and others, came as the district’s new superintendent addressed the community directly for the first time, and tried to ease the tensions.
Kirsten Vital Brulte, a veteran schools superintendent who most recently led Capistrano Unified in Orange County, said at the start of the meeting that she had spent most of her time so far listening and learning.
She has led in “challenging times” before, as she acknowledged these are. But she said she’s hopeful, because collaboration can solve complex challenges and because Grossmont “has tremendous promise, strong programs, dedicated employees and communities that care deeply about our students.”
“One site leader said it to me really well: ‘Grossmont Union’s people is our superpower,’” she said. “And I agree — it is our superpower.”
After she spoke, the board voted 4-1 to commit to following the Brown Act, and to stop messaging among themselves privately about board business, on an agenda item that president Gary Woods said aimed to address “concerns recently raised in news articles about certain board member communications.”
In the weeks since The San Diego Union-Tribune first reported on the conservative board majority’s private communications, some trustees have faced accusations of violating the open meetings law, as well as growing calls by teachers and community members for their resignation or recall.
On Thursday, Woods pushed back against the accusations.
“In response and after careful review, I want to clearly state that no conclusive evidence of any Brown Act violation has been presented,” he said.
Members of the crowd booed and yelled “resign” in response.
But Woods also said the board would put a stop to the private messaging that has drawn criticism. As the Union-Tribune reported, the board’s majority — Woods, Jim Kelly, Scott Eckert and Robert Shield — regularly messaged about district business in a small group with each other and a few district staff.
“The board hereby unconditionally commits that it will cease, desist from and not repeat the challenged past action as described above, and will provide notification of its commitment in response to the cease and desist letter,” he said.
Again Thursday night, many members of the public who spoke reiterated their belief that the trustees had broken the law.
Jason Balistreri, a former teacher-librarian who was reassigned earlier this year and has become one of the board majority’s most vocal critics, welcomed Vital Brulte and her “message of healing.”
Identifying himself as a teacher-librarian who had been laid off — “many would say illegally,” he added — Balistreri detailed several communications he said had violated the Brown Act.
He pointed in particular to a 2024 message that trustee Jim Kelly sent a group that included Woods, where he wrote that he had exchanged messages with “Rob,” an apparent reference to trustee Robert Shield.
“That’s three, called a quorum,” said Balistreri.
Under the Brown Act, which governs public meetings in California, elected officials are barred from what are known as serial meetings — when a majority of a body discusses board business outside a public meeting.
For a serial meeting to occur, the majority doesn’t need to have the discussion together. A series of communications that leads to a majority having discussed a topic could also violate the Brown Act.
Balistreri also cited that message Kelly had sent regarding putting a staff member in a different role, in which the trustee described having told Shield that “the perfect time to do something like this is during the summer where, even if anyone of our opponents notices it there’s no way they could muster any kind of significant protest to it. And, even if they did, who cares?!?!”
“Does this sound like good faith, open and transparent governance?” said Balistreri. People in the crowd also yelled “no” in response.
He ended his remarks by calling for the district to reinstate its laid-off teacher-librarians to their old jobs, to cheers from the audience.
Earlier this month, a lawyer for the district’s teachers union sent a letter to the board calling on them to cure and correct their actions, most notably by restoring the dozens of staff positions that had been cut.
The board has also recently faced accusations that some members and an attorney working for the board manipulated last year’s board election.
That attorney, John Howard, paid for candidate statements for progressive-presenting candidates who some community members suspect were intended as fake spoiler candidates to siphon off votes from their political rivals.
He also donated $2,500 to Eckert’s campaign. Seven months later, three months after winning election, Eckert voted along with Kelly to keep Howard’s contract as the other trustees sought to terminate it.
Recently, community members have been organizing a recall attempt targeting several trustees — first focusing on Eckert, the board’s newest member.
On Thursday night, Andy Trimlett, one of the recall effort’s organizers, said he was “really glad” the board was there to approve a decision to follow the law.
“Not once in my upbringing did one person tell me that repeatedly violating the Brown Act was an East County value,” he said.
“Here’s how to take the first step to bringing East County values back to our community: Resign, resign, resign,” he chanted, as members of the audience joined in.
Many other shouts from the audience also demanded board members resign.
Noah Green, a rising high school senior in the district, said that people running for elected office should know the law, and that the board has not been working for its constituents.
“If you’re going to put committing to the law in the agenda, that’s a joke,” he said. “I mean, that’s humorous, am I right?”
He urged the trustees to listen, and he said that if they can’t meet the community’s needs, they should resign for the sake of his education.
The only member of the board to vote against its proposed resolution to adhere to the Brown Act was Chris Fite, who has frequently found himself alone in opposition to board actions.
He cited a quote that has been popularly attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, who when asked his opinion of Western civilization supposedly quipped, “I think it would be a good idea,” as if to suggest it didn’t yet exist.
“Obviously, this is a good idea that we should follow the Brown Act,” Fite said from the dais, as laughter and applause drowned out his subsequent comments.
Staff writer Olivia Petty contributed to this report.