School Board Meeting Interrupted

For the second time in recent months, a meeting of the Centinela Valley school board was briefly halted this week when a group of activists angrily charged that a trustee was improperly using the meeting for political purposes.

School board President Pam Sturgeon called a five-minute recess in Tuesday night’s meeting after Trustee Jacqueline Carrera was interrupted by audience members as she defended the record of fellow board member Michael Escalante, who is a candidate for reelection Nov. 5.

Carrera’s comments drew an outburst during the meeting from critics of the board, who argued that she was unfairly using the session to criticize other school board candidates.

“Carrera is abusing her position as a board member and taking potshots at the candidates without allowing us to respond,” said one of those candidates, Debra Wong. “It’s unethical.”

After briefly recessing the meeting, Sturgeon made it clear she would not tolerate further outbursts from the audience. “This board has been harassed for two years,” Sturgeon said. “It has the right to have its remarks heard by the audience just like the audience has the right to be heard by the board.”

The district has been beset by racial tensions, and the predominantly Latino school board has been charged with discrimination against blacks.