Trustee Gabe Medina banned from school campus after confrontation

A school board member in California has been banned from a high school campus for two weeks after his school board colleagues voted to approve a stay-away letter last week.

The Superintendent’s Office has prepared an agenda item to discuss Pajaro Valley Unified School District trustee Gabe Medina’s confrontation with Pajaro Valley High School principal Todd Wilson. The shooting involved Pajaro Valley High School students participating in a national strike protest against U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) on January 30.

Medina faced scrutiny after confronting Wilson and was issued a stay-away letter stating she would not be able to access school grounds for two weeks.

At the Feb. 11 school board meeting, Medina colleagues voted 4-1 to agree to approve the stay-away letter. It was also stated in the vote that it was mandatory for Medina and Wilson to hold a mediation meeting.

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“One of our board members was at the school and got into a verbal altercation with a district employee. Staff reported that the board member was aggressive, getting in employees’ faces…” said Board President Carol Turley.

Turley continued: “The board member was acting as a private citizen and not in his official capacity. Based on these events, employees and staff expressed concerns for their safety and well-being and requested that appropriate protections be implemented.”

Medina said in an Instagram video that she confronted Wilson for allegedly threatening to pull over students’ vehicles to attend. at protests.

Medina received both support and criticism.

“Medina is the only member of this board who has consistently stood up for our students,” said one of the speakers at the public comment session addressing the restraining letter. “She sees students as people, not money signs. She advocates for students when they feel like they don’t have a voice.”

Karina Aguilar and Alyah Mendoza, two Pajaro Valley High School sophomores, read a statement together criticizing Medina’s behavior.

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Pajaro Valley Unified School District trustee Gabe Medina received both support and criticism after the board considered a measure that would ban the official from the high school campus after an argument with another employee. (YouTube Screenshot)

““Trustee Medina, you sit here on this board as someone we clearly cannot and do not rely on to support our school and our students, especially regarding the incident that occurred the day we struck,” Aguilar said. “That day you showed us, the students, what a perfect example of the immaturity and lack of clarity in our school community.”

Medina said students were not informed sufficiently in advance of their legal rights to participate in the protest. He released a statement the next day expressing his disappointment with the outcome. He cited California law SB 955, which allows students to leave the classroom “as long as the student notifies the school in advance of the absence.”

“Last night’s vote to approve the 14-day stay-away letter was disappointing but not surprising,” he continued. “I believe the action was unnecessary and disproportionate. There was no completed investigation, no official findings were made public and no genuine attempt at mediation was made prior to escalation. This raises serious concerns about justice and governance.”

Pajaro Valley during the strike protest on January 30 High school Students initially planned to meet at a four-way rally on campus to hear from an organization called Your Allies Rapid Response.

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What was planned as an on-campus event turned into an off-campus meeting.

When Pajaro Valley High School students met on campus in Watsonville, CA, they were encouraged to leave to join the larger protest event to march to a rally at Watsonville’s Civic Plaza. Some of the students participated. The board countered criticism that students were not encouraged to join the larger protest, claiming that “students were being repressed.”

Pajaro Valley High School students participated in national strike protests against U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement on January 30. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

The board said school officials “could not encourage students to leave campus” and took issue with Medina’s characterization of the district’s handling of the student-led protests.

“We are NOT what Trustees Medina represents on his public platforms,” the district wrote in a letter.

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The board, Wilson and Medina did not respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital.