The Orange Unified School Board has a new president following the recall of two trustees – amidst mounting concerns the former president violated people’s First Amendment rights.
“I think the community spoke loudly and pretty clearly about what it wanted and what they were not happy with and not being happy with the way things were going,” said Trustee Kris Erickson during Thursday night’s board meeting.
Erickson, who along with Trustee Andrea Yamasaki brought the proposal forward, said Trustee John Ortega – who was removed as president – violated people’s rights during public comment.
“We believe that there is good cause for the replacement of the president currently,” Erickson said. “Based upon the two letters that were received from the First Amendment Coalition asking Mr. Otega to stop and cease from violating speakers’ First Amendment rights.”
In their letters, the coalition warned Ortega against seemingly threatening legal action against recall supporters and threatening legal action against people for “slanderous” things said during public comment.
A slim majority of current board members voted 3-2 Thursday night to remove Ortega and appoint Trustee Ana Page as the new president in the first meeting since the recall was certified. Ortega and Trustee Angie Rumsay voted against the move.
Page will be responsible for running the meetings, much like a city mayor.
Ortega defended his actions in a brief comment after the vote.
He said everything he did was legal “and run by the attorney for every action taken. I just want to make that for the record.”
Replacing Ortega comes after Trustees Madison Miner and Rick Ledesma were recalled by school district voters in the March 5 primary election. Officials have not yet decided how to fill the two vacancies on the board.
[Read: Two Orange Unified School District Trustees Booted From Office]
Efforts to recall the two were kicked off by parents and supported by the teacher’s union after trustees abruptly fired the district’s superintendent over winter break in 2022, shortly after the new majority took office.
The new school board majority also unanimously voted to keep Rumsay as the board’s vice president Thursday evening.
Rumsay often voted with the two recalled trustees and Ortega to make up the old majority, which successfully adopted things like a transgender notification policy and allowing a charter school the ability to mortgage off district property.
[Read: Orange Unified Allows Charter School to Mortgage Off an Old Jr. High]
Yamasaki voiced support for keeping Rumsay as vice president.
“In the spirit of what Trustee Erickson said, the board needs to be unified, work together – focus on academics of the students and really go forward and look forward and I think it would be really good to keep Trustee Rumsey as vice president,” Yamsaki said during Thursday’s meeting.
Unlike many recent Orange Unified School Board meetings, only a handful of people spoke during public comment.
Student Trustee Alex Tran – who’s often sided with the old board majority – lambasted the proposal to remove Ortega as board president.
“Last I checked, voters were promised a return to normalcy,” Tran said during public comment. “Instead they received an unusual organization of this board that can only be considered a hostile takeover.”
Darshan Smaaladen, a lead organizer of the recall efforts, said it was time to replace Ortega “in the name of moving on and stability, transparency and having someone who does not chill First Amendment rights.”
Spencer Custodio is the civic editor. You can reach him at scustodio@voiceofoc.org. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerCustodio.
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