Last Thursday’s Chino Valley Unified School District school board meeting hosted a wide variety of speakers from the community, discussing a range of topics from racism to sexual assault throughout the schools and community.
One of the speakers was Mayra Maldonado, who spoke about CVUSD’s failure to acknowledge her 8-year-old daughter’s struggles at school after being sexually assaulted and who has to rely on a male aide to access a bathroom.
“She’s in a diaper and they have a male escort my daughter to the restroom, and when I complain, they say to take it up with HR and that it’s part of the job description,” Maldonado said. “Where are her human rights? Where’s her dignity? That’s why I’m here fighting for her.”
Following Maldonado, special education advocate Steven Figueroa addressed the board and audience, voicing his concerns about the school board and the treatment of the young student.
“It’s wrong for the board president to be a bully,” Figueroa said, referring to President Sonja Shaw’s interruption of his speech to address Maldonado. Maldonado was standing beside Figueroa holding an image of her daughter. Figueroa’s speaking time was paused until Maldonado agreed to sit down.
Maldonado and Figueroa continue to speak in the public spotlight in hopes of forcing the school to acknowledge their concerns.
Misty Startup, another parent speaker, expressed her disagreement with claims that schools are racist.
“These kids are there for each other, and I’m not seeing what some of these adults are seeing … Maybe I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that some of these things that the adults are saying are more personal to them because of their history or their personality,” Startup said. “So if somebody’s not being treated well, maybe it has nothing to do with their race.”
Startup also briefly commended her son’s track coach at Chino Hills High School for making it a great first experience for her son. She also commented on the school’s dance team social media, stating that the team was posting inappropriate content.
Shaw concluded the meeting by discussing a cease-and-desist order she received from a parent of a student-athlete after Shaw posted negatively about transgender students in sports. “My job as a board member is to try to advocate for safety and fairness for our girls—not only in sports, but in their locker rooms and restrooms,” Shaw said, while tearing the cease-and-desist in half during the meeting.
Shaw states she has the best interests of all the parents and students of CVUSD at heart and strongly urges fellow board members to reach out to Maldonado following the meeting.
This CVUSD board meeting featured a multitude of voices from a variety of perspectives, many of whom will continue to share their opinions at the next board meeting on April 10th at 6 p.m.