Ethnic Studies in PVUSD - Community Town Hall

The location of this event has been changed to: Landmark Elementary's Multipurpose Room, 235 Ohlone Pkwy, Watsonville

Ignored by School Board, Watsonville Community Holds Town Hall on Ethnic Studies

WATSONVILLE, CA, May 20, 2024 – With the school year coming to an end, Pajaro
Valley for Ethnic Studies and Justice (PVESJ), an ad hoc coalition of parents,
community organizers, teachers, and concerned community members that formed last
year, remains undeterred in its advocacy for ethnic studies in the Pajaro Valley Unified
School District (PVUSD). Their opponents? Members of the PVUSD School
Board—specifically, Kim De Serpa, Georgia Acosta, Oscar Soto, and Olivia Flores who
tanked the district’s partnership with Community Responsive Education (CRE), an
educational consulting service that had been guiding the district on its realization of
ethnic studies.

Since last September, PVESJ members, alongside numerous high school students,
have shown up at school board meetings, calling for the restoration of the CRE contract.
“For the past eight months, the Board of Trustees has been ignoring us,” stated Dr.
Lourdes Barraza, a Watsonville parent who has two children in local schools. Unable to
sway the board, she and others in the PVESJ coalition have organized tonight’s
community town hall to educate the public about ethnic studies and the stakes of the
struggle against the school board. The event begins at 7 pm in the Multipurpose Room
at Landmark Elementary School.

Tonight’s event will feature Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales, CRE executive director and an
ethnic studies professor at San Francisco State University. She will be speaking about
the “FIELDS” ethnic studies framework she created in collaboration with the district to
honor the history and legacy of the farmworkers of color and their families who worked
and lived in the fields of Pajaro Valley, furnishing labor that sustained communities and
produced wealth for agricultural capital. “This framework honors them, the indigenous
people of this area, and communities of color,” stated Dr. Tintiangco-Cubales.

“The heart and soul of the Filipino community’s history and vitality is steeped in the CRE
pedagogy,” stated Roy Recio, founder of the Tobera Project, a local multigenerational
Filipino community organization. “If the district is going to deny the CRE contract, we
don’t want to participate in an ethnic studies curriculum that is going to neglect or water
down our important experiences and contributions in the Pajaro Valley,” he stated.
Last September, the school board, based on unsubstantiated charges of antisemitism
leveled by two known conservative figures, Gil Stein and Roz Shorenstein, against Dr.
Tintiangco-Cubales, chose to discontinue its collaboration with CRE. No investigation
was conducted into the accusations. Dr. Tiantiangco-Cubales stated, “I didn’t get a
chance to publicly share what went into the ‘FIELDS’ ethnic studies framework because
my formal relationship with the district was cut short due to false accusations and
defamation.”

“Ultimately, students are the ones most harmed by the district’s failure to work with
CRE,” said Christine Hong, a UC Santa Cruz professor of ethnic studies. Rooted in
community organizing, ethnic studies centers the experiences and perspectives of
historically marginalized communities of color. In a district that is almost ninety percent
students of color, the vast majority Latinx, ethnic studies is vital, community advocates
state, to intervening against high suspension rates and breaking the school-to-prison
pipeline. It is “a vehicle that empowers communities to actively participate in dismantling
the issues impacting their lives and a space for learning, innovation, and
empowerment,” stated Bernie Gomez, Program and Leadership Coordinator at MILPA,
a movement space designed for and led by formerly incarcerated and system-impacted
people.

“It’s a disappointment that the school board is unresponsive to community demands for
ethnic studies,” stated Omar Dieguez who works to elevate youth at Barrios Unidos.
“Thirty years ago, students decided we wanted Chicano studies at Aptos High School.
When our demands weren’t met, we organized walkouts,” he stated. “What do we have
to do to get ethnic studies back on track in PVUSD and to make sure it stays?” he
asked.

“Tonight’s town hall is the community’s way of stating to the PVUSD school board, ‘No
education without us,’” stated Hong. The townhall will begin at 7 pm. Doors will open at
6:30 pm, and food will be served.