Board gets first of five new trustees following hot-mic scandal

Temporary selections must decide replacements for the entire panel after everyone resigned

Lynell Fuller was appointed to the Oakley school board this week, becoming the first of five new trustees who will make up an entirely new board following the resignation of four others in the aftermath of an embarrassing hot-mic moment.

Fuller, a mother and active community volunteer, was one of 11 candidates interviewed remotely by the interim Oakley Union School District Board for the district’s Area 2 seat. She succeeds Larry Polk, who first was elected in 2007 and resigned Jan. 4 to move out of the area. He was gone before the scandal involving his fellow trustees happened.

After her appointment Wednesday, Fuller immediately began serving on the board.

“I am pleasantly surprised that there were so many applicants,” interim President Michael Maxwell told the candidates. “At-large positions will be available later on, so don’t let this be your only venture into this great district.”

Maxwell was referring to the four other seats vacated after trustees Feb. 17 made disparaging comments about parents wanting to send their children back to in-person classes. Unaware that the meeting already had started being shown on Webex, one trustee said parents “just wanted to have their babysitters back,” another suggested parents preferred to be

home without their children so they could smoke pot and another used profane, threatening language against a parent who criticized her on social media.

After board President Liza Brizendine resigned Feb. 18 and trustees Kim Beede, Erica Ippolito and Richie Masadas did so a day later, Contra Costa County Board of Education President Annette Lewis appointed herself and fellow county board members Mike Maxwell and Consuelo Lara to temporarily serve as Oakley school trustees until a new board could be formed. Its first task was to either appoint new trustees or call a special election to let voters decide.

With little discussion, the interim board unanimously agreed Wednesday that the four remaining vacancies should be filled by appointment rather than an election, which could cost up to $300,000.

David Soldani, the district’s legal counsel, had told the interim board it needed to fill Polk’s seat by Monday. The deadline to make appointments for the other seats is April 19. If that doesn’t happen, the superintendent of the county board of education would be required to call for an election, he said.

“I was very relieved to see the talent and drive come forward,” Soldani said of the candidates who had less than a week to apply following Feb. 25’s board decision to appoint Polk’s successor.

Fuller, a 13-year resident and mother of two teenagers, works as a church facilities manager, has volunteered coordinating a county food bank and was part of Oakley’s Leadership Academy, a civic education program.

Other applicants, all of whom had to live in Area 2, were Wendell Dotson, Natalie Moreno, Rafael Ochoa, Craig Pearson, Nicole Pitts, Ron Roberts, Jacob Rounds, Nena Smith, Ray Valverde and Diego Verduzco.

All those chosen to fill vacancies will serve until the next regular school board election in November 2022. Had the district decided on elections, the winners would have served until 2024.

Soldani pointed out that all of the applicants could reapply for the remaining at-large positions, which do not require residents to represent certain areas. Once at least three have been appointed, the interim board members could start stepping aside, he said.

But Maxwell cautioned that they might not want to do that too soon before the new board gets some experience.

The new board will have to make important decisions about reopening the district’s seven elementary and two middle schools after a year of distance learning because of the coronavirus, although some interim county trustees may still be there depending on how quickly appointments are made.

“I think we’re going to work with the superintendent and the new board,” Maxwell said. “We want to resign as soon as possible, but I don’t want to see a new board be deer in the headlights. I see this board being intact and ready to go by May 1.”

The board is scheduled to meet next on Tuesday at 5 p.m. to decide on a timeline for appointing the next four candidates.

For more information, go to ouesd.k12.ca.us/board-of-trustees.