Placer County school board president tried to censure a fellow member. The community pushed back

A conservative school board president’s attempt to censure his colleague backfired Wednesday night, as nearly 100 community members showed up at an Auburn Union School Board meeting in support of embattled trustee Jamie Ross.

No action was taken on the censure effort after the raucous four hour meeting.

An investigation by school district officials had found that Ross misused a total of $938.53 in public funds by arriving to the 2023 California Latino School Board Association conference in Long Beach a day early, staying in Long Beach when the conference was abruptly canceled, and paying for a meal for a non-Auburn school official.

The audit found that when Ross changed a Southwest Airlines flight to travel from Long Beach to Las Vegas for a family emergency and then back to Sacramento, she applied travel credits to her personal account, and not the district’s card.

The Placer County Office of Education recommended that Ross pay the district back in full, and take a two-hour ethics course from the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission. Ross did both within days of receiving the recommendation.

Still, the school board president, Greg Holt wanted to censure Ross.

But at the Wednesday night school board meeting, he was greeted with boos and chants from angry parents, teachers, and community members in the school district made of up of two elementary schools and one middle school.

At the meeting, Ross’s supporters called the investigation and proposed censure a “petty” and “politicized” attempt to harm her reputation in the community.

They bemoaned Holt for spending so much time focusing on Ross’s conference trip when there are pressing concerns about school infrastructure, budget, and enrollment.

“I know more about Ms. Ross’s canceled work trip than I know about where my son is going to go to school next year,” said one parent during public comment. “I’m honestly just disgusted that I don’t know what’s happening with my kid this year, and this is what we’re talking about.

“Jamie,” she said, addressing Ross, “you are so supported in this community. And Mr. Holt is not going to ruin your reputation.” Some parents who spoke at the meeting did not identify themselves.

Investigation finds misuse of public funds

According to the Placer County Superintendent of Schools, Gayle Garbolino-Mojica, the Placer County Office of Education investigated Ross after Holt tipped the office off in late October.

Garbolino-Mojica outlined the investigation’s findings in a letter to Holt on Jan. 19, and presented them Wednesday night at the beginning of the board meeting.

The PCOE audited Ross’s spending on her district credit card at the 2023 California Latino School Board Association (CLSBA) conference in Long Beach from Sept. 28 to Oct. 1 last year.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Ross read a lengthy letter aloud at the meeting in response to Garbolino-Mojica’s presentation.

“My only intention was to attend a conference that I believe is beneficial to the Auburn Union School District, and would support knowledge that could support our English as a Second Language students,” she said.

Ross said that while the conference was formally canceled, most attendees remained at the hotel for informal networking and an event honoring California labor leader and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta.

Ross did arrive to Long Beach a day before the conference, which she and other board members have done before for previous conferences, and which she believed to be the norm.

She did change a flight from Long Beach to Sacramento to one that flew from Long Beach to Las Vegas, and then back to Sacramento, to deal with a family emergency in Henderson, Nevada, and apologized for not double-checking that Southwest would credit the district card and not her personal account.

Ross also provided proof that the Hyatt hotel where she stayed in Long Beach had accidentally charged her for the wrong room service order, and confirmed that the hotel will be sending the district a refund.

“In hindsight,” she said, “I should have been more attentive to the credits and the refunds. I should have paid attention; my intention was to use my own funds, and not the funds provided by the district.”

CLSBA Board Director Paul Solano was so convinced of the usefulness of the weekend that he called Ross Tuesday evening and offered to personally reimburse her for the $938.53 cost of the conference weekend.

“I apologize profusely for my part in this debacle,” she said. “But once again, I want to say, my goal is to serve our community and children in this school district to the best of my ability, and that is what I will continue to do.”

Upon finishing her letter, most attendees in the room — including students — delivered a standing ovation, holding hot pink heart-shaped signs and yelling, “We love you.”

There was no reaction from Holt or any other council member.

Culture war clashes reach a boiling point

The showdown Wednesday night between Holt, Ross, and members of the community was about far more than travel receipts and work conferences.

It was the latest chapter in a year of tension culminating in one raucous and emotionally heightened meeting.

Holt was elected to the AUSD board in November 2022, alongside Jayson Wedge and Renee Grigsby. They were elected as part of a larger effort to stack school boards with conservative-leaning local parents in the wake of the COVID-19 public health response, which shut down schools and required masks, online learning, and social distancing. The three Republican Party-backed candidates joined incumbent trustees Sarah Brichler and Ross.

With the board makeup stacked in favor of the conservative-leaning candidates, tensions have run high. Take last December, for example, when Holt sought to rescind the district’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion statement.

His motion failed to pass, with Grigsby joining Brichler and Ross in support of the statement. More importantly, it drew enormous public protest and what constituents called inappropriate politicking for an elected official in a nonpartisan role.

Many parents have called for Holt and Wedge — a member of the far-right Placer County Freedom Coalition who once referred to the California Teachers Association as “evil” — to resign. District teachers also expressed little faith that the two members are adequately representing the needs of the district.

“In my opinion,” said Kathryn Gonzales, who taught in Auburn for 18 years, “these attacks (against Ross) are a smokescreen that have been created to keep people from talking about what really needs to be addressed. It is unbelievable how you are trying to disparage her reputation when she is a pillar of our community.”

Gonzales said Wednesday during public comment that Holt has “ulterior motives” and that “politics of any kind absolutely do not belong in the educational system, and they need to be left at the door.” She “respectfully” asked Holt and Wedge to resign. The crowd erupted in applause.

When public comment about the censure was over, Holt and Ross engaged in a heated back-and-forth. Holt was repeatedly interrupted, banging his small gavel on the table in the middle school gymnasium several times to try to quiet the crowd.

“We want you to resign,” yelled one attendee while Holt spoke.

“Where is my kid going to school next year?” yelled another.

One woman shared in public comment that whether Ross intended to misuse public funds or not, “it was still a misappropriation of funds.”

“This is a state position, and you shouldn’t have done what you did,” she told Ross, who nodded in agreement and applauded the public comment when the speaker finished.

A particularly contentious factor in the dispute between Holt and Ross was a letter that Holt sent to the entire school district detailing the PCOE findings and accusing Ross of “not consistently providing honest or prompt responses to inquiries.”

“We understand this news may be unsettling, and we remain committed to ensuring the Auburn Union School District continues to operate with unwavering dedication to responsibility, transparency, and accountability,” Holt wrote in the Feb. 2 letter.

“I was completely caught off guard when I found out that the board president had contacted the county superintendent with a concern that none of us had heard of, and not been shared with the rest of the board, and that a message was sent to our entire school community without any board input,” said Brichler.

“I just want to remind us that this is so inappropriate, and that being board president does not mean that you can act unilaterally. We only have power as a collective.”

In the end, the board didn’t even vote on the measure.

“I’m not going to take action on this tonight,” a frustrated Holt said. “It wasn’t available to the public. So, no action taken.”