SLO County school board member harassed at home during meeting, neighbor pepper sprayed
A small group of people yelled, shook tambourines, blared music and blew horns outside of the home of a Lucia Mar Unified School District board of trustees member for more than two hours on Tuesday evening to protest a school board meeting happening virtually at the same time.
A total of about five to 10 people gathered on the sidewalk in front of trustee Colleen Martin’s Arroyo Grande home starting at about 7:45 p.m. — about 45 minutes into the school board meeting.
At one point, protesters clashed with a neighbor who said he was “counter protesting” by yelling and using an air horn in an attempt to dissuade the protesters from continuing their ruckus.
The neighbor, Steven Carr, was then pepper sprayed in the face by a protester.
“I was trying to protect my neighbors,” said Carr, who couldn’t identify the person who pepper sprayed him. “This pandemonium doesn’t belong in a neighborhood.”
Other neighbors stood outside their houses and watched the protesters for a while before heading indoors for the night.
“I would just be at home watching TV right now but this is a little better honestly,” neighbor Benjamin Carroll said. “They’re hooligans, no better way to describe it. This is borderline harassment, and it seems to really be detracting from their point.”
Martin said she was scared when the protesters showed up at her house during Tuesday’s virtual board meeting because she was home alone and had forgotten to lock up. She said that people were knocking on her door and standing on her lawn before police arrived.
“I was a little rattled, but I tried to keep my composure during the meeting,” Martin said, noting that most others during the meeting had no idea the protest was happening outside her home. “You know, though, I’m strong. This won’t intimidate me to quit.”
On Tuesday, four Arroyo Grande Police Department officers stood on the street near Martin’s home, watching the protesters. Martin and Carr called the police, and an ambulance also showed up to help Carr recover from the pepper spray.
Although the meeting ended at about 9:30 p.m., the small group of protesters remained outside Martin’s home, blaring music, yelling “open up the meeting,” shaking tambourines and blowing their horns until 9:59 p.m.
No one was arrested.
Protesters lodge complaint against SLO County board member
The Lucia Mar school board meeting was held Tuesday via Zoom and live streamed on YouTube “in the interest of public health” as local COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to spike, the district board said.
A previous board meeting on Aug. 17 was also held virtually.
More than 300 people attended a Lucia Mar board meeting that was held in person in Arroyo Grande on Aug. 3. Most of those attendees came to protest the California Department of Public Health’s indoor face mask mandate, which the school district is required to enforce.
Central Coast Families for Education Reform, a group of local parents and community members that has spoken out against the mask mandate and virtual board meetings, organized what the group described as a “peaceful protest” prior to the board meeting. That protest was held outside the Lucia Mar district office in Arroyo Grande, about a mile from Martin’s house.
The group, which is gathering signatures in its bid to recall three of the seven Lucia Mar school board members including Martin, brought a formal complaint against Martin during Tuesday’s board meeting.
The complaint alleges that Martin violated school board policy and intimidated the public and board members by telling people via her personal Facebook page to not show up to the Aug. 3 school board meeting.
“Our Lucia Mar USD meeting tonight where the public may participate and come unmasked is a SUPER SPREADER EVENT,” Martin’s Aug. 3 post said. “Please stay home and keep your family safe and healthy. We are NOT voting on masks.”
Central Coast Families for Education Reform vice president Mike Mulder, who submitted the complaint, said in a presentation during Tuesday’s board meeting that Martin’s Facebook post violated board policy because she spoke on behalf of the board, insinuated the board had predetermined it would not vote on the mask mandate and intimidated people from attending the meeting.
“The board considered the allegations against trustee Martin and did not believe that they had merit,” school district spokeswoman Amy Jacobs told The Tribune via text message. “They did not wish to spend public money investigating further.”
The complaint was the final item on the board’s agenda for Tuesday evening’s meeting, which ended at around 9:30 p.m.
Protest outside trustee’s home due to alleged Brown Act violations
Allan Stevo, the author of an anti-masking book, has attended multiple San Luis Obispo County school board meetings to protest mask mandates. He was originally at the protest outside the Lucia Mar district office, and reportedly convinced some folks to protest outside Martin’s home.
“Having a meeting on Zoom is illegal under the Brown Act. You probably don’t know the Brown Act very well,” Stevo told the Tribune during the protest at Martin’s home. “So what can happen on Zoom, which can’t happen in a Brown Act-compliant meeting, is to simply ignore the public and not let a person speak. ... So we’re here because Colleen Martin is conducting an illegal meeting right now.”
Stevo was referring to his attempt to speak on an agenda item during Tuesday’s board meeting. The agenda item dealt with the board’s approval of a contractor to build a new classroom facility at Arroyo Grande High School.
Stevo began his comment — after school board president Don Stewart clarified which item he was commenting on — by saying “it’s good to be discussing matters like this.”
“And I think it’s important for the board to recognize when the board’s in violation of the Brown Act, as this meeting is being illegally held,” Stevo continued, at which point Stewart cut him off informing him he was off topic and commenting on matters other than the school facility contractor.
After a brief argument, Stewart moved Stevo into the Zoom waiting room, effectively silencing him and cutting off his comment.
Did Lucia Mar school board violate the Brown Act?
Did the Lucia Mar school district violate California’s Ralph M. Brown Act, as Stevo alleged?
California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order in March 2020 allowing local agencies to conduct meetings via virtual platforms.
On June 11, 2021, Newsom issued another executive order which extended his original order to Sept. 30, 2021, therefore allowing public meetings to continue to be held virtually.
The Brown Act requires, among other things, that board meetings allow the public the opportunity to comment on any agenda item and any item of interest to the public within the subject matter jurisdiction of the board.
The Lucia Mar board allowed for public comment for items not on the agenda — such as grievances that the school board was not following the Brown Act — at the end of Tuesday’s meeting.
“The board president may rule on the appropriateness of a topic,” the school board’s policies say. “If the topic would be more suitably addressed at a later time, the president may indicate the time and place when it should be presented.”
The board’s policies also allow for public comment to be limited to three minutes per speaker and 20 minutes per agenda item.
This story was originally published September 8, 2021 at 11:14 AM.
