• FILE PHOTO BY JAYSON MELLOM
• MORE CANDIDATES, MORE OPINIONS At a Sept. 28 candidate forum in Paso Robles, school board candidates shared their opinions on several hot-button issues that have plagued the district.

At a recent school board candidates forum in Paso Robles, incumbent Chris Arend opened the conversation by addressing the elephant in the room.

"One of these things that have been raised is all these social issues, these political issues, what are we doing with that in the school district? Well frankly, these issues have come to us. We did not seek out these issues, they sought us out," current Paso Robles Joint Unified School District board President Arend said. "This country is in a very divided condition at this moment, and it is the case in the school district. We cannot avoid these conflicts."

Arend was one of seven candidates who attended a Sept. 28 forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of SLO County. Nine candidates are competing for a respective spot on the controversial board, which has dealt with fraught national political issues in the past couple of years, including gender identity and critical race theory. Trustee areas 1, 2, and 4 as well as an at-large position are up for election.

Arend, who's running for his seat in area 1 against Peter Byrne and Jim Cogan, touted the board's 2021 resolution banning "several doctrines" that it claims include critical race theory from being taught in classrooms. However, Cogan, area 4 candidate Sondra Williams, and at-large candidates Adelita Hiteshew and Lauren McCoy said that critical race theory was a non-issue.

"It's not pretend, it's something that people have to deal with every day. Thankfully, we are not having to worry about it as much in Paso Robles. My thoughts on it are 'leave it alone,'" McCoy said at the forum. "There's no need to put our children against each other based on the color of their skin, financial situation, the clothes that they wear, none of that. It's all a bunch of garbage, and I hope that we don't have to readdress that issue in Paso Robles."

Byrne, another candidate challenging Arend for his seat, wasn't convinced that critical race theory was completely gone from classrooms, and his comments earned a round of laughter from the audience attending the forum.

"Whenever you hear the terms diversity, equity, and inclusion, you're talking about critical race theory. From a board's perspective, anytime you might think it's there, then you need to investigate it," Byrne said. "I would not like to see it at all in classrooms, but I'm afraid it's being taught everywhere around this country so I assume it's being taught here. So the only way is to have full transparency and for the board to question what is going on about that."

As the forum continued, candidates were asked about LGBTQ-plus related issues on school campuses, a topic the district board has discussed in the last couple of months. Cogan believes one thing would make a big impact on what the district has experienced over the last two years.

"I think a good place to start would be to not insult our LGBTQ students or teachers or 55 percent of our student population at board meetings," Cogan said. "Frankly, I think it's shocking as a parent that people who don't have children in the school district would be so concerned about the sexuality of minors. I mean, seriously, in any other context, we'd involve law enforcement. Let's stop the conversation at the school board and let kids be kids."

In August, the school board passed a resolution that wouldn't support any mandate replacing traditional gender specific titles such as Mr. and Mrs. Frank Triggs, an appointed incumbent who's running for the area 4 seat, voted in favor of the resolution.

"If there were people that wanted to talk to my children about sex when they were smaller or in high school, I would want to know why in the world you'd want to talk to them about sex," Triggs said.

A month after the resolution was passed, students and faculty at Paso Robles High School were informed that students would need parent permission to join student clubs. Some thought that the decision targeted LGBTQ-plus students. Candidate Williams, who's running against Triggs and Catherine Reimer for area 4, advocated for inclusion for all in light of the seemingly divisive decisions made by the current administration.

"If you've not ever stepped on the campus of Paso Robles High School or attended Mr. Land's ethnic studies class, or attended a rally of children who just want to be seen, acknowledged, and respected, then you might be able to say that we don't have a problem here," Williams said. "But if you want to make true change, you'll have to have hard conversations."