Paso Robles school board president picks white, male pastor because diversity doesn’t matter

The predominantly white, predominantly male Paso Robles School board had a chance to appoint a young, articulate, knowledgeable Latina to fill a vacant seat on the board on Tuesday.

Instead, it chose an 82-year-old, ultra-conservative white man, retired Pastor Frank Triggs, passing over Adelita Hiteshew, who has extensive experience working with children, is involved in district activities, has three kids in local schools and has lived in Paso 26 years, twice as long as Triggs.

Never mind that the district’s student population is 56.1% Latino or Hispanic and 37.9% white.

Or that the district has been heavily criticized for its treatment of Latino families and is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights for alleged discrimination.

Or that there is currently only one woman on the seven-member board.

Out of a field of 11 candidates — including five women — a board majority managed to further alienate Latino leaders by picking an older white man whose views on several issues, including COVID, climate change and the presidential election, sound like they’re straight out of the Tucker Carlson playbook.

Fighting the ‘culture war’

How did it happen?

Board President Arend said, in effect, that another conservative would be a better fit for the supposedly conservative Paso Robles community than Hiteshew.

“We’re on the front line of the culture war, as we all know,” he said. “I know where I stand on the culture war, and I know I got the unavoidable, clear impression she (Hiteshew) tends toward the identity politics, CRT (critical race theory) crowd.”

In other words, for this white, privileged “culture warrior,” anyone who disagrees with him is an enemy.

Arend wants to create an ideological bubble — one that does not allow dissenting opinions, fresh ideas or diversity of thought, background or experience.

In fact, he couldn’t care less about diversity.

His inability to recognize the value in hearing different voices and learning from their perspective is, to put if frankly, astounding.

“Obviously, I think diversity is the last thing the we really need to consider as a qualification,” he said. “I don’t give a damn about anybody’s skin color or ethnicity or gender or anything else.”

Another Trustee, Lance Gannon, had a similar thought: “I don’t want to make this choice to make the board look more diverse,” he said. “We just need to make a choice on what we feel is the best candidate.”

He’s as right as he is wrong.

The board should not have chosen someone who would make the board look more diverse; it should have chosen someone who would actually make the board be more diverse.

While she only would have had one vote, Hiteshew would have brought a new perspective to the table.

“The representation she would bring ... is not enough to change our board, but it’s certainly enough to be a voice on our board,” said Trustee Nathan Williams who, along with Trustee Tim Gearhardt, was a strong supporter of Hiteshew and ultimately voted against Triggs.

White man calls Latina woman too ‘emotional’

When it came time to vote, board members exchanged some heated comments.

Gearhardt and Williams accused Arend of misrepresenting Hiteshew’s views on critical race theory — which Arend did.

Hiteshew made mildly critical remarks about the board’s decision to water down the curriculum of its new ethnic studies class.

“It was hard for me to see it was a scaled-down version, “ she said. “We were asking for a page in a history book, and we were offered half-a-page.”

But she never advocated for CRT, as Arend falsely claimed.

In one particularly condescending moment, Arend also criticized Hiteshaw — who often spoke with passion and intensity — for being too emotional.

“She tended to be kind of flowery ... a bit emotional in answering the questions,” Arend mainsplained to the board and audience. “I’m sorry, the decisions we make here, you’ve got to make them, frankly, ice cold and without emotion.”

This, from the lawyer who once needed 5,181 words to bloviate about why systemic racism isn’t a thing. Talk about “flowery.”

This, from a man who once angrily chastised members of the public for daring to address the board in Spanish during a public comment session.

“Speak in a language we can understand,” he demanded.

Apparently, it’s OK to indulge in emotion and petulance at a public meeting — as long as you’re an aging, white man in a position of power.

All told, it was yet another disgusting display of misbegotten righteousness from the board president.

Facebook posts, responses reveal Triggs’ beliefs

The board’s decision is way beyond disappointing — it’s depressing.

Instead of a well-qualified candidate like Hiteshew with a true stake in the district, Paso Robles now has another far-right elected (or in this case, appointed) official who spouts lies and conspiracy theories.

According to Triggs’ Facebook posts — which he conveniently made private after Tribune reporter Mackenzie Shuman quoted them in an article on his appointment — he denies climate change, does not believe President Biden’s win was legitimate, ridicules efforts to do away with racist stereotypes in advertising, and downplays the dangers of COVID.

When interviewed for the trustee position, he told the school board that he already had COVID and doesn’t plan to be vaccinated.

“I had the disease,” he said. “I have natural immunity. That’s a better immunity than Pfizer.”

That is false. The CDC recommends people who have already had COVID to still be vaccinated, since natural immunity fades and offers less protection than vaccines.

“A recent study showed that unvaccinated people who already had COVID-19 are more than twice as likely as fully vaccinated people to get reinfected with COVID-19,” a Mayo Clinic fact sheet states.

He also spread disinformation about wearing masks.

“I don’t feel that it does any good .... like putting in a chain link fence to keep the mosquitoes out of your yard. The virus is very, very small. ... We need to do everything we can to avoid mask mandates,” he said.

This man does not belong on the school board and, honestly, neither do the board members who voted for him.

Were they even aware of Triggs’ social media posts?

If not, they should have been.

And if they were, that’s even more of an outrage.

Fortunately, elections are coming.

There were some excellent candidates among the applicants for the vacancy — in addition to Hiteshew, Caitlin Vierra and Jim Cogan come to mind — and we hope they will consider running for a seat on the board.

Meanwhile, you voters have plenty of time to do your homework.

Watch this school board in action — you can start with the video of the interviews with the applicants for the vacant seat — and decide whether these are the right people to represent you and your children.