West

California school board member temporarily banned from school after clash with principal over ICE protests

Published

1 week ago

February 18, 2026

California school board member temporarily banned from school after clash with principal over ICE protests

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A California school board member is banned from entering a high school campus for two weeks after school board counterparts voted to approve a stay-away letter last week.

The Office of the Superintendent prepared an agenda item to discuss Pajaro Valley Unified School District trustee Gabe Medina’s confrontation with Pajaro Valley High School principal Todd Wilson. The confrontation was about Pajaro Valley High School students joining the national walkout protests against U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) on Jan. 30.

After Medina confronted Wilson, he faced scrutiny and a stay-away letter was created that stated he couldn’t access school grounds for two weeks.

During a school board meeting on February 11, Medina’s colleagues voted 4-1 agreeing to approve the stay-away letter. The vote also mandated that Medina and Wilson are required to have a mediated conversation.

The Office of the Superintendent prepared an agenda item to discuss Pajaro Valley Unified School District trustee Gabe Medina’s behavior that led up to Pajaro Valley High School students participating in the national walkout protest against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) earlier this month.

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“One of our board colleagues was at the school and got into a verbal altercation with a district employee. Staff reported that the board member was aggressive, getting in the employees’ face nose to nose…,” Board President Carol Turley said.

“The board member was not acting in his official capacity but rather as a private citizen. Based on those events, the employee and staff expressed concerns about their safety and well-being and have requested proper protections are in place,” Turley continued.

Medina said in an Instagram video that he confronted Wilson about him allegedly threatening to tow students’ vehicles for participating in the protests.

Medina received both support and criticism.

“Medina has been the only member on this board who has constantly showed up for our students,” one of the speakers said during the public comment session addressing the stay-away letter. “He sees the students as people, not as money signs. He advocates for students when they feel they have no voice.”

Two sophomores from Pajaro Valley High School, Karina Aguilar and Alyah Mendoza, read a statement together criticizing Medina’s behavior.

SCHOOLS THAT LET STUDENTS LEAVE CLASS TO PROTEST ICE HAVE FAILING ACADEMIC RECORDS

Pajaro Valley Unified School District trustee Gabe Medina received both support and criticism following the board considering a measure to ban the official from a high school campus after a confrontation with another employee. (YouTube Screenshot)

“Trustee Medina, you are sitting here on this board as someone that we can clearly not trust and confide in when it comes to showing up for our school and our students, specifically regarding the incident that happened on the day of our walkout,” Aguilar said. “That day you showed us students what a perfect example of immaturity and a lack of clarity can cause within our school community.”

Medina responded that students were not informed enough in advance about their legal right to participate in the protest. He issued a statement the next day expressing disappointment about the outcome. He cited California law SB 955 that allows students to leave class “provided that the pupil notifies the school ahead of the absence.”

“Last night’s vote to approve a 14 day stay away letter is disappointing, but not surprising,” he continued. “I believe the action was unnecessary and disproportionate. There was no completed investigation, no formal findings shared publicly, and no genuine attempt at mediation before escalation. That raises serious concerns about fairness and governance.”

During the Jan. 30 walkout protest, Pajaro Valley High School students initially planned to meet in the quad on campus for a rally to hear remarks from an organization called Your Allied Rapid Response.

CALIFORNIA SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER ‘PERSONALLY OFFENDED’ WHEN SPEAKER SAYS ‘HOMELESS’ INSTEAD OF ‘UNHOUSED’

What was planned to be an on-campus event ventured into an off-campus gathering.

As Pajaro Valley High School students met on campus in Watsonville, CA, they were encouraged to leave to join the larger protest event that was organized to march to a rally in Watsonville’s Civic Plaza. Some of the students joined. The board took issue with criticism that the students were not encouraged to join the larger protest, claiming “student suppression.”

Pajaro Valley High School students joined the national walkout protests against U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement on Jan. 30. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

The board said that school officials “cannot encourage students to leave campus” and took issue with Medina’s characterization of the district’s handling of the student-led protest.

“We are NOT what Trustee Medina represented of us on his public platforms,” the district wrote in a letter.

The board, Wilson, nor Medina did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

“Pajaro Valley USD is a perfect example of what happens when institutions are captured by activists, who subvert the purpose of the institutions and instead use it as a vehicle for their own political ends. Watch as the board meeting is held hostage by an activist board member,” said Mika Hackner, director of research at North American Values Institute.

Joshua Q. Nelson is a reporter for Fox News Digital.

Joshua focuses on politics, education policy ranging from the local to the federal level, and the parental uprising in education.

Joining Fox News Digital in 2019, he previously graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in Political Science and is an alum of the National Journalism Center and the Heritage Foundation’s Young Leaders Program.

Story tips can be sent to joshua.nelson@fox.com and Joshua can be followed on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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Montana

Women who made agriculture work in Montana

Published

1 hour ago

February 28, 2026

Press Room

Women who made agriculture work in Montana

Lisa Schmidt
| Columnist

Recently, I was asked to talk about what it is like to be a female rancher.

I was flattered to be asked, but I don’t know the answer.

I do know what it is like to be a human rancher and I know that I admire many women who also are ranchers.

In fact, 36 percent of the farmers and ranchers in the U.S. are women and they manage almost half of America’s ag land.

Globally, we produce more than half of all food.

In Montana, we all benefit from amazing female leaders in agriculture.

If you want to know about improving soil health or the rewards of raising sheep, talk to Linda Poole in Malta.

If you want to learn how to organize a grassroots rancher’s organization and effect meaningful change, talk to Maggie Nutter in Sunburst.

Trina Bradley of Dupuyer will look you in the eye and tell you everything you need to know about the impacts of grizzlies on her ranch life.

Colleen Gustafson, on the Two Med, graciously hosts and educates non-ranchers for months at a time without strangling them, all while maintaining every fence, buying every bull and killing every weed on her ranch.

Adele Stenson of Wibaux and Holly Stoltz of Livingston find innovative solutions to ranching challenges and then — even harder — find ways to share these innovations with hard-headed, independent cusses who want to do it our own way.

In fact, I’ve noticed that often women seek novel innovations to deal with a ranching challenge.

If a man happens to be around, she might even run it past him.

It’s rubber band ranching – stretch with an idea, contract to assess it, then stretch again to implement it.

Long ago, my friend Michelle and I promoted the One Good Cow program at the Montana Stockgrowers Association meeting.

We asked cattle producers to donate one cow to ranchers who had lost so many in blizzards and floods that year.

As we stood on stage in a room full of dour, silent men, I remember finding the one person I knew and asking what he thought.

Just as he would bid at a livestock auction, he barely nodded his approval.

We ended up gathering more than 900 cows from across the nation and giving them to 67 producers.

One Good Cow was a good idea.

Now I don’t seek approval for my ideas so sometimes my rubber band doesn’t contract to assess one before I stretch into action.

That’s how I got myself into producing shelf-stable, ready-to-eat meals made with my beef and lamb.

This is a good idea, too.

I hope.

I wonder if it is easier to ranch as a woman in some ways.

Society pressures men to know all of the answers all of the time, but If I mess up, I try to learn from my mistake and move forward.

When Imposter Syndrome hits or we can’t find a solution to an unsolvable problem – the effects of climate change, commodity markets or competing demands from family – secretly faking it until we make it gets lonely.

The downward spiral of loneliness and the pressure to be perfect can lead to suicide.

Male ranchers kill themselves 3.5 times more often than the general public.

Female ranchers kill themselves, too, just a little less often.

I’m fortunate to have good friends who love me even when I’m far from perfect.

We laugh together, they remind me that I have a few good attributes even when I forget, they tolerate my weirdness and celebrate little successes.

They stave off loneliness.

They know all ranchers try our best, we appreciate a little grace, and a warm fire feels good to our cold fingers.

Lisa Schmidt raises grass-fed beef and lamb at the Graham Ranch near Conrad. Lisa can be reached at L.Schmidt@a-land-of-grass-ranch.com.

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Nevada

Nevada State Police averts ‘udder chaos’ in Eureka County

Published

1 hour ago

February 28, 2026

Press Room

Nevada State Police averts ‘udder chaos’ in Eureka County

EUREKA COUNTY, Nev. (KOLO) – On Friday, Feb. 27, the Nevada State Police assisted with a cattle crossing on State Route 306 at Interstate 80 in Eureka County.

“While not an everyday part of our job, we like to do our part to assist our local ranchers while keeping traffic from turning into udder chaos,” according to an agency Facebook post. “It was a perfect opportunity to be outside (even if our animal friends were a little moo-dy).”

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