Pioneer Valley High Principal files suit against school district and local media outlets to prevent public access to 45-day disciplinary notice

SANTA MARIA, Calif. – An attorney representing Pioneer Valley High School Principal Shanda Herrera has asked county courts to block the release of documents to local media outlets related to a 45-day notice issued to her by the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District in June of this year.

Community members gathered in June to defend the popular local educator, believing her job was in jeopardy, and used the public comment period during a school board meeting to voice their concerns and support.

Ultimately, Herrera kept her job, but why the 45-day disciplinary notice was issued in the first place has been an open question.

To find out more information, Your News Channel asked for the letter in question and now is one of the media outlets cited and served in the protective order request.

Inside the request, Herrera's attorney asked that the Santa Barbara Superior Court issue a preliminary and permanent injunction over those documents arguing that, "A protective order stopping the disclosure of Petitioner's personnel file documents via this reverse-CPRA [California Public Records Act] action is the only way [italics original] in which Petitioner can seek to enforce the privacy protections she is allowed to under the law."

The California Public Records Act, first passed in 1968, requires government agencies to provide government records upon request to the public and has notable exceptions for privacy and the need for government agencies to perform their assigned functions.

According to Kristi Rothschild, Herrera's attorney who filed the petition, while the California Public Records Act offers a statutory procedure to resolve disputes between groups seeking disclosure (like a news station) and a government agency (such as a school district), "no comparable procedure exists for an interested third party to obtain a judicial ruling precluding a public agency from improperly disclosing confidential documents."

Herrera's attorney further argues in the petition that the requested letter does not contain, "allegations of sexual-type conduct, threats of violence, or violence" which is an evaluation used in a previous case where records about a school employee were sought by a newspaper (Bakersfield City School District v. Superior Court, 2004).

The court system ruled in favor of the newspaper's access to the disciplinary files.

The only detail provided about the content of the documents from Rothschild's petition is that they, "are internal disciplinary documents that allege unprofessional conduct."

The Santa Maria Joint Union High School District declined to comment when asked by Your News Channel when the story was first reported on June 12.

According to the California Office of the Attorney General's Public Records Act summary linked above, "The fact that information is in a personnel file does not necessarily make it exempt information."

Additionally, the Office of Attorney General's summary above explains, "Records created in connection with administrative investigations unrelated to licensing are not subject to the exemption [California Government Code section 6254(f)-Exemption for Investigative Records and Intelligence Information]."

According to the petition, the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District informed Herrera that she had already, "impacted the confidentiality of such records by providing staff and community members with selected and misinformation about the contents of the 45-day notice" in their decision to release the letter.

On June 12, Herrera disclosed to Your News Channel's Christina Rodriguez when she received the letter and said the following about the contents of the document, "Basically just said after the forty-five days, that they [Santa Maria Joint Union High School District] could do what they would like, and termination was, was emphasized."

"I do feel like it is personal," explained Herrera to Your News Channel in June.

On June 17, Your News Channel reported that Herrera would keep her job as Principal and posted the following statement from the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District Superintendent Antonio Garcia:

Tonight in closed session the board conducted a confidential, closed session related to personnel.  There is no reportable action.  A 45-day notice is a serious written warning to a credentialed employee. That requires them to improve their conduct or face serious consequences. Principal Herrera remains a district employee and at no point has been recommended for termination.  There have been no recommended changes related to principal assignments for the 2024-25 school year.

Herrera's attorney argued in the petition that, "Nothing in case law provides that the contents of the documents at-issue are of a 'substantial nature' under the law," and that the documents in question are, "only conclusory allegations based on documents provided without context or the benefit of any investigation."

Rothschild concludes, "Respondent [Santa Maria Joint Union High School] will suffer no harm if the Court orders that they are enjoined from releasing the records in Petitioner's [Herrera] personnel file."

While, according to Rothschild, the school district would not be harmed if stopped from releasing the letter, the question remains what in the letter would be so harmful to her client if provided to the public.