The Redlands school board on Tuesday, April 22, approved a resolution calling for “fairness in girls’ sports” and voted to move forward with the censure of a board member.
During a marathon meeting, the board voted 3-2 to pass the resolution, which parroted language in a failed state Assembly bill that would have barred transgender athletes from sports that do not align with their gender assigned at birth.
Board President Michelle Rendler and members Candy Olson and Jeanette Wilson voted in favor. Trustees Melissa Ayala-Quintero and Patty Holohan voted no.
The resolution passed with no discussion besides a comment from Olson, who said she was glad to have recognition when she was a student athlete because she was not up against biological males.
“I am just so grateful that this insanity had not entered into society when I was growing up,” Olson said.
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Malorie Wallen reacts Tuesday, April 22, 2025, to comments made during the Redlands Unified School District board meeting. The board approved a resolution calling for “fairness in girls’ sports.” (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
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Malorie Wallen reacts Tuesday, April 22, 2025, to comments made during the Redlands Unified School District board meeting. The board approved a resolution calling for “fairness in girls’ sports.” (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
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If people think there is no difference between men and women, they are denying science, Olson said, adding that she’d “do everything in my power to push for fairness and their privacy in girls’ spaces.”
Trustees voted 3-2 to consider the censure of Ayala-Quintero, with Rendler, Wilson and Olson voting yes. Holohan and Ayala-Quintero were opposed.
A censure is a formal reprimand by other board members but does not remove or otherwise affect the board member’s position.
Olson said the censure stems from the board’s April 8 meeting, when things grew heated between community members over controversial policies proposed by the board.
Olson alleged that Ayala-Quintero threatened her by lunging at her after saying, “Say it to me one more time.”
The exchange came as speakers addressed the board, after Olson laughed at a public speaker who did not share her views, Ayala-Quintero said.
Olson said she would not be bullied by Ayala-Quintero and said she did not laugh at the speaker.
Ayala-Quintero denied lunging at Olson and said that, in her time on the board, she has never been accused of anything like this. Bringing it up is a waste of the board’s time, she said.
Superintendent Juan Cabral heard the exchange and put himself between the two board members. He said he did not see Ayala-Quintero lunge at Olson.
“I heard the exchange, and when I saw you turn your chair, I thought it would be best for me to get in between you to stop the exchange,” Cabral told Ayala-Quintero.
Also Tuesday, the board pushed a discussion on rules to ban most flags and make it easier to remove “obscene” books from library shelves to the May 13 meeting. Those proposals drew many to Tuesday’s session.
More than 200 people stood in a line that wound around the district office and parking lot, waiting to speak to trustees. Every boardroom seat was filled, and those outside watched a livestream of the session. By about 9:30 p.m., the board had heard from nearly 100 speakers on the issues for about three hours.
Other Inland Empire school boards have passed the girls’ sports resolution, including the Temecula board on March 28 and Chino Valley trustees on Thursday, April 17. The Riverside Unified School District board chose not to vote on a similar resolution Jan. 17.
Critics of the move in Redlands said it aims to exclude transgender students. Proponents said the policy protects girls sports by leveling the playing field.
The Redlands board also resumed discussion of two potential policies on barring all but American flags and streamlining the book-removal process. These policies are being negotiated with the Redlands Teachers Association.
“I am a little disheartened to see policies that are still under negotiation being brought back for discussion so quickly,” association President Stephen Caperton said.
Caperton said these kind of policies don’t affect education and the board should focus on policies like making resources available to students.
The two policies were discussed at a March 21 Redlands school board workshop during which trustees asked officials to adjust the proposals and begin negotiations with teachers.
Some have called the proposals a “copy and paste” of those passed by other school districts, which landed those school systems in legal trouble.
The Temecula school board passed a similar flag policy in 2023, but rescinded it in December after a California Public Employment Relations Board ruling found that implementing the policy violated the state Educational Employment Relations Act.
The Chino Valley school board passed a flag ban in June 2023 and a similar book policy in March 2024.
“We are seeing the same cultural conflicts in these meetings replicated in the classroom, the playground, and in passing periods,” Caperton said.
Redlands parent Germain Miles questioned the proposals.
“Why are we here wasting our time our money and our future money in terms of lawsuits on this?” Miles asked.
She questioned board members on if they would ban tomboy kindergartners in case they may be transgender.
Chino Valley school board President Sonja Shaw attended the meeting to support the two policies and resolution. Some in the room questioned why she would be in a board room miles from her own district.
“I am the majority voice for parents all across California,” said Shaw, who is running in 2026 for California’s state superintendent of schools post.
During her comments, some in the crowd held orange papers denouncing hate speech.
“It is not controversial, it is common sense,” Shaw said of the resolution. “We are here to make common sense common again.”
Shaw, who said supporters will take the fight to higher courts, also spoke in favor of the flag policy, saying it is about neutral learning spaces.
“Classrooms should not be billboards for political agendas,” Shaw said.
Michael Paisner, a Redlands parent, said: “Let’s start with some facts, sex is not binary.”
He said that based on science, sex is a spectrum and there are many people who do not fall into either gender. The failing, Paisner said, was a society that was not informed or kind enough to have a more open and fair system.
“Stop trying to regulate and bully them out of existence,” he said of the LGBTQ+ community.
Paisner said the book proposal reasonably points out that parents should have a say in what their children read, but goes on to trample the rights of other parents and students.
On the potential flag ban, he said the board was not talking about what is on the flag pole but about banning LGBTQ flags.
“You are the government, when you limit teacher and students’ voices you are taking part in government censorship,” Paisner said.
Trisha Keeling, executive director of Together for Redlands said: “This is a continued waste of our district’s resources and time.”
There are no transgender athletes in Redlands, Keeling said, calling the proposal that was later OK’d an attempt by board members Olson and Wilson to create a problem where there is none. She said the policy would be a copy of the one promoted by Chino Valley schools and noted that Shaw had even showed up to the meeting like a puppet master.
“Redlands should not and cannot stand for this form of discrimination,” she said.
Lindsey Schmidts, a mother in the district, said Olson and Wilson were not interested in new information and called on Rendler to listen in good faith and deny the book policy.
“They don’t care for the established litmus test for establishing obscene material,” Schmidts said.
The board’s resolution targets transgender students, Schmidts said, and opens the door to “witch hunts” that would have a negative impact on girls, as seen in the summer Olympics when two athletes were accused of being biological males.
Jackie Williams-Reade said that the policies were exclusionary and would send a message that transgender students are not welcome. Excluding them would put the students’ mental health at risk, Williams-Reade said.
“As adults responsible for the well being of our youth we must prioritize mental health inclusion and compassion,” Williams-Reade said.
Kate Frank told the board she was “gobsmacked that I have to come here and tell you not to ban books in 2025.”
Frank said that, when her kids were in the district, they read everything and she often read the same books so they could discuss them.
“That is how you develop critical thinking skills,” Frank said. “You read.”
Greg Briton said girls are at a disadvantage in terms of speed, strength and endurance and that they lose out on opportunities against biological men.
“It is not hateful to tell the truth,” said Patricia Cabada, who has attended meetings in Chino Valley and Riverside to promote Save Girls Sports.
Rights are being taken away from women and they are losing out on scholarships and other opportunities, she said.
“The most un-American thing you can do is take away rights from biological girls.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correctly spell the name of Jackie Williams-Reade.
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