Potential investigation of trustee’s controversial emails put on ice

A potential investigation concerning an Orange County Board of Education trustee’s controversial emails about sexual orientation was not discussed at the board’s meeting Wednesday in Costa Mesa after the item was moved up the agenda to a time when trustee David Boyd, who planned to request the investigation, was not present.

Boyd is a Costa Mesa resident whose trustee District 2 includes Huntington Beach and portions of Costa Mesa and Fountain Valley. He said he started his inquiry after a public records request filed by former Orange Unified School District trustee Barry Resnick turned up an email that Orange County trustee Robert Hammond sent to a county Department of Education employee in April 2014.

In the email, Hammond wrote, “I hope you don’t mind, but I plan on asking you about your sexual orientation publicly during our next board meeting.”

In another email obtained through the records request — this one sent last June to fellow trustee Ken Williams — Hammond, whose District 1 includes Fountain Valley, ended the message with “PS — The U.S. Supreme Court ruled (5-4) that Sodomites can now be married!”

Boyd’s agenda item suggesting that the board discuss whether legal counsel was needed to investigate Hammond’s actions was originally placed toward the end of the meeting.

Boyd said he was unable to attend the early portion of the morning meeting because of a previous engagement in Long Beach for the American Arbitration Assn.

Associate Supt. Nina Boyd informed the board during the meeting that Boyd would be arriving late.

During Boyd’s absence, trustee John Bedell suggested moving the item up the agenda so it would follow the public comment period, saying it would “honor the people who are here for their participation.”

After multiple public comments about Hammond’s emails — a mix of defense and opposition — none of the four board members present made a motion to discuss the matter.

“The item fails due to lack of motion,” said Hammond, the board’s president.

Boyd arrived to the meeting in the early afternoon.

“It’s disappointing, but not surprising,” Boyd told the Daily Pilot, referring to his item being moved up on the agenda. “I suspect that it’s a dialogue that Mr. Hammond didn’t wish to enter into.”

Boyd said he is unsure whether he’ll reintroduce the item at the next board meeting in June.

Laura Kanter, director of policy, advocacy and youth programs for the LGBT Center OC in Santa Ana, was one of several speakers during public comments who lambasted Hammond for his emails. She said she wondered whether the board purposefully moved the item in Boyd’s absence.

Hammond said in an interview after the meeting that “I think it’s all political, him asking for the investigation.”

Former trustee Liz Parker, a Costa Mesa resident who left the board in 2014, told the Daily Pilot earlier this month there has been friction between Boyd and Hammond in the past.

Williams and Bedell could not be reached immediately after the meeting, and trustee Linda Lindholm declined to comment.

Costa Mesa resident Liz McNabb sat in the meeting with a rainbow flag visible from her purse.

“It is improper, indecent and incomprehensible that sitting board member Robert Hammond used ‘sodomite’ in any concept,” McNabb said. “He is supposed to represent every student, not just the ones he approves of.”

At the beginning of the meeting, Hammond said the other email, to the Department of Education employee, was in regard to a question in the California Healthy Kids Survey that asks adolescent students about their sexual orientation.

Hammond said he was trying to make a point in the email that no one should be asked that.

“If we’re OK with asking a student this, are you OK with being asked this?” Hammond said. “[Trustee] Williams and I have tried for over two years to have this question stopped.”

Laguna Beach resident Chris Tebbutt said: “I think it’s very fair for Hammond to question the survey, but to say that to an employee … the question is really that of discrimination and harassment. It’s really about the right to privacy and freedom from sexual harassment in the workplace.”

Some speakers defended Hammond for his efforts to change the survey.

“I hope there’s not a waste of tax dollars on some sort of investigation for comments that were taken out of context,” said Ashley Collins, a Huntington Beach resident.

Ronald Wenkart, the Department of Education’s general counsel, said in an interview that there is nothing illegal about the anonymous, voluntary survey and said it helps schools identify issues on campus, such as bullying or drug use.

Public records requests for emails Hammond exchanged with department staff were made to the Department of Education by both Resnick and Susan Mercer, president of the Santa Ana Educators Assn.

Mercer told the Daily Pilot that she made her request after hearing rumors about employees being called names via email.

“I was very concerned, but I don’t like to go after people without all the facts, and this was a way for me to get the facts,” Mercer said.