Dr. Malczewski’s January 8 LBUSD Trustee Statement

Statement Transcribed:

In this new year, I want to share some serious concerns about governance.

Local school boards are among our most fragile democratic institutions. They function through norms of transparency, truthfulness, restraint, and respect for professional expertise. When those norms erode, and I am deeply concerned that they are eroding here, attention is diverted away from students and toward internal conflict and damage control.

First, at the direction of one or two board members rather than the full board as norms dictate, district staff are now subject to investigations initiated through attorneys and outside agencies. These actions lack transparency and, regardless of intent, have a chilling effect. They pull time, focus, and financial resources away from serving students.

Second, I continue to have serious concerns about compliance with the Brown Act and open meeting requirements. The volume of information shared among the board majority can no longer reasonably be seen as coincidence. Backroom dealings undermine transparency, which is the foundation of public trust and effective leadership.

Third, at our last meeting, a bylaw revision was proposed that would give the board president sole agenda-setting authority in the event of disagreement with the superintendent. This may seem minor, but it represents a meaningful shift of power away from professional staff and undermines shared governance and trust in our new superintendent. Quiet, technical bylaw changes matter because they shape priorities in ways that may appear innocuous to the public but can give individuals without a vested interest in students, or those driven by personal grievances, undue influence over how we meet student needs.

Fourth, I want to address the amplification of misinformation. False assertions made under the authority, or perceived authority, of this board are not harmless. A school district’s reputation is a public asset. Undermining it affects morale, recruitment, enrollment, partnerships, property values, and ultimately our ability to deliver for students. It costs everyone.

Taken together, these actions reveal a broader pattern. Historian Timothy Snyder reminds us that democratic backsliding rarely begins with dramatic national events. It begins locally, through small technical changes that concentrate power, sideline professional expertise, and normalize extraordinary measures, often justified by appeals to a supposedly great past. Institutions hollow out as norms erode. Appeasement does not work. Leaders have an obligation to recognize these patterns early and defend the institutions that serve the most vulnerable, including our children.

While I am often labeled an obstructionist by the board majority, I am simply heeding this warning. That includes my decision not to serve on a governance committee designed to consolidate power and pursue bylaw changes behind closed doors rather than in public, where these conversations belong.

Governing through nostalgia, with questionable characterizations of the past and misunderstandings of how education law has evolved, does not restore excellence. It destabilizes institutions and affects student outcomes. Accountability matters, but when it is exercised through intimidation, secrecy, and falsehoods, it becomes coercion. That is corrosive and pulls the board away from the student-centered work the community expects.

School boards exist to deliberate openly, tell the truth, follow the law, and protect educators so they can focus on students, not survival.

In closing, I urge the board majority to recommit to lawful process, factual integrity, and institutional restraint. End unauthorized and retaliatory investigations. Correct false public claims. Resist governance changes that concentrate power rather than build trust.

Our authority is borrowed from the public, for the public. Abusing it places the district at serious legal and reputational risk. Defending this district means defending its people, its credibility, its institutions, and the democratic norms that make public education possible.