In case you couldn’t tell from the title, this piece is unexpected GOOD news from the Placentia Yorba Linda School Board, where the extremists led by the notorious Leandra Blades lost their majority in last month’s election, but are still trying to perpetuate as much damage as they can during their lame-duck period. This is a guest post from someone at “PYLUSD For Truth.” – Vern.

In a meeting that never should have taken place, in a vote no one expected, Leandra Blades, PYLUSD’s resident harpy and culture warrior, took a well-deserved and public loss as she saw one of her top priorities go up in flames at the hands of her long-time board ally Shawn Youngblood.

To understand the results of this Tuesday’s additional board meeting, we have to go back to the last regularly scheduled board meeting, on November 19.

As a result of November’s election, Leandra knew that her time in the majority was coming to and end. Despite her winning re-election, the re-election of true conservative Marilyn Anderson (pro-fiscal responsibility and transparency) as well as the victory of Tricia Quintero over culture warrior Ryan Miller to replace the outgoing Shawn Youngblood (who is planning to spend more time with family in Texas) means that she and Todd Frazier will be outnumbered any minute.

So like any seasoned January 6th attendee, Leandra (in league with smarmy superintendent Dr. Alex Cherniss) adopted the position of screech loud, move fast, and break as many things as possible before the new majority—and real accountability—takes over.

During the Nov. 19 board meeting, the current majority (under Blades’ leadership as president) voted to make the Superintendent Cherniss and his executive board virtually unaccountable to the new majority by amending their contracts so they require a supermajority (4 out 5) vote by the board to dismiss them. The new amendments also stipulated if one board member were absent during such a vote, then they would need to have at least an 80% vote in favor of dismissals. So, even though three of four people could vote for their dismissal, that would constitute only 75%, still making impossible to dismiss them. This move comes from the same people who often screech about rigging voting (only when they lose, of course).

In addition to these amendments, Blades, Frazier, and Youngblood voted to add two additional board meetings before the new majority takes over on December 17. The first was scheduled for December 3; the second for this past Tuesday, December 10th.

The goal of these meetings was to ram through a revision to the current district charter governing the Orange County School of Computer Science (OCSCS) as well as pull in the Cherniss’ and Blades’ crowning achievement (in fiscal irresponsibility and conflicts of interest), the Universal Sports Institute (USI), a glorified, overpriced, and possibly illegally-awarded boondoggle that was supposed to draw in hundreds of students, but currently has “approximately”100. This revision would turn over OCSCS to an independent governing board and fold USI into OCSCS, leaving both outside the oversight of the PYLUSD school board. The move to include USI is particularly suspicious because it’s not a school, but a program offered though Parkview, the district’s independent study school. (Here’s a video we made just before the Dec. 10 meeting explaining all this, and not expecting Youngblood’s defection.)

While Blades’ & Cherniss’ purported reason for making this revision was that it would be “better for the students” (everything they wanna do they shamelessly claim is “best for the students”), the more likely reason is that it would make it virtually impossible for the new board majority to examine the finances of these two entities. This move is about keeping financial bodies buried.

The OCSCS / USI / Treigning Lab Clusterf**k

PYLUSD has already shelled out millions of dollars to turn Bernardo Yorba Middle School into OCSCS and to create the USI program, but USI reeks most strongly of financial mismanagement and conflict of interest. The program was first touted earlier this year as a way to draw students from other districts as well as retain students within the district from going elsewhere to pursue sports. Cherniss and the majority rammed it through without doing due diligence. They consulted with The Treigning Lab, a local business that focuses on training wrestlers and clearly had a relationship with the superintendent’s family. There are photos on the Treigning Lab’s social media account featuring Cherniss’ son (he’s a state wrestling champion), and there were photos from the son’s managed Instagram account acknowledging having trained there as well as him photographed in the facility (until it was locked after we publicized this fact.) Cherniss has denied any relationship, or that that he’s ever paid the Treigning Lab, but the evidence clearly shows a relationship, including his son possibly receiving free training sessions, which makes the situation even shadier.

Speaking of shady, not only did Treigning Lab consult on the USI project, but they also were the only bidders on this multi-million-dollar proposal, and awarded the contract by the current majority. At the time the contract was awarded, Treigning Lab was both out out compliance with the Franchise Tax Board, and and did not have a business license to operate in the city of Placentia. Despite citizens bringing up these concerns at board meetings, Blades, Frazier, and Youngblood dismissed these concerns and rammed it through anyway. In addition, according to the contract between the district and Treigning Lab, the district was supposed to be invoiced for equipment and services before paying them. Instead, the majority voted to pay Treigning Lab $1.2 million in a lump sum with no accompanying invoices. The fact that Frazier’s day job is CPA makes his votes even more galling.

In their haste to get this program up and running, Cherniss, Blades, and Frazier also lied about needing approval for construction for this project form the Department of School Architects (DSA), which was discovered through a public records request. They willingly ignored safety regulations (including fire suppression systems and retrofitting) in order to house tis project in a building at 4999 Casa Loma in Yorba Linda where they had already illegally started construction, which had to be halted. The proposed building now sits empty and unused. They then decided to house USI at OCSCS, where they’ve also spent millions on construction, equipment, and some dubious technology, in a last-minute move to make sure they had USI up and running as they promised. All of these moves were the direct result of poor planning, not following the law, and prioritizing egos. Unsurprisingly, it cost the district more money, and will likely continue to do so.

There’s plenty of smoke to indicate that there was financial mismanagement and possibly illegal activity going on surrounding OCSCS and USI. Cherniss and the majority (especially Blades and Frazier) have been singing from the mountaintops how these programs have created soaring enrollment (also a lie), and now they want to give them away? This would mean the millions the district have spent on equipment would be handed over to the independent board, and that over 800 students combined between OCSCS and USI would no longer be enrolled in PYLUSD. A move amounting to a loss of ADA revenue approaching nearly $10 million. These people are not looking out for the district, but for themselves.

Showdown on December 10!

Which takes us back to these added board meetings. The December 3 meeting was canceled (Why? Who knows?), so this past Tuesday’s meeting set up a showdown vote to hand OCSCS and USI to be handed over to the independent board. Again, the public showed up to argue against this move. Of the 11 people who spoke about the charter revision, nine were opposed, one was neutral, and one was in favor.

Members of the public pointed out violations of Education Code, including the fact the Lying Leandra was conflicted as her son works at OCSCS. After the public comments, minority members Carrie Buck and Marilyn Anderson argued for a delay because they’d spoken to attorneys at the California School Board Association (CSBA) conference, and indicating that the board was not following the law, despite protestations from Blades, Cherniss, and Frazier. Buck made a motion to delay the vote on revising the charter until January to allow for the legally required public review time. The revision was published December 3, which means they could not vote until December 18, also after the new majority would be seated. The meeting became more contentious, with Cherniss chiming in, the board “may choose to vote on this tonight as it’s agendized, and if it we will send it to counsel. And if it’s deemed not legal, then, then they will notify us, but counsel did prepare the MOU and did not advise us that it would be illegal to take the vote tonight.”

Yes, you heard right, Supervisor Cherniss was willing to engage in potentially illegal activity, and maybe click “undo” later, knowing full well it would probably be tied up in litigation, which would also waste more taxpayer dollars in order to cover his ass.

Blades, who’s never met a lie she wouldn’t tell and is not particularly bright, went so far as to claim that the district counsel cleared the way for the vote. Cherniss quickly corrected her, clarifying that “our counsel prepared the MOU and did not advise us that. Our counsel prepared the MOU and did not advise us that this would not be appropriately posted.” Cherniss should not be entrusted with a lemonade stand let alone a school district, but he’s just smart enough to know Leandra’s false claim could unleash a whole other set of legal woes.

Blades and Frazier, realizing they done screwed up, then tried to blame Buck and Anderson for not contacting the district’s counsel about this issue. This is particularly rich since Anderson and Buck received the information at the same time as the public—last Friday. They were given no advance warning. More importantly, this item was brought by Cherniss and Blades, who sets the agenda as president.

The attorney they cite was also brought in by these two lying liars, and his “opinions” are always shared by either of them in meetings in a game of telephone where everyone is full of shit. These clowns know not to bring him to an actual meeting because their bullshit would fall apart instantly.

During this rather heated exchange, in which Blades was becoming visibly more rattled, Youngblood remained mostly a spectator while the other four members and Cherniss exchanged volleys. After nearly 20 minutes of back and forth and some technical difficulties, Blades called for a vote on Buck’s motion, explicitly spelling out it meant the charter revision would be postponed until January’s board meeting. As she made her way around the dais, Buck and Anderson voted aye, as expected. Then she turned to Youngblood, who has always been a reliable rubber stamp for Blades and Frazier.

But everything came falling down, when Youngblood joined the minority in voting “Aye.”

Blades was visibly shocked and asked Youngblood, “Are you sure how you’re voting?” and he reaffirmed his vote. The gallery cheered, and he even felt compelled to explain his vote, stating he wanted to make sure all of this was done right.

But the rubble was still smoking. Blades had finally had her comeuppance, at the hands of someone who has been an ally since they were both elected in 2020. That, “Et tu, Shawn?” had to make this defeat all the more bitter, and our schadenfreude that much more delicious. I have personally watched her reaction multiple times and still continue to laugh out loud every time.

While we were happy that Youngblood voted the way he did, he was most likely motivated by a bit of self-interest as well. He knew if they moved ahead in this manner, there would likely be litigation. For someone who is packing up to get the hell out of Dodge, he most likely just wanted to be done with all this and avoid the time and expense of having to trudge though the lawsuits that would have sprung up with voting for the charter revision. You know, even a broken clock…

Tomorrow Leandra will be relegated to the minority and she, Cherniss, and Frazier might face some consequences for the first time in, well, ever. Off course, we don’t expect her to remain quiet. She will most likely dial her ignorant wailing up to 11, while Todd tries his extra-special-boy best to fall in line with her. The conflict grinds on, but we’re willing to take the time to enjoy this sweet victory.

“I did the right thing finally! Happy trails, now!”

UPDATE 12-17

We had to celebrate this in the best way we know – by making another video!