The principal of Junipero Serra High School and the San Diego Unified School District Board of Trustees violated citizens' rights when they voted to rename the school without giving the public sufficient notice of their intent to do so. A letter to the school district and its board members from Thomas More Society Special Counsel details the substantial violation of a central provision of the Brown Act: one which may jeopardize the finality of the action taken by the school district and open the district to a lawsuit at taxpayers’ expense. A press conference was held by a group of citizens self-identifying as “Preserve Serra High” prior to a scheduled school board meeting on July 13, 2021.

The attorney letter advises that, in the event that the San Diego Unified School District does not remedy this problem at the next board meeting, a lawsuit will be filed on July 14. The filing will be on behalf of a group of concerned citizens of the community, asserting claims that are currently ripe for adjudication, including claims under the California and Federal Constitutions’ Due Process and Establishment Clauses.

What began as a student effort to change the school’s mascot from the Conquistadors to the Rattlers, apparently inspired Junipero Serra High School Principal Erica Renfree to change the school’s name to “Canyon Hills High School/Mat Kwatup KunKun.” Renfree justified her move by referencing the anti-Catholic and criminal destruction of statues of Father Junipero Serra, who is the Catholic saint known as the “Apostle of California,” during 2020 protests.

Polls taken by Renfree showed that the majority of students and alumni wanted to keep the name as Junipero Serra High School or shorten it to Serra High School. In spite of that fact, memos circulated to the San Diego Unified School District, its Board of Trustees, and a “naming” committee, falsely claimed that the majority polled favored the Canyon Hills name.

“Renfree’s actions have pandered to a false and historically inaccurate narrative and have demonstrated an unconstitutional animus towards this Catholic saint,” explained Paul Jonna, partner at LiMandri & Jonna LLP and Thomas More Society Special Counsel. “However, the key legal issues here are the blatant violations of the Brown Act, which requires public notice of a vote to be taken, as well as violations of the California and Federal Due Process and Establishment Clauses.”

The action to change the high school name was not in compliance with the Brown Act because:

• There was no adequate notice to the public on the posted agenda for the meeting that the matter acted upon would be discussed.
• The meeting agenda for that date indicates that the Board of Trustees would consider a “Recommendation” to change the school’s name, mascot, and colors.
• The renaming matter does not appear on the face of the board agenda.

The Brown Act creates specific agenda obligations for public bodies to notify their public constituency with a “brief description” of each item to be discussed or acted upon, and also creates a legal remedy for illegally taken actions – namely, the judicial invalidation of them upon proper findings of fact and conclusions of law.

“The San Diego Unified School District has a chance to correct this problem,” said Jonna. “If they don’t, we will file our lawsuit.”

Attorney Charles LiMandri, partner at LiMandri & Jonna LLP and Thomas More Society Special Counsel, added: “This is another example of the ‘cancel culture’ mentality that radical leftist people in education are trying to force on an unwilling American public. Father Serra was a great defender of the indigenous people of California and he deserves our best efforts to defend his legacy.”

Read the letter sent July 12, 2021, to the San Diego Unified School District Board of Trustees from Thomas More Society Special Counsel Paul Jonna, partner at LiMandri & Jonna LLP, addressing the violation of the Brown Act in the renaming of Junipero Serra High School here.