The Silent Treatment: How Livermore School Board Ignored 180 Emails About Girls’ Sports While Burning Through Your Tax Dollars
After Superintendent Gibson’s 48-hour betrayal, 180 parents demanded action. The board’s response? Radio silence and administrative weakness.
Remember when Superintendent Torie Gibson promised 100 parents a hearing on girls’ sports protection, then broke her word 48 hours later? That betrayal was just the beginning. Now we’ve learned that 180 emails flooded the district demanding action on protecting female athletes and facility privacy, and this spineless board chose complete silence over accountability.
This isn’t just about broken promises anymore. It’s about a school board so terrified of taking a public position on federal law compliance that they’ve abandoned any pretense of representing their constituents. While parents beg for basic protections for their daughters, these politicians burn through taxpayer dollars on consultant contracts and administrative bloat.
The Numbers That Expose Their Contempt
The escalation tells the whole story. When Gibson received 100 petition signatures demanding a vote on Trustee Kaplanis’s Title IX resolution, she promised action, then caved to political pressure within 48 hours. Now 180 emails have poured in from parents demanding protection for girls’ sports and facility privacy, and the board’s response has been deafening silence.
No acknowledgments. No responses. No promises to break this time. Just the cold shoulder from Emily Prusso, Steven Drouin, Christiaan VandenHeuvel, and Craig Bueno—four trustees who apparently believe ignoring constituents is a governing strategy.
These 180 emails represent families watching their daughters lose athletic scholarships to biological males, seeing female records shattered by male athletes, and witnessing girls too scared to use locker rooms where they might encounter biological boys. Their concerns deserve answers, not administrative games.
The Budget Hypocrisy That Exposes Their Priorities
While these politicians hide from 180 constituent emails, they somehow found time to approve a $284,300 contract with CliffordMoss for “communication and pre-campaign consultant services.” Let that sink in—they won’t communicate with parents about their daughters’ safety, but they’ll pay consultants nearly $300,000 to manage their public image.
The fiscal recklessness continues. LVJUSD’s 2025-26 budget shows expenditures of $213,158,587 against revenues of only $207,133,163—a deficit that forces the district to drain reserves down to a pathetic $17,596 for “Board priorities.” Yet they approved Leadership Management Association salary restructuring costing taxpayers an additional $2,425 annually from the General Fund, plus $39,060 from other restricted funds.
Meanwhile, parents like Viridiana Ponce, Josefina Toledo, and Flory Rodriguez pleaded for basic facility repairs at Junction TK-8—wet bathroom floors, broken water fountains, and unsafe conditions that have children slipping and falling. The board’s response? Create more “Director” positions with salary increases while ignoring the safety hazards their own constituents document.
The Fear That Drives Their Silence
Sources within the district reveal the truth behind this shameful silence: The board is “terrified of taking any public position on transgender issues” because they know the community overwhelmingly supports protecting girls’ sports and facilities. Rather than represent their constituents, they’ve chosen to hide behind Gibson’s administrative skirts.
Only Trustee Dr. Deena Kaplanis has shown the courage to lead, authoring a resolution that simply affirms the district’s commitment to follow federal Title IX law. Her colleagues’ response? Weakness so complete they won’t even allow a vote.
The 180 emails demanding action represent parents who understand what this board apparently doesn’t: Female athletes deserve protection under Title IX, girls deserve private facilities, and taxpayers deserve representatives with enough backbone to govern.
The Facility Safety Crisis They’re Ignoring
While the board plays political games with girls’ safety, real facility crises mount. Junction TK-8 parents have documented deplorable conditions—wet floors causing children to slip and fall, broken water fountains, and maintenance failures that create genuine safety hazards.
“The word community reflects Junction well,” said Jenn Valley, PTA President at Junction TK-8. “While the parents are asking for support, they are also willing to step in and help however they can.” Valley’s heartfelt plea came as parents detailed conditions this board apparently considers acceptable for other people’s children.
The contrast is stark: Parents demand safe facilities and protection for girls, while the board approves consultant contracts and salary increases for administrators. Their priorities couldn’t be clearer—political self-preservation over student safety.
The Federal Funding Time Bomb They’re Ignoring
Here’s what these politicians don’t want you to know: Districts that violate Title IX risk losing millions in federal funding. For LVJUSD, that means approximately $2.6 million annually in categorical funding that supports the district’s most vulnerable students.
The Kaplanis resolution simply affirmed compliance with existing federal law. No controversial policy changes. No legal risk. Just a public commitment to follow Title IX as written and protect female athletes’ rights.
Yet this board treated basic federal compliance like political kryptonite, choosing silence over the rule of law. Their weakness puts the entire district’s federal funding at risk while parents beg for basic protections.
How to Fight Back Against This Administrative Weakness
The 180 emails were just the beginning. Here’s how to make these politicians respond:
- Flood every board meeting with speakers demanding answers about the ignored emails. Force them to explain their silence in public.
- Demand roll call votes on every agenda item. Make Prusso, Drouin, VandenHeuvel, and Bueno go on record so they can’t hide behind unanimous votes.
- File Public Records Act requests for all communications between board members about the 180 emails. Expose their private discussions about ignoring constituents.
- Organize recall campaigns against trustees who refuse to represent their constituents. Their weakness has consequences.
- Support Trustee Kaplanis who had the courage to author the Title IX resolution while her colleagues hid.
- Connect with national organizations like Alliance Defending Freedom for legal support on Title IX compliance.
- Document every incident where girls lose opportunities or feel unsafe due to current policies.
- Run conservative candidates who will actually protect female athletes and taxpayer interests.
The November 2026 Reckoning
Gibson’s 48-hour betrayal was just the appetizer. The board’s silence on 180 constituent emails is the main course of their contempt for taxpayers. But the real feast of accountability comes in November 2026, when voters can finally clean house.
Trustee Kaplanis represents the leadership Livermore desperately needs—courage to lead, commitment to federal law compliance, and respect for constituent concerns. Her colleagues represent everything wrong with modern governance—weakness, political calculation, and administrative games.
The choice couldn’t be clearer: Leadership that protects girls and respects taxpayers, or continued weakness that ignores both.
Your daughters deserve protection. Your emails deserve responses. Your votes can deliver both.
Tom Wong is an independent investigative reporter and conservative watchdog focused on government accountability and taxpayer protection. He has covered municipal finance and education policy for over a decade, exposing waste and demanding transparency from public officials. Candidate for Hayward Mayor in 2026.
Sources: The 48-Hour Betrayal, 25-05.20 LVUSD Regular Board Meeting Minutes, 25-06.17 LVUSD Regular Board Meeting
