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In a setback for a group of Ladera residents attempting to stop Woodland School’s current lease of some Los Lomitas Elementary School District property, a federal judge dismissed their lawsuit on Aug. 6, citing lack of federal jurisdiction and merit of the first and fourteenth amendments claims.
Judge William Orrick determined during a hearing on Wednesday, July 10, that the lawsuit could not proceed in federal court, and released the order on Aug. 6.
The central reason for the dismissal was the 11th Amendment. The 11th Amendment prevents state agencies and “arms of the state” from being sued in federal court, granting jurisdiction to state courts instead.
Ladera Taxpayers for Integrity in Governance, represented by Ladera resident Susanna Chenette, argued that a Ninth Circuit case, Sato v. Orange County Department of Education, determined that minimum expenditure districts like LLESD are not protected by the 11th Amendment.
Orrick disagreed, writing: “The court held that OCDE was still an arm of the state despite the change in its funding structure.”
“The judge wants this case in state court, not federal. Clearly, he decided in April that this was a local land use issue he did not want on his docket,” Chenette said. “I’m sad to see the school fight this on jurisdictional grounds instead of the merits, which are strong. All this will do is force the expenditure of additional time and resources to get to the merits here. ”
Chennete alleged that the district violated the First Amendment by restricting the public’s access to the field, which would be a public form, but allowing Woodland to exercise free speech there.
The district “unlawfully and impermissibly restrict viewpoints and content,” Chenetee argued.
In response to a Public Records Act request sent by this news organization, the district provided an email sent by Woodland Head of School Jennifer Warren in 2023 to then-Interim Las Lomitas Superintendent Shannon Potts that stated, “We also can’t have [members of the community] engaging with prospective families in negative ways (signs, picketing, etc) as they mentioned at the board meetings.”
Chennete also claimed that the district violated the Fourteenth Amendment by allowing West Menlo Park residents to use Philips Brooks School’s field after school hours while denying Ladera residents access to Woodland School’s field and allowing speech on the West Menlo Park field but not the Woodland field.
The judge dismissed both claims. He stated that he “didn’t see” a valid First Amendment claim and declared the Fourteenth Amendment claim “just isn’t viable.”
Orrick said, “The bottom line is that I just don’t have jurisdiction.”
Orrick concluded that the defendants were immune to federal claims.
He said, “I do think [Ladera residents] may have a viable case in a state court and I wish both of you (residents and the school) good luck.”
On the future of the lawsuit, Chennete told this news organization: “Will we refile in state court? Probably. Woodland is still taking public property without paying for it. Woodland is still excluding the public. Woodland is even trying to cut-off public easements. These public recreation areas and easements are public space, paid for by public dollars.”
“The school opted to side with Woodland over its constituents. Woodland pursued an aggressive, and effective, PR campaign, painting the public as unreasonable ‘bad guys’ for seeking access to its public recreation spaces, and painting itself as a victim who sought only to protect the safety of its students. This couldn’t be further from the truth,” she added.
This news organization obtained correspondents between Warren and Potts regarding coordinating communication between the district and Woodland. In them, Warren requested more coordination and became frustrated when Potts did not follow through. Waren wrote, “It’s disappointing that, once again, the district has sent out communication… without giving the school a heads up.”
“This doesn’t feel like a partnership,” Warren added.
After that email, board president Jason Morimoto told Warren he asked Potts to schedule a meeting between the two.
This news organizations sent both Woodland School and the Los Lomitas district the emails and asked for clarification on what happened on the call. Both did not comment.
“In sum, I’d encourage anyone facing a school closure to fight it with everything you have. Once it’s closed, all it takes is an uninformed school board and a greedy business to close your public park forever,” Chennete concluded.
