JimmieJoe / KC6YRU

Have you been following the saga? No, not that one, this one. You know, the one where ten Redwood High School students, after the Senior class picture, rearranged some lettered T-shirts to spell out “2FAG6OTS”? Yeah, that one. Here’s some more, about one of the School Board Trustees who said it was nothing more than a “student mistake”. It wasn’t Visalia Unified School District’s first rodeo, however.

The District quickly let us know they’d conducted an investigation, and put out this notice on February 13, 2026 – (the incident happened the day before, February 12)

That seemed rather quick, didn’t it? Yeah, I thought so, too. Then a few days later, this appeared:

“…please know that as we continue our investigation…”

Wait – you said on the 13th “…following a thorough investigation…”

I have questions. I addressed them in the format of a public records request.

To: Custodian of Records / Public Information Officer

Visalia Unified School District

5000 W. Cypress Ave. | Visalia, CA 93277

Date: 4/17/2026

RE: CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RECORDS ACT REQUEST – SLUR INCIDENT INVESTIGATION AND COMMUNICATIONS

To the Custodian of Records:

Under the California Public Records Act (Gov. Code § 7920.000 et seq.), I am requesting the following public records held by the Visalia Unified School District (VUSD):

Investigation Results (Feb 13): All reports, final results, and documentation regarding the “thorough investigation” referred to in the VUSD Facebook “Community Alert” posted on February 13, 2026.

Investigation Results (Feb 17): All reports, preliminary or final results, and documentation regarding the investigation into the “anti-gay slur” incident referred to in the VUSD Facebook announcement posted on February 17, 2026.

Staff Communications: Any and all emails, text messages (on district-issued or personal devices used for district business), or internal memoranda related to the senior class picture incident and subsequent investigations. This request specifically targets communications from:

VUSD staff assigned to the senior class picture event where the photo was taken.

The Principal and Vice-Principal of Redwood High School.

Named District Officials/Staff: Kirk Shrum, Andrew Di Meo, Monica Andrew, Dennis Dyck, Cristina Gutierrez, Jordan Markham, and Lesha Weatherford.

Named Board Members/Personnel: Todd Oto, Walta Gamoian, Paul Belt, Kenneth Dejonge, Jacqueline Gaebe, Joy Naylor, and Randy Villegas.

Redactions and Privacy: I recognize that certain information, such as specific student names or protected personnel records, may be exempt from disclosure under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) or California law. Pursuant to Gov. Code § 7922.525, please provide all reasonably segregable portions of these records. I accept legally required redactions (such as the masking of student names) so that the remaining public portions of the investigative findings and staff communications may be disclosed.

Request for Digital Format: Please provide these records in electronic format. If the District maintains these records in a searchable digital format (such as PDF), I request them in that native form.

Timeline: I look forward to your response within ten (10) days, as required by statute, indicating whether this request seeks disclosable public records and the date on which the records will be made available.

Thank you for your assistance in this matter.

Sincerely,

Jim J. Reeves

Visalia, CA

I received this response at the ten-day deadline required by state law:

On May 18th, I got this response:

So we wait some more. I’ve had several people contact me through social media, commenting on my Facebook posts about this request. Basically, they’re saying, “good luck! I’ve had very little success with records requests with other school districts or governmental bodies!”

We’ll see what happens, but be assured that I’ll not stop my digging until I get everything legally available to me. And lest anyone think, and they have been thinking this and yelling at me about it, I’m not looking for information on the students or their individual punishments. That part doesn’t interest me at all. This is all about the Visalia Unified School District and it’s perpetuating of an environment of homophobia, and allowing a school culture that led these students to think this was something that was “funny”, a “prank”, or a “mistake”.

I earlier in this post said this wasn’t VUSD’s first rodeo when it comes to homophobia in their schools. Apparently their first rodeo didn’t teach them to keep a halter on their herd.