The Bellflower Unified school board voted to censure Trustee Amie Stewart following accusations that she shoved Board President Mayra Garza during a recess at an October 8 meeting, a confrontation that Stewart and her attorney dispute. Garza says the alleged shove sent her into a chair and injured her elbow, while a sheriff's report tied to the incident has surfaced without establishing what actually happened in the room.
Garza described the confrontation as occurring during a break in the October 8 meeting, saying, “Ms. Stewart used physical force to push me,” according to Los Cerritos Community News. Garza has characterized the alleged shove as unexpected and wrong, and said, “No disagreement is ever a reason to put hands on another person or to demean them,” per CBS News Los Angeles. Stewart and her attorney have denied the allegations that she pushed Garza, with Stewart saying she unequivocally denied any unlawful physical misconduct and disputing the proposed censure resolution, the station reported.
Dispute Traced to Contract Fight
According to the district's staff report, the October 8 dispute began during an open-session discussion about potentially denying a contract for an interim chief business officer, the Los Cerritos Community News account notes. The district has identified only Garza, Board Vice President Brad Crihfield and Stewart as being in the room where the alleged confrontation took place. The public meeting video captured the discussion that preceded the recess, but the same report states there were no video or audio recording devices in the room where the confrontation is said to have occurred, leaving no independent record of what unfolded.
A sheriff's report connected to the incident, numbered 26-16982-13, has been identified, the site reported. The outlet cautioned that the existence of that report does not establish the allegations themselves, and it had not confirmed whether criminal charges had been filed. CBS News Los Angeles likewise reported it could not confirm whether criminal charges had been filed in connection with the incident, and said it was unclear whether video of the alleged confrontation exists.
Attorney Pushes Back Before the Vote
Stewart's attorney, Marc D. Wasserman, challenged how the district's proposed resolution framed the episode, saying, “Ms. Stewart disputes the accuracy of those characterizations,” according to the same Los Cerritos Community News report. Proposed Resolution No. 26-1022 sought to formally censure Stewart for conduct the district described as unprofessional, abusive and physically aggressive. District General Counsel Andrew Sarega said the board could consider censure without an independent third-party investigation or a trial-type administrative hearing, the outlet reported.
Accounts differ on how the matter concluded. Los Cerritos Community News reported that the resolution remained scheduled for consideration at the board's October 22 meeting, with no completed vote totals or signatures in the documents it reviewed. CBS News Los Angeles, however, reported that the Bellflower Unified school board cast three votes for and two against censure, formally sanctioning Stewart. CBS described censure as a formal reprimand that does not remove Stewart from office.
Board Tensions Predate the Incident
Crihfield, the board vice president, told CBS News Los Angeles that tensions on the board predated the alleged incident. He said previous team-building retreats had been unsuccessful, and that some board members had stormed out of earlier sessions. Stewart herself said there is no mutual respect on the board, a comment she made around the time of the October 8 meeting, per the station's report.
California's Education Code, as reflected in bill text for AB-1352 on California Legislative Information, allows a governing board of a school district to censure a member or remove a member from office if that member engages in specified conduct under the statute. The legislative text does not address how that authority applies to the Bellflower dispute, and the broader fallout from the censure action — including any further board action or the status of the sheriff's inquiry — remains to be seen.
