State Senator Backs Parents vs. COVID-19 Mandates at Packed School Board Meeting

California Sen. Melissa Melendez (R-Lake Elsinore) (R), pictured right before the Murrieta Valley Unified School District Board of Education meeting in Murrieta, Calif., on Feb. 10, 2022. She told the school boardmembers that there would be consequences if they did not finally take a stand against California Gov. Newsom’s COVID-19 mandates for school children. Courtesy of Tim Thompson

MURRIETA, Calif.—California state Sen. Melissa Melendez (R-Lake Elsinore) showed up to a packed school board meeting in Murrieta, California, a city of about 110,000 people in southwestern Riverside County, on Feb. 10 to back more than 150 parents, students, and community leaders fighting mask and vaccine mandates.

Melendez denounced the Murrieta Valley Unified School District Board of Education for not taking a stand against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s edicts and warned that if they didn’t, there would be consequences.