The Anaheim Elementary School District’s Board of Education this week voted to oust one of its members, saying he couldn’t hold office for two different education boards.

Mark Lopez, who has been a member of the Anaheim Elementary School District’s Board of Education since he was first elected in 2018, was removed from office in a 3-2 vote by his colleagues on March 3.

Lopez won election in November to the North Orange County Community College District’s Board of Trustees and joined that board in December. His colleagues on the Anaheim Elementary school board have since argued he must now resign from their board under state law, which Lopez has contested.

“He chose to remove himself when he took a different position,” Juan Alvarez, president of AESD’s board, said at the meeting Monday to remove Lopez.

Lopez could not be reached for comment. His profile page on the district’s website has since been removed.

While he shared public praise for Lopez’s time on the board, Alvarez said it was the board’s duty to remove Lopez since he held two elected positions with overlapping boundaries. Alvarez emphasized the discussion was “based on the law and not our views on Mark.”

Lopez during Monday’s meeting suggested the school board first should get an opinion from the state attorney general’s office on whether the offices are incompatible to be held at the same time, adding in the end it would really be a judge’s decision.

“The board here cannot make that determination of incompatibility,” said Lopez, who is a high school teacher in Anaheim.

California law allows people to hold more than one elected position. But it does outline that a person can’t hold two public offices if there is a “significant clash of duties or loyalties;” if one holds power over the other; or if “public policy considerations make it improper.”

During public comment, Ryan Bent, a trustee for the North Orange County Community College District, said the AESD board members were “making a huge mistake” in their decision to remove Lopez.

Bent said in his eight years as a trustee, the school district has not had any business before the NOCCCD. He argued the AESD’s trustees were creating a crisis, and needed to slow down and get an opinion first from the attorney general’s office.

“Sometimes there are clear conflicts,” Bent said. “In this case, there is not one.”

Alvarez said allowing Lopez to continue serving would create “potential governance conflicts.”

Alvarez was joined by Trustees Jackie Filbeck and Julie Diep in the vote to remove Lopez. Ryan Ruelas and Lopez were opposed.

While the Anaheim Elementary School District’s boundaries comprise central Anaheim, the North Orange County Community College District covers a far larger area. It encompasses the cities of Anaheim, Fullerton, Los Alamitos, Buena Park, Yorba Linda and more, and also includes small portions of Los Angeles County. It serves approximately three times more students than AESD.

AESD’s board will take applications for Lopez’s replacement and appoint a new board member at a later meeting, officials said.

Related Articles