Watch first
Board meeting footage
Posted to Instagram · Reel
Montes addressing the Redlands Unified board in open session. Full transcripts and the district's own recordings of the same meetings are further down this page.
Public RecordRedlands Unified School DistrictUpdated August 2026
Maria Montes,
in her own words.
Maria Montes is running for the Redlands Unified school board. The public record — her own words on camera and in emails to district staff — documents a years-long campaign against LGBTQ students and staff, and a direct role in the challenge and removal of "Gender Queer" from a school library. Everything below comes from primary sources: filed campaign disclosures, official board-meeting recordings, and emails released under the California Public Records Act. Nothing is paraphrased. Read the documents and decide for yourself.
Start with the video. Then see who is paying for this campaign, watch the rest of the footage, read every word she has said at the podium, and search the emails she sent to district staff.
01
Who's funding her
The money and the network behind the campaign.
02
On camera
What she says in public, on the record.
03
The meeting record
Verbatim, from the transcripts.
04
Emails to staff
The book ban and the anti-LGBTQ record.
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$10,000
from a single donor, Dale Broome
1 book
pulled from every district library after her complaint
13
emails to district staff, released under the CPRA
4
board meetings where she appears in the record
The short version
Four lines from the record. Every one of them is documented below.
“The complaint you submitted regarding the book Gender Queer has been reviewed and resolved. The book has been removed from all district libraries.”
RUSD administrator to Maria Montes
Email · January 29, 2026
Read the emails →
“My son is going to have a Bible and a rosary in front of his desk every single day for this teacher to see, to feel how uncomfortable it is to see a gay flag in the classroom.”
Maria Montes, at the podium
Board meeting · October 11, 2022
Read the transcript →
“Once you bring in another flag to represent this flag, you are dividing us. We don't care what your sexual orientation is, what you believe.”
Maria Montes, at the podium
Board meeting · October 10, 2023
Watch the clip →
“Our children do not belong to the government, nor the union rats, because that's what they are. These unions are a bunch of rats.”
Maria Montes, at the podium
Board meeting · September 12, 2023
Read the transcript →
1Campaign finance
Who is funding this campaign
A school board seat is decided locally, but the money behind it often isn't. Disclosures filed with San Bernardino County and posted publicly on NetFile. Each entry links to the original document so you can read the whole thing, not just the excerpt.
Montes 4 School Board 2026 — semi-annual disclosure
$10,000 — Dale BroomeFPPC Form 460 (Original) · Covers 1/1/2026 to 6/30/2026 · Filed 7/14/2026
Filing ID 216981396, filed with San Bernardino County. The disclosure reports $10,000 from Dale Broome — the single largest share of what this campaign has raised. Open the filing and read Schedule A (monetary contributions received) to see it for yourself.
The people behind the money
Each connection below is a specific, documented fact with the record attached — no labels, no inference.
Dale Broome
Campaign contributor · school-voucher funder
Contributed $10,000 to Montes 4 School Board 2026 — the largest single share of the money behind this candidacy.
Dr. Dale Broome is a Redlands radiologist and himself a candidate for the Redlands USD board (Area 1). By his own published biography he is a CAGOP delegate, an active member of the Redlands Tea Party Patriots and San Bernardino County Patriots, and was "a major donor for the Educational Freedom Act of 2022," the school-voucher ballot initiative sponsored by Californians for School Choice — a measure that would have redirected public-school funding into private-school savings accounts. He is also a volunteer reviewer for Truth in Textbooks, a group that campaigns to change classroom materials, and has circulated signatures for conservative ballot initiatives for two decades. His own campaign platform runs on "parental rights," opposition to what he calls "social and political agendas in the classrooms," and "protecting girls' sports and private spaces." His published endorsement list includes the San Bernardino County GOP, the California Republican Assembly, Reform California, the Inland Empire Family PAC, sitting RUSD trustees Candy Olson and Jeannette Wilson, and Sonja Shaw — the Chino Valley board president behind that district's parental-notification policy, now a candidate for State Superintendent. Awaken Redlands' voter guide recommends him for Area 1 on the same page it recommends Montes for Area 2.
Gregory (Greg) Brittain
Campaign contributor · Redlands Tea Party Patriots
Contributed to Montes 4 School Board 2026 as reported on the campaign's FPPC Form 460.
Gregory W. Brittain is a Redlands attorney and a cabinet member of the Redlands Tea Party Patriots, the local chapter of the national Tea Party Patriots network. He speaks publicly for the group and appeared on Tea Party Patriots co-founder Jenny Beth Martin's podcast to discuss, in the episode's own description, "school board battles," "exposing radical legislation in California," and the national "Only Citizens Voting" push. He has been a fixture of Redlands Tea Party programming for over a decade, including recorded chapter meetings going back to 2013. This is the organized political infrastructure funding a school-board candidacy — the same network Dale Broome belongs to.
The group backing both candidates
Quoted verbatim from the organization's own website. Nothing below is characterization — it is what they publish about themselves.
Awaken Redlands
Local advocacy group · publishes a Redlands voter guide
Awaken Redlands' own published voter guide — "Local Candidates with Traditional Values" — recommends Maria Montes for Redlands School Board Area 2 and Dr. Dale Broome for Area 1.
We are a non-partisan group of parents and community members focused on preserving traditional values in our city and schools.
WE STAND AGAINST — Equity of outcomes · Promotion of gender fluidity to minors · Racially charged education · Hypersexualized content in curriculum · Classroom push of political agendas
Come voice your concerns regarding bullying, sexual misconduct, age-inappropriate books in our school libraries or any other topics of concern.
Every quote above is taken word-for-word from the group's own website: its mission statement, its "We stand against" list, and the standing text on the RUSD board-meeting events it organizes turnout for. The book-removal campaign Montes pursued by email is the same campaign this group calls its members to board meetings to support — and the group's guide recommends her and her largest donor on the same page.
2On camera
From the board meetings
Recorded in open session. Clips are linked to the full, unedited recording — watch the surrounding context yourself.
AVID, classroom flags, and pronouns
RUSD Board of Education, regular meeting · October 11, 2022 · @ 0:29:55
Her first recorded public comment. Clip taken from the district's official streaming archive — watch it here, or open the full meeting recording at the timestamp.
Parental notification, "union rats," and Rob Bonta
RUSD Board of Education, regular meeting · September 12, 2023 · @ 0:59:28
Addressing a trustee directly over a parental-notification agenda request. The board president warns the room immediately afterward.
The flag item
RUSD Board of Education, regular meeting · October 10, 2023 · @ 1:09:41
The final public speaker on a flag-display item, holding up an American flag while speaking.
3Meeting transcripts
At the podium, word for word
Redlands Unified board meetings are recorded and transcribed. Every quote below is reproduced verbatim from the official recording, with the timestamp and a link that drops you into the exact moment so you can hear it yourself.
October 11, 2022
@ 0:29:55Board of Education — regular meeting
Speaking during public participation. The board president introduces her; she then addresses AVID programming, classroom flags, and pronouns, and closes by endorsing a board candidate.
I'm here to bring up and discuss the regarding concerns us parents have here at the Rowland School District. One will be the disgusting involvement that AVID at REV has with all this drag queen that they're promoting where I'm to the point where I'm going to remove my daughter off of AVID if this is what you guys are promoting. I mean, you might otherwise tell them go to a strip bar because flag money to these little kids in their faces. [...] I'm still disappointed to hear that there are still gay flags in classrooms, especially at Cope. I had an incident with my son where the principal, Ms. Locke, said there is, quote, no policy whether or not they can have one. I said, well, you know what, then my son is going to have a Bible and a rosary in front of his desk every single day for this teacher to see, to feel how uncomfortable it is to see a gay flag in the classroom. It's like you guys are ripping out our morals that we teach our kids here. [...] another thing I don't agree is the first day of school, why are they asking a teacher, asking my son, do you have pronouns? What are your pronouns? How is that acceptable? My son asking me, mom, what is a pronoun? These minds, this little mind of my son, You guys are corrupting it. [...] And then please vote for Erin.
September 12, 2023
@ 0:59:28Board of Education — regular meeting
Addressing a trustee directly over a parental-notification agenda request, one speaker ahead of Dale Broome on the same item. The board president interrupts immediately afterward to warn the room he will clear it if the disruption continues.
Good evening, members. Melissa, I'm here to reply to your ridiculous response to your email regarding the request to place parents' notification on the agenda. You cited education code 35160. However, you forgot to cite what is a pre-dempt by any law. [...] We're not stupid. We can read labor codes. We can read cited laws. [...] Furthermore, Attorney General Rob Bonta will lose his case against Chino Valley. [...] Unless parents are legally deemed unfit, the safety of the school district have no authority to lie, because that's what you guys are doing, lying to us parents. [...] Our children do not belong to the government, nor the union rats, because that's what they are. These unions are a bunch of rats. They belong to the parents. [...] The Latinos are awakening. I'm representing the Latinos here in this district.
October 10, 2023
@ 1:09:41Board of Education — regular meeting
The final public speaker on a flag-display item. She holds up an American flag while speaking.
Good afternoon. My name is Maria. Does this flag offend anybody? It represents me. [...] This flag represents everybody. This is accepted, but once you bring in another flag to represent this flag, you are dividing us. We don't care what your sexual orientation is, what you believe. That's your personal opinion. [...] If you open, if you guys are open to keep the other flags, other people, and I'm hoping parents who are against this, make sure you bring your Trump flag, make sure you bring your Mexican flag, because you know what? My parents are proud to be Americans, and this is the only flag they have in their home, because it represents everybody.
Every appearance in the archive
The complete set of Redlands USD board meetings, since April 2022, in which she appears in the transcript or the official minutes.
- Full meeting →October 11, 2022Spoke during public participation.
- Full meeting →October 25, 2022Called to the podium; did not come forward.
- Full meeting →September 12, 2023Spoke during public participation.
- Full meeting →October 10, 2023Spoke during public participation.
4Public records act
The emails to RUSD staff
Released under the California Public Records Act and reproduced verbatim. These emails document the book challenge that pulled "Gender Queer" from a school library and a years-long push against LGBTQ-inclusive policy. Search the full text of every released email; nothing is paraphrased and omissions are marked with brackets.
Prefer the raw release? Download the full redacted PDF (39 pages) — every record below is quoted from it.
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