Maria Montes
Public Records
District emails and public-comment videos involving Maria Montes - candidate for the Redlands Unified school board, Trustee District 2, 2026 - re-redacted so that the student, private family members, and all staff contact details stay out.
Exhibit 28 · District video recordings
Maria Montes' public comments
September 12 and October 10, 2023 · Redlands Unified Board of Education. Excerpts are from automated transcripts; the district videos are the authoritative record.
- Meeting:
- Board of Education - Sept. 12, 2023
- Item:
- Public comment: parental notification policy
- Starts at:
- 0:59:28
“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. … We're not stupid. We can read labor codes. We can read cited laws.”
“… Don't try to interpret Title IX to require affirmation of a child's asserted gender identity. … 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 are they union rats, because that's what they are. These union are a bunch of rats. They belong to the parents. With that, I request for the parental notification to be placed to the next agenda. The Latinos are awakening. I'm representing the Latinos here in this district. …”
[Excerpt from automated transcript; check against the video]
- Meeting:
- Board of Education - Oct. 10, 2023
- Item:
- Public comment: Pride flag
- Starts at:
- 1:09:41
“Good afternoon, my name is Maria. Does this flag offend anybody? It represents me, it represents my family who came from the rancho from Jalisco, Mexico. … 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.”
“… It's freedom of speech because of the American flag. Not because of the LGB flag, because the American flag. If you guys are open to keep the other flags, … make sure you bring your Trump flag. Make sure you bring your Mexican flag. … I'm still waiting for your secretary to contact me. Thank you.”
[Excerpt from automated transcript; check against the video]
- Meeting:
- Redlands Unified Board of Education - meeting date unverified
- Item:
- Montes removed from the board meeting
- Starts at:
- Full clip
Instagram: @redlandsschoolboardalt · Posted May 20, 2026. Posting date is not the meeting date.
Campaign money
Who is paying for Maria Montes' school board run?
Montes is a candidate for Redlands Unified Trustee District 2 in the 2026 election, running against Ryan Schavrien and Tiara Richardson. Her committee, Montes 4 School Board 2026, has a new reporting period ending September 19, 2026, in addition to the January-June statement previously summarized here. These are campaign contributions, not her personal income.
Newly listed individual contributors include Patricia Villarreal, Valarie Rodriguez, Susan McCarley, and Cesar McGuire. Gregory Brittain also appears with a September contribution. Late-contribution reports (Form 497) filed after the period closed list Awaken Redlands twice (September 24 and October 7, 2026), Christine Collinsworth (retired), and another gift from Gregory Brittain.
Earlier listed donors: Dale Broome, Susan Broome, Gregory Brittain, Sonia Olivas, Wendi Adnois, Laurie Shumate, and Enrique DeAnda. Brittain's newer receipt is additional to his earlier listing.
The public filing index identifies these contributors, but its dollar amounts are subscription-restricted and the original new reports could not be retrieved for verification. No updated total or donor amounts are asserted here. The earlier $11,100 figure is not a current campaign total. Receipt index · Form 497 index · Official campaign reports
- Sep 12
Gregory Brittain
Attorney, self-employed · Redlands
- Jul 11 / Sep 7
Patricia Villarreal
Enrollment coordinator · Highland
- Sep 2
Valarie Rodriguez
Retired · Redlands
- Aug 17
Susan McCarley
Registered nurse, Riverside Medical Clinic · Redlands
- Jul 30
Cesar McGuire
Director, Dmcg Inc. · Redlands
- Sep 24 / Oct 7
Awaken Redlands
Form 497 late contributions · Redlands
- Oct 2026
Christine Collinsworth
Retired · Form 497 late contribution
Emails and public comments - Exhibits 23-28
Exhibit 23 · Email record · Oct. 11, 2023
The front-desk incident, in the district's own words
A redacted email chain between a Cope Middle School principal and a district assistant superintendent describing Montes' conduct toward front-office staff.
Read the record →
Exhibit 24 · Email record · Jan.-Feb. 2026
The Gender Queer removal - and the librarian sent home
Montes' book challenge, the superintendent's notice that the book was pulled from district libraries, and the librarian who donated it being placed on paid leave.
Read the record →
Exhibit 25 · Letter · Aug.-Sep. 2025
The LGBTQ+ opt-out letter and the district's answer
Montes' letter citing Mahmoud v. Taylor opting her child out of "All LGBT genre" materials, and Bryn Mawr Elementary's written confirmation.
Read the record →
Exhibit 26 · Letter · Aug. 15, 2023
The parental notice on gender identity
A letter from Heliodoro and Maria Montes demanding immediate notice of any gender-identity expression - and the principal's note that she had never received one like it.
Read the record →
Exhibit 27 · Email record · Aug. 2022
Pride flags, pronouns, and "we are coming"
Complaints about pronoun practices and a classroom Pride flag, and staff accounts of being told parents were rallying together.
Read the record →
Exhibit 28 · Public-comment videos · Sept.-Oct. 2023
Montes' public comments to the school board
Two district video recordings: parental notification on September 12, 2023, and the Pride flag on October 10, 2023, with transcript excerpts and minutes.
Read the record →
About this file
The Montes file is a set of Redlands Unified School District email records and public campaign filings concerning school board candidate Maria Montes. We publish them because voters are being asked to place her in authority over the district employees and policies these records describe.
Before publication we re-redact every record: the student at the center of several incidents is identified nowhere on this site, private family members are blacked out, and staff appear by role only - no phone numbers, email addresses, or fax numbers. Nothing on this site is a claim of wrongdoing; these are documents, published with their redactions marked.
Redaction notice - children, private individuals, and staff contact details are withheld by policy