“Parents deserve a real voice in their children’s education,” said Miles. “They should be informed, heard, and treated as partners—not pushed aside.”
Villa Park Councilwoman Crystal Miles has officially entered the race for the Orange Unified School District Board of Trustees. Her bid for the Area Four seat pits her against incumbent Trustee Sara Pelly, a former OUSD principal who was appointed to the Board of Trustees in 2024 following a union-backed recall of two conservative board members.
“I am running for School Board to elevate transparency, restore trust, and ensure real accountability in our district. Families deserve clear communication, responsible leadership, and a school system that treats every taxpayer dollar with discipline and care” said Miles. “I strongly support parent rights, full access to curriculum information, and open, honest communication from our schools.”
In an announcement posted to Instagram, Miles stated that at the heart of her campaign is the “a simple belief: Parents matter. Teachers matter. Students come first.”
“In OUSD, we have incredible teachers who show up every day ready to make a difference—and they deserve support, respect, and classrooms where they can focus on teaching,” said Miles. “At the same time, parents deserve a real voice in their children’s education. They should be informed, heard, and treated as partners—not pushed aside. Parents 100% have the right to a seat at the table in their child’s education.”
Already, Miles has secured the endorsement of all five Trustees on the Orange County Board of Education; as well as State Senators Tony Strickland, Steven Choi, Shannon Grove, and Kelly Seyarto; Assemblymembers Phillip Chen and Tri Ta; Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner; the Orange County Republican Party; and more.
Aside from her own record of public service, Miles has positioned herself as a vocal advocate for parents who feel sidelined by what critics describe as a 7–0 pro-union, left-wing majority. That board composition was the direct result of union efforts—namely the Orange Unified Education Association (OUEA) with support from the California Teachers Association (CTA) and CTA’s PAC, the Association for Better Citizenship. These were the powerbrokers that helped see Sara Pelly’s path to appointment to the Board of Trustees in 2024.
Prior reporting by California Courier points out that Pelly’s campaign finance documents and a list of contributors on her website show the names of numerous individuals with connections to both OUEA and CTA, including several that attended planning meetings where the two groups conspired to advance the recall effort. Financial disclosures show Pelly donated $1,600 of her personal funds to support the recall effort, and her social media activity at the time included frequent posts and reposts promoting the campaign to remove the trustees.
It’s impossible to say how early the pro-union activists had their sights on Pelly, but they were happy to endorse—and fund—her bid when it came time for her to open a campaign committee.
Nevertheless, Miles’ candidacy serves as something of a repudiation of the current board’s direction and continued disappointment with the total control that organized labor exercises in shaping OUSD’s governance.
That dynamic was on full display during the district’s recent superintendent turnover, where a union-negotiated pay raise was quickly followed by the rather abrupt resignation of Superintendent Ernest Gonzalez and the Board’s subsequent decision to hire self-described “social justice leader,” Rachel Monárrez. To say the circumstances surrounding Monárrez have been controversial is an understatement. Quickly into her tenure at OUSD, she scrubbed her social media—which contained numerous reposts of others’ highly partisan and racialist talking points—and felt compelled to issue a public apology, stating she “wasn’t in the best headspace” and “maybe didn’t make the best leadership decision.”
From the beginning, Miles was critical of the Board’s decision to select such a divisive candidate and its lack of transparency after it opened a public survey to allegedly collect parents’ feedback during the hiring process but then failed to publish the results.
“The board is missing an important point. Recall voters wanted someone to land in the middle. I believe you guys landed far to the left,” said Miles during public comment. “You haven’t given us any reason for hiring her, except [that] she’s bilingual.”
Another flashpoint came earlier this year when OUSD trustees voted to nearly triple their own monthly stipend—from $700 to $2,000—raising total annual board compensation from roughly $58,800 to about $168,000. The increase was placed on the consent calendar, where routine items are typically approved in a single vote without discussion unless a trustee pulls them for separate consideration.
No trustee did.
Miles argued that approving the stipend via the consent calendar is simply ”not good governance” and that advancing such a significant pay increase without open deliberation created the appearance of impropriety.
“The board had a choice: to handle trustee compensation openly, or to bury it. They chose to bury it,” said Miles. “And regardless of intent, the effect is the same—it creates the appearance of self-dealing and secrecy with public funds. Transparency is not an option when it comes to elected officials’ compensation in my opinion.”
Opinions such as these have put Miles in the crosshairs of pro-union activists for some time—long before she announced her candidacy.
Ahead of the special election in March 2024, hundreds of “No on Recall” signs went missing. Suspecting foul play, Miles—along with then-Trustee Madison Miner—helped law enforcement utilize digital tags to track the location of signs. This led them to the homes of several activists who immediately denied any wrongdoing but later admitted they had indeed stolen “No” signs and hid them on their property. At least three arrests were made.
In California, sign stealing is generally considered a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in county jail and/or a fine of up to $1,000.
Along with the “No” signs that were pilfered by activists, some of Miles’ own campaign signs for a separate race were also illegally taken.
It’s reasonable to assume both OUEA and CTA will be out in full force to protect the unilateral supermajority they helped build. But Miles is betting on something too: that there exists a network of OUSD parents who are tired of the status quo and a lack of diversity of thought on the Board of Trustees.
Whether the victor is Pelly or Miles, we’re all about to find out which of those two coalitions wields the power to shape Orange Unified’s future.
