EdSource: Marin County School Board Member Resigns After Restraining Order But Remains On Ballot

By Thomas Peele

EdSource

MARIN COUNTY, CA — A Marin County school board member whom a judge reprimanded last week while issuing a three-year restraining order against him for harassing a parent has resigned, according to documents.

Kevin Saavedra, a board member of the Tamalpais Union High School District, told district leaders he was resigning in a letter dated Friday.

The district's board had scheduled a vote at a Tuesday night meeting on whether to "formally condemn" Saavedra, citing the restraining order. That restraining order centered on an email Saavedra sent from his official district email account last year telling a mother to "go f-- yourself you stupid old crone." It was not immediately clear if that vote will now proceed.

Saavedra's name will still appear on the ballot. He is one of seven candidates vying for three open seats. Saavedra told the Redwood Bark student newspaper he "would not bet" on him accepting a seat on the school board if he is reelected.

Saavedra did not return messages from EdSource on Sunday.

In his brief resignation letter, Saaverdra expressed frustration with public criticism he has received as an elected official, which he referred to as a volunteer position.

"The most recent cycle has been tumultuous. In service of this volunteer position I would not have expected I would be told to withstand personal and sometimes racist attacks," Saavedra said. "...The abuse has been draining and I have had enough."

Marin Superior Court Judge Mark A. Talamantes took an incredulous tone last week as he questioned Saavedra over the email he sent to parent Ina Gottlieb last year.

"You used district email to send that to a parent whose child goes to the Tam schools?" the judge said. "You're humiliating a parent whose child goes to your school? I don't want a parent to be publicly shamed." He called Saavedra's action an "abuse of power."

Saavedra claimed that he was responding to a critical email Gotlieb sent to board President Cynthia Roenisch over how the board conducted itself during public comment on the consolidation of two alternative schools. It's unclear what Gotlieb said in her email, through she later apologized.

The email to Gotlieb was not the only message in which Saavedra used profanity while communicating with the public, records show. In a 2024 communication he accused a district employee of "chicken--- behavior" for failing to include him on an email, documents obtained by EdSource show.

Public records show that, in 2024, Saavedra received more than $25,000 in pay and benefits as a school board member.

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