Barstow Unified School District Board Member Juliet Barela Resigns Weeks After Appointment

Less than two months after her appointment, Barstow Unified School District Area 1 Board Member Juliet Barela has stepped down.

County officials announced Tuesday that Barela resigned from the Board of Supervisors that day.

Barela, 28, was appointed after a second interview with the Board of Directors on Aug. 13, 2024, to fill the seat left vacant when Trustee Julie Clemmer stepped down in July.

The Trustee Area 1 seat will remain vacant until after the Nov. 5 general election, county officials said.

However, as of Tuesday, no candidates had filed for the Trustee Area 1 seat, according to the San Bernardino County Voter Registry.

Candidates for Governing Area 3 include incumbent Kris E. Okamuro and retired chief janitor Anthony Yslas.

Help for Barstow’s Youth

Barela, a fourth-generation Barstown resident and “homemaker of five boys,” announced via social media Tuesday night that she had withdrawn herself from the ballot because she was running for the Trustee Area 1 seat in the general election.

“It was my intention to serve in this role potentially indefinitely, so please accept my sincere apologies and understand that it was never my intention to waste the district’s resources or anyone’s time, let alone the tremendous amount of community support I have received,” Barela said.

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“Thank you for giving me this opportunity, and I hope that the next person who takes this seat truly has the best interests of our outstanding staff and students at heart,” she concluded.

Barela and her husband, Donavan, run the nonprofit Barstow Wrestling Program. She said taking a board position would block much of the couple’s vision for the club and its future.

“As many of you know, I have been passionate about the future of our youth in Barstow since I was a young boy myself,” Barela said. “Since joining forces with my husband, Donavan, who has always held the same values, we as a team have doubled down on our goals for the future of Barstow’s youth, specifically within youth sports.”

Barela said the couple has served on the board of the nonprofit Riffian Wrestling over the years and was involved in its closure at the start of the COVID-19 shutdown.

“As the world started to open up again, we worked hard to revamp and relaunch the wrestling club and the nonprofit, working with the city,” she said. “In three years, we’ve grown the club from a small group of six wrestlers to about 70, ranging from ages 4 to 17.”

Testing the political waters

When the opportunity arose to apply for the Area 1 Trustee position, Barela wondered if it would be beneficial for her and her family.

“I’m a big believer that if you want to make a difference, you need to be involved in the decision-making process,” Barela said. “As I was preparing for the first interview, I realized that the timeline for filing paperwork for the election would be soon after the interview, and I decided to jump in with both feet.”

Barela said that in her short time on the board, she has been very proud of the schools she has visited. She has witnessed the continued dedication of the district’s qualified staff and the genuine joy that students bring to the table.

She also noted that Principal Deanna Swearingen has a broad knowledge of the school district’s history and has a growing respect for the vision she and the board have for the district.

For more information about the Barstow Unified School District, visit busdk12.com.

Daily Press reporter Rene Ray De La Cruz can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him at X @DP_ReneDeLaCruz

This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Barstow Unified School District Board Member Abruptly Resigns