Board rescinds naming school after Louis W. Moreno

Mr. Bridge said he had not been given enough information to change his vote.

“I understand other members of the board wanted to rescind it and I respect that, but I felt since I made the original motion I needed to stay with that,” Mr. Bridge said. At the same meeting, the board initiated a change to its school naming policy to allow the superintendent to form a citizen advisory committee to review name suggestions from the public before submitting them to the board.

Eric Moreno, son of Louis Moreno, told the board he was confused, dismayed, and a little bit irritated about the change in vote.

“This is very strange that you would request to rescind something after voting for it,” he said. “It wasn’t controversial at the time, but now it seems to be very controversial.”

Mr. Moreno’s speech exceeded the three-minute limit and the microphone was cut off.

After the vote, Mr. Moreno called out from his seat.

“What is the reason for your vote? You haven’t given a reason and we deserve a reason.”

Board president Sonja Shaw said, “I wasn’t going to comment but I’ll make a comment. Something was brought to our attention after the Jan. 19 vote that was concerning.”

She continued, “I personally would never want your father to be dragged through the mud because it seems like he did a lot of great things.”

“That sounds like a threat my friend,” Mr. Moreno responded. “You should stop right there.”

Mrs. Shaw said it was not a threat and told him he was not allowed to engage further.

Mr. Moreno, his brother, two sisters, spouses, and friends left the meeting and gathered at a nearby restaurant to wind down and share their feelings.

Longtime friend Mike Garcia said he was too emotional to talk about it but said “he was well loved by the community.”

Mr. Moreno said his father was a native son of Chino and served the community all his life.

Louis Moreno served on the school board from 1981 to 1989, grew up on Rancho Moreno on Pine and Euclid avenues in The Preserve, was captain of the Chino Police Department, and founder of community groups including the Chino Youth Boxing Club, Chino Youth Services, and the Police Community Relations Board.

The second school in the growing Preserve community is under construction on East Preserve Loop, south of Pine Avenue.

Chino resident Albert vande Steeg, who asked the board at a previous meeting to reconsider the name to prevent “possible future embarrassment,” turned in a speaker card but was not there when his name was called.

Board member James Na said the vote to rescind will allow the district to start fresh on finding a name for the school.