Temecula Valley USD Chairman of the Board Publicly Slammed by Newsom

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After TVUSD decided not to accept “morally objectionable” books, the governor tweeted, “Congratulations, Mr. Komrosky, you have our attention.”

June 5, 2023 7:14 p.m. PDT | Updated June 5, 2023 7:42 PM PDT

TEMECULA, Calif. — California state leaders are now eyeing the Temecula Valley Unified School District over its efforts to ban textbooks dealing with “morally objectionable material.”

At TVUSD’s May 16 board meeting, trustees Joseph Komrosky, Jennifer Wiersma, and Danny Gonzalez voted to reject a proposed curriculum and textbooks for the district’s K-5 social studies program. The vote came despite 47 of the district’s educators recommending the textbooks after testing the program in classrooms and seeking input from parents of the approximately 1,300 students in the test program.

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There was little feedback from parents and almost no criticism of the new program, according to a district report.

TVUSD — long known as one of Riverside County’s top-performing districts — now finds itself in a position of possible legal peril and, theoretically, without enough textbooks for K-5 social studies classes during of the next school year.

Gonzalez and Wiersma said the manuals’ adoption process, which took nearly a year, was flawed because, they argued, the community outside of TVUSD was not given a chance to weigh in. TVUSD parents to get involved.

However, minutes before the vote of rejection, the board unanimously approved—without comment or objection—the textbooks for the district’s high school science curriculum.

Instead, the focus was on “morally reprehensible material” – namely California gay rights leader Harvey Milk – linked to the K-5 documents.

Although none of the proposed textbooks make reference to milk, teachers in upper elementary grades would have the opportunity to obtain additional material on the slain politician if they wanted to offer students the opportunity to dig into the history of human rights. homosexuals in the United States, according to district officials who spoke at the meeting.

It looked like a non-runner for Gonzalez, Komrosky and Wiersma.

Gonazelez called Milk a “known pedophile,” while Komrosky asked, “Why even mention a pedophile? »

“We can do better,” Wiersma said.

The three directors were newly elected to the TVUSD Board of Directors in November and have been supported by the Inland Empire Family PAC, which works to “stop the indoctrination of our children by placing candidates on school boards who will fight for Christian and conservative values”.

TVUSD has now captured Governor Gavin Newsom’s wrath. On Saturday, he tweeted a link to a CBS article about the latest district vote and directly criticized board chairman Komrosky.

“An offensive statement from an ignorant person. This is not Texas or Florida. In the Golden State, our children have the freedom to learn. Congratulations Mr. Komrosky, you have our attention. Stay tuned .”

Late last year, Komrosky, along with Gonzalez and Wiersma, voted to ban all books and discussions that deal with critical race theory. This decision was followed by student protests and community divisions.

A request for comment from Komrosky was not immediately returned.

The governor’s weekend tweet followed a June 1 letter he co-wrote with state Attorney General Rob Bonta and state superintendent Tony Thurmond that was addressed to all school superintendents district school superintendents and charter school administrators throughout California.

The letter warned against book bans and outlined relevant civil rights in education and corresponding legal mandates that school administrators must follow “to preserve freedom and ensure access to diverse perspectives and programs.” .

“In the first half of this school year alone, 1,477 books were banned nationwide, with teachers and librarians facing jail time for putting away the wrong book,” according to the letter. “As heads of state elected to represent the values ​​of all Californians, we offer our response with one voice: access to books – including books that reflect the diverse experiences and perspectives of Californians, and in especially those who can challenge us to grapple with uncomfortable truths – is a deep freedom that we all need to protect and cultivate.

The letter also laid out the state’s framework for how and when a book can be removed from a program and warned of the legal ramifications if California law and education code are not followed.

Even more pressing is TVUSD’s possible violation of state Williams law if it cannot provide a K-5 curriculum for its 2023-24 social studies program. By law, California public school students must have equal access to educational materials.

Even though TVUSD sticks to its old K-5 social studies curriculum—which dates back several years and needed updating under state education code—there is concern that there aren’t even enough textbooks to go around in 2023-24.

Following the May 16 vote, TVUSD administrator Steven Schwartz issued a “point of order”.

“I don’t want to put myself in the position of being an education code violator,” he said. “If the three of you want to do this, it’s your choice.”

Schwartz said he would consult with his personal attorney about it.

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