Temecula social studies curriculum is subject of fiery meeting

What elementary schoolchildren will learn about social studies — a topic that’s turned divisive over the mention of an LGBTQ civil rights leader and the intervention of Gov. Gavin Newsom — was discussed by Temecula’s school board in a packed, emotion-filled, meeting Tuesday night, July 18, in which at least three people were ejected.

The Temecula Valley Unified School District board meeting followed an afternoon workshop on a K-5 social studies curriculum that a majority of board members rejected in May amid concerns over a lack of parental involvement in crafting the curriculum and a reference in teachers’ materials to slain LGBTQ icon Harvey Milk.

Later Tuesday evening, the five-member board considered whether to approve or reject the curriculum in its entirety or adopt part of it. The regular meeting, filled with fiery comments and clapping from board supporters and foes, resumed at 6:50 p.m. after a break so board members could meet in closed session.

Forty-one people signed up to speak during the regular meeting. Each got three minutes to speak, setting up the potential for a long evening.

The workshop and meeting became tense at times, with board members talking over each other and Komrosky, through a soccer-like yellow card/red card system, threatening to eject members of the public who interrupted.

Komrosky ejected a self-described Temecula parent and high school teacher who called Gonzalez a homophobe. Sheriff’s deputies escorted her out to cheers from board supporters.

Komrosky also ejected 412 Church Temecula Valley Pastor Tim Thompson from the regular meeting after Thompson called board member Steven Schwartz a communist. The third ejection was of a woman in the audience.

During the workshop, board member Danny Gonzalez said his main objection to the curriculum was the lack of parental involvement and review. While 1,300 families were part of a pilot project to review the curriculum, just 15 provided comments and 11 of those were negative, he said.

Going forward, Gonzalez said he wants the district to take steps to broaden parental outreach and involvement in choosing curriculum.

“I believe that here in Temecula, we can make a decision about what is age appropriate and in grades one through five, I think we can eliminate discussions about sex and sexuality and still do what is required (by the state),” he said.

Later, Gonzalez — part of the conservative bloc with board President Joseph Komrosky and Jen Wiersma — said a lesson in the curriculum for fourth grade mentions the Gay Liberation Front, which he said was linked to a man who founded an organization that encourages pedophilia.

Board member Allison Barclay told Gonzalez: “Everything you read (about the Gay Liberation Front and its founder), I would be opposed to … (but) that’s a long connection that you made.”

“ … I don’t believe that we in social studies should be discussing sex,” she said. “I do not believe that using the word ‘gay’ is discussing sex no more than it would be to talk about a public person who became married or who had a child.”

Wiersma said a historical figure’s sexual orientation isn’t always an issue when discussing their life.

“Sally Ride was an incredible astronaut … I would love for my children to learn about her,” Wiersma said.

Ride, the first American women to go into space, was LGBTQ.

With Milk, “you are looking at sexuality first because there’s that civil rights movement,” she said. “ … If this is offered for a discussion for an 8- or 9-year-old, it isn’t educationally suitable.”

Barclay shot back: “So what I’m hearing is ‘Don’t say gay.’” The audience applauded.

Board member Steven Schwartz said 47 “licensed, credentialed … college-educated (and) well-trained” teachers were involved in piloting the curriculum.

“History is history,” Schwartz said. “We all have our own opinions of how things have developed. This curriculum was written. It was approved by the state. And now if we’re going to start picking it apart, we’re never going to come to any kind of conclusion.”

Former president Donald Trump, Schwartz added, “is a convicted sexual assaulter. Should he be mentioned in our history books?”

What the board decides could have implications for what Sacramento does next. Newsom has promised to send social studies textbooks to Temecula if the board doesn’t.

The governor also supports legislation from Assemblymember Corey Jackson, D-Perris, that makes it harder for school boards to ban textbooks and could fine the school district $1.5 million for not having instructional materials that comply with state law.

The workshop featured about a dozen public speakers who supported and opposed the board’s actions.

“I think it’s pathetic that the governor has stepped in because you guys aren’t doing your jobs,” Kristi McClure told the board majority.

“It’s not overreach. It’s not a violation of local control. It’s what happens at any business when an employee fails to do the basics of their job.”

During the workshop, Thompson, a prominent local conservative voice who worked to elect the majority, said men like Milk “should not be celebrated at our school district. It is something that we in our community say no to and I don’t think we should be embarrassed about that.”

He later added: “We don’t want perverts celebrated in the Temecula Valley. We certainly don’t want it in our school books, reference materials or anything that would be given to our children in any way.”

In May, the board voted 3-2 — Barclay and Schwartz were opposed — not to adopt a K-5 social studies curriculum, in part because its supplemental materials mentioned Milk, a San Francisco supervisor who was assassinated in 1978. The curriculum had been reviewed and approved by Temecula teachers.

“My question is, why even mention a pedophile?” Komrosky said at the May meeting. On Twitter, Newsom called Komrosky’s comment “an ignorant statement from an ignorant person,” adding “Congratulations Mr. Komrosky you have our attention.”

Komrosky later said he wasn’t referring to Milk’s sexuality, but to Milk’s intimate relationship at age 33 with a 16-year-old boy. A Milk biography chronicled the relationship and gay rights activists said suggestions that Milk was a pedophile are defamatory.

Tuesday’s meeting marked the latest chapter of a showdown that’s made national headlines and put Sacramento’s focus on Temecula, a city of roughly 110,000 about an hour north of San Diego.

Since winning seats in November with the support of a local Christian conservative political action committee, the board majority has turned normally dull, sparsely attended school board meetings into culture war battlegrounds with people lining up to get in and protesting outside and police on hand to keep the peace.

While the board majority’s backers, mainly Christian conservatives, say the trio are standing up for parents’ rights and shielding children from pornographic and profanity-filled material.

Critics accuse them of trying to impose a Christian nationalist agenda that marginalizes people of color and LGBTQ families and threatens to wreck Temecula’s reputation for quality schools.

Before Tuesday’s meeting, both sides used social media to encourage people to attend and share their views.

Since taking office in December, the majority banned the teaching of so-called critical race theory, fired the district’s superintendent and demanded answers after a 15-year-old alleged she was forced to read the sexually explicit “Angels in America” for a class assignment.

At the board’s June 13 meeting, critics gave Komrosky, Gonzalez and Wiersma informal letters announcing an effort to recall them. The recall attempt is being organized by One Temecula Valley PAC, an organization that opposes what it sees as political and religious extremist views in local governance.

The decision to reject a widely used, state-approved social studies curriculum put Temecula in Sacramento’s crosshairs. Attorney General Rob Bonta sent the district a letter asking for more information about the board’s decision.

Komrosky accused the governor of mischaracterizing the board’s actions.

A revised curriculum was set to be adopted at the school board’s meeting Tuesday, Komrosky said, adding that the board made arrangements for every K-5 student in the district to have a textbook from the existing curriculum when the new school year starts Aug. 14.

The current curriculum, approved in 2006, does not meet state standards or comply with state law, according to a school district report.