While the lawsuit proceeds, the Temecula Valley Unified District can implement a transgender notification policy and a ban on critical race theory that would more broadly limit education about race and gender, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Eric A. Keen said. The ruling was made on Friday.
Seemingly contradicting this decision, Keen ruled on February 15 that a lawsuit (Mae M. v. Komrosky) had been filed in August by Ballard Spahr on behalf of the district's teachers union, teachers, parents and students. And Public Counsel LLP, the nation's largest pro bono law firm, is moving forward.
“We are deeply disappointed that a preliminary injunction was denied primarily for the students, teachers and parents we represent,” said Amanda Mangaser Savage, supervising attorney for Public Counsel's Opportunity Under Law Project.
“While these policies remain in effect, students in Temecula classrooms are not receiving an accurate, fact-based education and are instead receiving an education determined entirely by the ideological preferences of board members.”
Supporters of the board's decision, including Temecula Valley Unified School Board President Joseph Komrosky, argued that the policy does not discriminate against transgender students or students of color.
“The diversity that exists in the district’s community of students, staff, parents and guardians is an asset that must be respected and cherished,” Komrosky said in a press release issued by Advocates for Faith and Freedom, a Murrieta-based law firm. . “I am committed to protecting religious freedom in the courts,” he said, representing the district pro bono.
“These policies have been established by the Board of Education to ensure that our district places the needs of our students and parents above all else,” he said, adding that Temecula Valley Unified is committed to providing students with a balanced education free from “discrimination and indoctrination.” He added that there is.
Board of directors following conservative values
Temecula Unified's turmoil began in December 2022. The newly elected school board, with its new conservative majority, banned critical race theory. The following spring, the board fired former Superintendent Jodi McClay without cause and temporarily banned Social Studies Alive! Because the supplement mentions LGBTQ+ activist Harvey Milk.
Last August, they infiltrated about a half-dozen other school districts to pass policies requiring school administrators to notify parents if their children show signs that they are transgender.
Since then, teachers have raised concerns that curriculum censorship will become more widespread and negatively impact students' mental health, drawing attention and scrutiny from state officials.
Edgar Diaz, president of the Temecula Valley Educators Association, the district's teachers' union, criticized the ruling, saying it “does not take into account the ramifications” of the district's policy.
Diaz added that wooden blocks were placed on library shelves instead of books because teachers and staff feared “there might be forbidden concepts in them.”
“We should not ban anything. We are an educational institution. When children are curious about something, they explore it. They talk to teachers. Especially in high school, they are old enough to form their own opinions about what is real and what is not real,” said Steve Schwartz, Temecula Valley Unified School Board member.
He added that if an LGBTQ+ student “doesn't feel safe enough at home to tell their parents, but needs to share it with others and share it with their teacher, I don't think it's a good idea for the teacher to have to do that.” “Tell those parents.”
Widespread divisions over critical race theory
The transgender notification policy and critical race theory ban supported by the Temecula Valley Unified School District board is not unique. It's part of a larger movement led by conservative groups like Reform California in response to widespread calls for racial justice following the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in 2020.
Nearly 800 actions have been taken against critical race theory across 244 local, state and federal agencies, according to CRT Forward, an initiative part of the UCLA School of Law's Critical Race Studies Program.
In California alone, 13 measures have been introduced at the local level, 9 of which have passed or been implemented.
However, as of April 2023, 60% of anti-CRT measures have been adopted in conservative states.
“Today’s ruling unfortunately means Temecula remains in the ranks of Texas and Florida,” Manser Savage said.
“California is clearly a liberal state, but I think the fact that this is happening in our area shows how harmful this is.”
Nearly 4,000 American adults surveyed by researchers at the University of Southern California generally agreed on the importance of public education and the core functions of literacy, numeracy and citizenship, but were more polarized on topics related to race and LGBTQ+ issues.
The survey found that 80% to 86% of Democrats support high school students learning about LGBTQ+ topics, compared to less than 40% of Republicans. Introducing LGBTQ+ topics at the elementary school level met with less support from both sides.
More than half of those surveyed supported discussion of topics related to race at the high school level. But at the elementary school level, only Democrats supported the idea of students learning about slavery, civil rights, and racial inequality.
Critical race theory is typically taught at the college level, and Schwartz said it was not taught at Temecula Valley Unified.
“But if I were a teacher today and a student came to me and asked, ‘What do you think about CRT?’ Here is my answer: ‘Let’s do some research, see what you think about it, and then have a discussion,’ said Schwartz.
“My point is not to tell kids not to research things they’re interested in. That’s what learning is all about.”
Leading the way in Temecula
California Attorney General Rob Bonta issued a brief in December supporting the plaintiffs. According to Manager Savage, the briefing marks the first time in recent history that a state has been involved in a lawsuit seeking to limit ideological censorship in schools.
Following Bonta's brief, more than 20 civil rights and LGBTQ+ rights groups, including the ACLU of Southern and Northern California, issued an amicus brief supporting the preliminary injunction.
Those organizations include:
- Advancing Asian American Justice Southern California
- California LGBTQ Health and Human Services Network
- equal justice association
- california equality
- family support program
- Gender & Sexuality Alliance Network
- glass
- Inland Empire Prism Collective
- Lambda Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.
- LGBTQ Center OC
- Desert LGBTQ Community Center
- Northern California Legal Services
- Los Angeles LGBT Center
- Family Planning in the Pacific Southwest
- Public Advocate, Inc.
- Public School Defender Hub
- Rainbow Pride Youth Coalition
- Sacramento LGBT Center
- Santa Cruz County Safe Schools Project
- Transgender Legal Center
- TransFamily Support Services
- trevor project
Penguin Random House and PEN America also expressed support for the preliminary injunction.
As pressure mounts on the district to stop enforcing policies suspected of being discriminatory and illegal, the composition of the school board has also changed, and more could change in the coming months.
In December, One Temecula Valley PAC, a political action committee, filed a recall petition for three conservative members of the board and collected enough signatures to push for a recall election for Board Chairman Joseph Komrosky.
Election officials verified the 4,884 voter signatures needed in January, and the recall election is expected to be held between April 19 and May 26.
But conservative board member Jennifer Wiersma will remain on the board, and Danny Gonzalez announced plans to resign in December and move to Texas.
Temecula Valley Unified's school board met Feb. 13 to appoint a replacement, but was unable to do so and decided to hold an election. Whoever replaces Gonzalez in that position will decide whether the board maintains a conservative majority going forward.
“Despite small but vocal opponents who seek to rewrite history and indoctrinate students,” Komrosky said. “I am very optimistic about our school district.”
Editor's note: This article has been updated.ed Adds statement from Amanda Mangaser Savage, supervising attorney for Public Counsel's Opportunity Under Law Project.