Posted on 12/15/2022 12:32:34 PM PST by DogByte6RER
New conservative Christian majority leads way on board’s 3-2 vote to prohibit critical race theory
The teaching of critical race theory was banned in Temecula Valley schools after an emotional marathon meeting that drew hundreds to a Tuesday night, Dec. 13, session in a packed high school theater.
Led by a new conservative Christian board majority seated at the beginning of the meeting, the school board’s 3-2 vote to prohibit such lessons came early Wednesday, Dec. 14.
“A lot has been said tonight,” said newly elected trustee Joseph Komrosky, who proposed the resolution. “I’m here to keep a campaign promise. I have knocked on thousands of doors, talked to thousands of parents and educators … I’m here to honor the majority of the voters in my trustee area, the constituents that put me here.”
Three conservative Christian trustees backed by a PAC during the November election voted yes: Komrosky, Danny Gonzalez and Jen Wiersma. Board members Allison Barclay and Steven Schwartz voted no.
Komrosky and his board colleagues who supported the ban said similar moves against critical race theory have occurred in other school systems, including Paso Robles, without complaint. Komrosky said the resolution — and an anti-racism one also approved Tuesday night on the same split vote — were modeled after those in the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District.
Supporters and opponents of the resolution included Temecula-area parents, students and community members. Some held “No CRT” banners, American and rainbow flags. Others gripped signs promoting inclusivity and equity and urging board members to “stop white washing history.”
Critical race theory involves examining the role of race in society and how racism has been historically embedded in institutions and policies. Many school officials say it’s taught in law school and graduate courses but not on K-12 campuses. Foes disagree and say it is being taught to children.
Komrosky was one of several candidates endorsed by a conservative church-backed political action committee that stated it planned to “take over” the Temecula Valley, Lake Elsinore and Murrieta Valley school boards in southwest Riverside County. Komrosky, a Mt. San Antonio College professor who teaches philosophy, also successfully proposed a resolution condemning racism in the Temecula Valley Unified School District.
He was one of three new school board members, all endorsed by the Inland Empire Family PAC, to be sworn in at the start of Tuesday evening’s session. Shortly after taking the oath, Komrosky was elected as school board president on a 3-2 vote, with Barclay and Schwartz dissenting. PAC-backed trustee Wiersma was chosen as the board’s clerk.
Komrosky’s resolution refers to critical race theory as a “racist ideology,” says it is “divisive” and that it is “based on a false assumption” that “assigns moral fault to individuals solely on the basis of an individual’s race.” It also states that “critical race theory assigns generational guilt and racial guilt for conduct and policies that are long in the past.”
Temecula Valley school district officials did not respond Monday, Dec. 12, to requests for comment, but former school board member Barbara Brosch said Temecula schools do not and have not taught critical race theory.
As for Komrosky’s anti-racism resolution, it won approval on a 3-2 vote late Tuesday, with Barclay and Schwartz voting no and the new majority of Komrosky, Gonzalez and Wiersma voting yes.
That resolution states that “racism has no place in American society, especially not in Temecula Valley Unified,” the resolution states.
Many of those attending Tuesday’s meeting expressed their views.
Stephanie Dawson said critical race theory is “infiltrating schools,” and she is grateful the new board is addressing it.
Christopher Bout said that, with the election of the new board members, he feels “Temecula parents have a voice now,” and that the evening’s meeting “marks a new win for parental rights.”
Simon Cooper said he was excited that the newly elected members have a board majority, calling them “advocates and guardians of truth.”
Tim Thompson, the pastor of the 412 Temecula Valley church who is affiliated with the PAC, also welcomed the new board members. He asked residents to give them “the time to see they have the best of intentions for this community.”
Others questioned the direction of the school board’s new majority.
Alexis Sanabria, a parent of three district students, said she moved to Temecula more than a decade ago because the schools “are amazing.” She wondered why the board was “trying to meddle in something that’s working well.”
“CRT is not taught in our public schools,” Sanabria said. “Name a school, a classroom or a teacher who is teaching this anywhere in our system.”
Madison Fuller, a student at Temecula’s Great Oak High School and president of its Black Student Union, pleaded with the board to “not allow white-washing” and “filtering” of students’ education.
“To filter our education about sensitive topics is to minimize suffering,” Fuller said. “I am not sorry if a White student feels uncomfortable about learning about our nation’s true past. What’s used in our classrooms is critical, unbiased thinking, based on facts that help explain why our world is the way it is now.”
Representatives of community groups also shared concerns.
Members of the One Temecula Valley PAC, which opposed the conservative bloc of candidates now elected to local school boards, issued a statement Tuesday opposing both resolutions.
The group alleged the critical race theory proposal comes “directly from the playbooks of radical right-wing Christian conservative groups such as Moms for Liberty, Proud Boys and Heritage Foundation.” The PAC — which said critical race theory has “never has been taught” in Temecula schools — also said the proposals would “open the door for a politically-charged witch hunt” on district officials.
Members of the teachers’ union, the Temecula Valley Educators’ Association, filled the auditorium, many holding signs and wearing their signature blue shirts.
Union president Edgar Diaz called the resolutions “vague” and a “lightning-rod issue” for education.
“The CRT resolution talks about elements and derived doctrines that cannot be taught … this is for an ideology that is not taught in a class or as part of the curriculum in TVUSD,” said Diaz, who teaches U.S. history at Gardner Middle School in Temecula.
Diaz said he has never had a parent ask him about critical race theory, and that society’s responsibility is to confront “complex relationships” that “may challenge our understanding of the founding of country we thought we knew.”
“I did not know what this meant, until these last political cycles,” he said. “CRT is used as a political item of a platform, to do what? I cannot tell you.”
Very good! You have to wonder how many Temecula Valley teachers and administrators will resign as a result of this.
There was actually a red wave. Not in the big races but in hundreds of little ones including some that matter just as much as the big ones.
This is a regrettable source of confusion. CRT is not being taught. It is being applied. Every time some conservative talks about CRT “being taught,” he opens the door for a true denial by leftists, does no good, and makes the rest of us look ignorant.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.