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برچسب: Temecula

  • One Temecula Valley PAC submits signatures for Joseph Komrosky recall 

    One Temecula Valley PAC submits signatures for Joseph Komrosky recall 


    Temecula Valley Unified School District board member Joseph Komrosky.

    Credit: Temecula Valley Unified

    One Temecula Valley PAC has submitted 5,236 signatures to initiate a recall election against Temecula Valley Unified School District’s school board president, Joseph Komrosky — surpassing the requirement of 4,280 two days before Friday’s deadline. 

    The Registrar of Voters in Riverside County will now formally count and verify the legitimacy of the signatures to determine if the recall campaign will lead to an election. Jeff Pack, co-founder of One Temecula Valley political action committee — which aims to combat “a very real and dangerous threat to local governance posed by political and religious extremist views” — anticipates that the process will take a couple of months. 

    “We’re looking … forward to being this organization that demands good governance, and I think this is a great start,” Pack said. “I’m really proud.” 

    In its initial stages, the recall campaign was also gathering signatures for board members Jennifer Wiersma and Danny Gonzalez, who, with Komrosky, make up the board’s conservative majority. 

    Since their election in November 2022, the three have together banned critical race theory in the classroom, temporarily barred the Social Studies Alive! curriculum because its supplemental material mentioned LGBTQ+ activist Harvey Milk, fired former Superintendent Jodi McClay without cause and passed policies mandating that school officials notify parents if their child indicates they are transgender. 

    However, Pack said the campaign eventually decided to focus on Komrosky because his recall seemed to be the most likely, based on the number of signatures gathered for his recall. And flipping his seat alone would be enough to tip the board’s current majority. 

    Meanwhile, some community members have speculated that Gonzalez plans to leave the state altogether, noting that his house is currently on the market for sale. 

    Neither Komrosky nor Gonzalez responded to EdSource’s request for comment. Wiersma, who stated she may be able to respond, did not provide a comment by EdSource’s deadline. 

    The road to recall

    The effort to recall Komrosky, Wiersma and Gonzalez began early in June when Pack met a group of moms at a local duck pond. 

    The moms, who eventually formed the organization EnACT Temecula-Equity in Action, wanted to initiate a recall against Wiersma.  

    “Well, why don’t we just do all three? he told them “We’ll back you. We have money. We can get all this stuff together, get all the paperwork together and let’s do it.”

    The moms questioned his idea to start a recall for all three. 

    “Which one deserves to stay? Which one do you want to leave there?” Pack said he responded. “And nobody can answer that question.” 

    The recall effort began to gain steam, he said. And in one day, they had gathered the 35 signatures needed to file a notice of intent to recall for each board member. 

    In the months that followed, teachers and community members went door to door, gathering more signatures. They also stationed themselves at the duck pond during weekends. 

    Eventually, the recall effort also garnered support from organizations including the Temecula Valley Educators Association, the League of United Latin American Citizens Inland Empire chapter and the NAACP’s Southwest Riverside branch 1034. 

    “As educators, we’re all just hoping that the focus of the district can return to student performance, supporting learning environments to maximize how teachers can do their jobs,” said Edgar Diaz, the president of the Temecula Valley Educators Association. 

    He added that he’s “glad the community came out and supported” the recall, showing “that this is actually a community issue, not a teacher- or a union-driven issue.” 

    Reactions to the recall

    The recall effort has been met with mixed reactions from members of the community and beyond. 

    While Pack said there has been enthusiastic support for Komrosky’s recall, they were unable to gather the 3,987 signatures needed to get Wiersma’s on the ballot. 

    Pastor Tim Thompson of Evangelical 412 Church Temecula Valley — who has consistently stood by the board’s majority — has said he doubts a recall election will take place. 

    “If they get their way and this goes to an election, what we’re going to find is the same thing we found in the election cycle last period, is that the vast majority of people in the Temecula Valley support these three,” Thompson said. “They’re happy that they’re in there. They’re happy for the changes that they’re making.”

    Thompson also commended the current board for fulfilling their duty to “protect the youth in our community.” 

    Temecula Valley district board member Steven Schwartz, however, disagrees, saying most board decisions have been “political and not educational.” 

    As a member of the board minority, Schwartz said he has received mostly positive feedback from parents and community members who he said feel the same way as he does. 

    Meanwhile, he said many of the speakers who have voiced their support for the conservative majority at meetings do not come from the community. 

    “When you have people coming from outside disrupting meetings … calling people names, what is that supposed to prove?” Schwartz said. “What is that supposed to do for our children and for schools?” 

    Regardless of the outcome, Pack said he is proud of the effort and that the recall’s advocates were able to make history in Temecula. 

    “This is entirely volunteers that are local, and it’s really, really something that I don’t think this community has ever seen,” Pack said. “It’s a big growing-up moment, I think, for the city of Temecula.”

    Editors’ note: This story has been updated to correct a name’s spelling and revise the number of signatures needed to file the notice of intent to recall.





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  • Bonta backs motion blocking censorship, transgender notification in Temecula schools  

    Bonta backs motion blocking censorship, transgender notification in Temecula schools  


    The LGBTQ+ community rallies in solidarity, opposing the Social Studies Alive! ban in Temecula Valley Unified in June 2023.

    Credit: Mallika Seshadri / EdSource

    California Attorney General Rob Bonta is formally backing a motion to prevent the Temecula Valley Unified School District from implementing policies that could censor instruction about race and gender as well as those that force employees to notify parents if their child shows signs of being transgender. 

    In August, Public Counsel, the nation’s largest pro bono law firm, and Ballard Spahr LLP, filed a case against Temecula Valley Unified School District on behalf of its parents, teachers, the teachers union and students. A hearing on the motion for a preliminary injunction to block the board from enforcing its policies as the case moves forward will take place on Jan. 24. 

    Bonta’s brief, in support of the plaintiffs, marks the first time in recent history that the state has intervened in litigation to curb ideological censorship in the classroom, according to Public Counsel’s Opportunity Under Law project supervising attorney Amanda Mangaser Savage. 

    “The state is recognizing that this case will be a bellwether for courts across the state and for, frankly, states across the nation in terms of what school boards can and cannot do in classrooms,” Mangaser Savage said. 

    “It is abundantly clear under the law that school boards can’t restrict students’ access to ideas on an ideological basis, but that is precisely what is happening.”

    The lawsuit comes after the Temecula Valley Unified School District school board’s conservative majority — elected in November 2022 — banned critical race theory, temporarily took the social studies curriculum Social Studies Alive! off the shelves due to a mention of LGBTQ+ rights activist Harvey Milk in the supplemental material, fired former Superintendent Jodi McClay and passed a policy that would require school officials to notify parents if their child shows a sign of being transgender. 

    Temecula Valley Unified’s school board has since received backlash from the community, which lodged a campaign to recall its three conservative board members — and submitted enough signatures to move forward in the recall process for board President Joseph Komrosky. 

    This isn’t the first time Bonta has opposed transgender notification policies percolating in about half a dozen California districts. He previously opened a civil rights investigation of the same policy implemented at the Chino Valley Unified School District and had called the measures approved by Temecula Valley Unified a “grave concern.” 

    “The attorney general’s participation just really highlights and emphasizes that illegality. It emphasizes the strength of the legal claims that the students have brought here,” Mangaser Savage said. “So it’s really heartening to see the attorney general participate in this and certainly aligns with what we understand to be his commitment to safe, inclusive, equitable schools.”

    Bonta’s brief specifically states that “forced disclosure provisions” regarding transgender students “violate these students’ state constitutional right to equal protection and statutory protections from discrimination.” 

    It also states that the transgender notification policy infringes on student’ right to privacy and discriminates against transgender and gender-nonconforming “students for forced disclosure, and not their cisgender peers.” It further alleges that the policy is based on outdated social stereotypes that being transgender is a mental illness. 

    Bonta’s brief also alleges that board policies censor materials about race and gender and that censoring aspects of a curriculum has to be “reasonably related to legitimate educational concerns,” not based on religious or philosophical disagreements. 

    Censored materials, according to the brief, might include speeches written by Martin Luther King Jr., major court rulings, discussion of the U.S. government’s treatment of Native Americans, study of the women’s suffrage movement and police violence against Black Americans. 

    “These harms aren’t limited to Temecula, students and teachers, although they are certainly the most directly and most significantly impacted. But the threat here is to the entire system of public education in California,” Mangaser Savage said. 

    “When teachers are limited in teaching accurate history, when books are taken off of library shelves, when material that the state has determined is necessary for its students to learn to be meaningful participants in our democracy is being censored … that is deeply problematic and that poses a threat not just to Temecula students again, but to students across the state and to the health of our democracy as a whole.”





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  • Temecula Valley Unified can continue enforcing transgender policy, CRT ban, for now

    Temecula Valley Unified can continue enforcing transgender policy, CRT ban, for now


    Community member Kayla Church stands in support of LGBTQ+ community and in opposition to Temecula Valley Unified curriculum ban.

    Credit: Mallika Seshadri / EdSource

    While litigation moves forward, the Temecula Valley Unified District can keep enforcing its transgender notification policy as well as its ban on critical race theory, which restricts instruction on race and gender more broadly, Riverside County Judge Eric A. Keen ruled Friday. 

    In what seemed to be a contradiction to this decision, Keen had ruled on Feb. 15 that the case — Mae M. v. Komrosky — filed on behalf of the district’s teachers union, teachers, parents and students, in August by Ballard Spahr and the country’s largest pro-bono law firm Public Counsel LLP — will move forward. The plaintiffs had asked Keen to temporarily block enforcement of the policies while the case was fought out in court, but did not get it.

    “We are deeply disappointed with the denial of the preliminary injunction, primarily for the students and teachers and parents that 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’s classrooms are being denied access to an accurate and fact-based education and, instead, are receiving an education that is dictated entirely by the board members’ ideological preferences.”

    Supporters of the board’s policy, including Joseph Komrosky, the Temecula Valley Unified school board president, have claimed that the policies do not discriminate against transgender students or students of color.  

    “The diversity that exists among the District’s community of students, staff, parents, and guardians is an asset to be honored and valued,” Komrosky said in a news release by Advocates for Faith and Freedom, a Murrieta-based law firm, “dedicated to protecting religious liberty in the courts,” that is representing the district for free.  

    “These policies were enacted by the school board to ensure our district puts the needs of students and their parents above all else,” adding that Temecula Valley Unified is committed to providing students with a well-rounded education devoid of “discrimination and indoctrination.”  

    A board guided by conservative values

    The turmoil in Temecula Unified started in December 2022, when the school board, with a newly elected conservative majority, banned critical race theory. The following spring, the board fired the former superintendent, Jodi McClay, without cause and temporarily banned the Social Studies Alive! textbook due to a mention of LGBTQ+ activist Harvey Milk in the supplemental material. 

    In August, the board passed a policy that percolated through about a half-dozen other districts, requiring that school administrators notify parents if their child shows signs of being transgender. 

    Since then, teachers have voiced concerns about more widespread curriculum censorship and negative impacts on students’ mental health — which have drawn attention and scrutiny from state officials. 

    Edgar Diaz, president of the Temecula Valley Educators Association, the district’s teachers union, criticized Keen’s ruling, stating that it “does not consider the ripple effects” of the district’s policies. 

    Diaz added that wooden blocks have since been placed on library shelves in lieu of books because teachers and staff fear “there may be some banned concept in them.”

    “We shouldn’t be banning anything; we’re an educational institution. If children are curious about something, they explore it; they talk to the teachers. And especially in high school, they’re old enough to form their own opinions about what’s real and what’s not real,” said Temecula Valley Unified school board member Steve Schwartz. 

    He added that if an LGBTQ+ student “doesn’t feel safe enough in their home to tell their parent but needs to share it with someone and shares it with a teacher, it doesn’t seem like a good idea for the teacher to have to tell that parent.” 

    Widespread divides over critical race theory 

    The transgender notification policies and critical race theory ban supported by the Temecula Valley board are part of a larger movement driven by conservative organizations like Reform California. These groups formed to counter widespread calls from the left for racial justice following the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in 2020. 

    Nearly 800 measures in 244 local, state and federal entities have been taken against critical race theory, according to CRT Forward, an initiative of the UCLA School of Law’s critical race studies program. 

    In California alone, 13 measures have been introduced at the local level, nine of which have been passed or implemented. 

    As of April 2023, however, 60% of anti-CRT measures were adopted in predominantly conservative states.

    “Today’s ruling unfortunately means that Temecula will continue amongst the ranks of Texas and Florida,” Mangaser Savage said. 

    “While California is obviously a liberal state, I think that the fact that this is happening in our districts demonstrates how pernicious this is.” 

    While the nearly 4,000 U.S. adults surveyed by researchers at the University of Southern California largely agreed on the importance of public education and the core functions of literacy, numeracy and civics, they are more polarized on topics about race and LGBTQ+ issues.  

    The survey specifically found that between 80% and 86% of Democrats support the idea of high school students learning about LGBTQ+ topics compared with less than 40% of Republicans. Introducing LGBTQ+ topics at the elementary level garnered less support on both sides of the aisle. 

    Over half of those surveyed also supported discussion of topics about race at the high school level. But at the elementary level, Democrats were much more likely to support the idea of students learning about slavery, civil rights and racial inequality. 

    Critical race theory is usually taught at the college level, and Schwartz said it has not been taught in Temecula Valley Unified. 

    “But if I were a teacher today, and a student came to me and said, ‘What do you think about CRT?’ my response would be: ‘Why don’t you do some research and see what you think about it, and then we can have a discussion,’” Schwartz said. 

    “My thought is not to tell kids not to investigate things that they’re interested in. That’s what learning is all about.” 

    The lead-up in Temecula 

    California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a court brief in support of the plaintiffs in December. According to Mangaser Savage, that brief marked the first time in recent history that the state got involved with litigation to limit ideological censorship in schools. 

    Following Bonta’s brief, more than 20 civil rights and LGBTQ+ rights organizations — including American Civil Liberties Union’s chapters in Southern and Northern California — have also filed briefs in support of the preliminary injunction.

    Those organizations include: 

    • Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California
    • California LGBTQ Health & Human Services Network
    • Equal Justice Society
    • Equality California
    • Family Assistance Program
    • Genders & Sexualities Alliance Network
    • GLSEN
    • Inland Empire Prism Collective
    • Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc.
    • LGBTQ Center OC
    • LGBTQ Community Center of the Desert
    • Legal Services of Northern California
    • Los Angeles LGBT Center
    • Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest
    • Public Advocates, Inc.
    • Public School Defenders Hub
    • Rainbow Pride Youth Alliance
    • Sacramento LGBT Center
    • Safe Schools Project of Santa Cruz County
    • Transgender Law Center
    • TransFamily Support Services
    • Trevor Project

    Penguin Random House and PEN America have also announced their support for the preliminary injunction. 

    As pressure has mounted on the district to stop its enforcement of allegedly discriminatory and illegal policies, the school board’s makeup has also changed — and more could shift in the coming months. 

    In December, One Temecula Valley PAC, a political action committee, lodged a recall effort against the board’s three conservative members and gathered enough signatures to move forward with a recall election this spring against Komrosky, the board president. 

    Conservative board member Jennifer Wiersma, however, will remain on the board, while Danny Gonzalez announced his resignation in December with plans to move to Texas. 

    Temecula Valley Unified’s school board met on Feb.13 to appoint a replacement but was unable to and decided to move forward with an election. Whoever replaces Gonzalez in that seat will determine whether the board retains its conservative majority. 

    “Despite the small but vocal opponents that seek to rewrite history and indoctrinate students,” Komrosky said, “I am very optimistic for our school district.”

    Editors’ note: This story has been updated to add a statement from Public Counsel’s Opportunity Under Law project supervising attorney, Amanda Mangaser Savage.





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  • Joseph Komrosky’s recall leaves Temecula Valley Unified’s future uncertain

    Joseph Komrosky’s recall leaves Temecula Valley Unified’s future uncertain


    Temecula Valley Unified School District board member Joseph Komrosky.

    Credit: Temecula Valley Unified

    The Temecula Valley Unified School District’s future remains murky following a close recall election that ousted Joseph Komrosky, the district’s conservative school board president. 

    Four of the district’s five seats will be up for grabs — with two board members up for re-election in November and two seats previously held by conservative members needing to be filled. Komrosky told EdSource in an email that he will likely run for re-election. Still, his departure from the school board has kindled a renewed optimism for many that the district will be able to re-focus on student academic performance and well-being. 

    “I’m looking forward to getting back to working on issues of supporting student success and safety in classrooms,” said Edgar Diaz, the president of the Temecula Valley Educators Association, the district’s teachers union. 

    “That’s my excitement….Our board meetings can get back to that, versus having to listen to controversial issues being brought up and then passed without any sense of discussion or listening.” 

    Komrosky’s departure will leave the board with three members — of whom, only Jennifer Wiersma was part of the district’s previously held conservative majority; conservative school board member Danny Gonzalez resigned in December. 

    Wiersma also said in a statement to EdSource that she looks forward to “focusing on student achievement and academics for all populations, striving to improve school safety and continuing to encourage parents to be involved in their child’s education,” regardless of the outcome. 

    She maintains, however, that “it’s been an honor to serve this community with Dr. Komrosky.” 

    The recall race was tight — with about 51% of voters opting to remove Komrosky from office. Ultimately, he lost by only 212 votes. 

    “I am proud to have fulfilled all of my campaign promises as an elected official,” Komrosky said in a statement to EdSource. “My commitment to protecting the innocence of our children in Temecula schools remains unwavering.” 

    The lead up

    Temecula Valley Unified’s conservative majority took the helm in December 2022 — and proceeded to ban critical race theory that December. 

    Months later, in Spring 2023, they fired former Superintendent Jodi McClay without cause and temporarily banned the Social Studies Alive! curriculum stating the book’s supplemental materials mentioned LGBTQ+ activist Harvey Milk. 

    The board also passed a widespread policy in August that requires school officials to notify parents if their child shows signs of being transgender. 

    Despite widespread backlash — including from state officials such as California Attorney General Rob Bonta — Riverside County Judge Eric A. Keen ruled in February that the district can continue to implement its transgender notification policy while litigation is pending. 

    “Anyone who uses their position to attack LGBTQ+ youth is unfit to serve in public office, and we are pleased to see Dr. Komrosky’s political career come to an appropriate end,” said Tony Hoang, the executive director of  Equality California, in a media release. 

    One Temecula Valley Political Action Committee co-founder Jeff Pack said the organization — which filed roughly 5,200 signatures in December — had initially hoped to remove Wiersma from her seat — but ultimately gave up because the group did not have enough signatures to move forward. 

    The PAC also decided not to pursue a recall election against Gonzalez who resigned and moved to Texas. 

    “This is a democracy. This is where people vote, and they make the decisions. It’s not for me to tell the people of that trustee area how to vote or what to vote for,” said Temecula Valley Unified school board member Schwartz. 

    “They know what’s going on. They’ve seen how those three board members have behaved; and obviously, they were not happy with what was going on, and they changed their minds. So, I think democracy is alive and well in Temecula, and it’s a good thing.” 

    Looking ahead 

    With Komrosky recalled, Temecula Valley Unified’s school board now includes Wiersma, along with Allison Barclay and Steven Schwartz, both of whom are up for re-election this November. 

    Voters will also have to decide on a replacement for Gonzalez and Komrosky. 

    Meanwhile, Wiersma will take over as the board’s president because she previously served as the school board’s clerk. 

    “I’m proud Dr. Komrosky has courageously kept his campaign promises, despite the unrelenting boardroom lawfare and personal attacks on his family by the teacher’s union, community activists, and even our own Governor, Gavin Newsom,” Wiersma said in a statement to EdSource. 

    “People underestimate the steep learning curve and tremendous amount of pressure that comes with challenging the status quo as a school board president.” 

    Pack maintained that the recall is a “happy surprise,” but that he is shocked that so many voters opted to keep Komrosky — and emphasized that their work will continue, leading up to November. 

    “[Partisan politics is] going to be something we’re going to be dealing with for a little while longer,” Pack said. “We’re going to have to work extra hard to get some of those people to see the light and realize national-style politics don’t belong here.” 





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  • Court blocks Temecula Valley Unified from enforcing CRT ban

    Court blocks Temecula Valley Unified from enforcing CRT ban


    The Temecula Valley Unified School District can no longer implement its ban on critical race theory (CRT) as litigation moves forward, a California Court of Appeals ruled Monday — marking the first time in California that a court has overturned a district’s effort to censor student learning about racial and LGBTQ+ equity, according to Amanda Mangaser Savage of the Sullivan & Cromwell Strategic Litigation Counsel at Public Counsel. 

    “This ruling binds all of California,” said Amelia Piazza, an attorney with Public Counsel’s Opportunity Under Law project, “and, I think is an important signal to school districts all over the state that this type of censorship, the courts aren’t going to tolerate it — and that students shouldn’t be deprived of a fact-based education now for any reason, and certainly not because it conflicts with the ideological positions of school board members.” 

    The decision is the latest chapter in the lawsuit Mae M. v. Komrosky, filed in August 2024, on behalf of the district’s teachers union, teachers, parents and students — alleging that the December 2022 ban on critical race theory has led to a hostile environment at schools, censored teachers and infringes on students’ right to equal protection and to receive information. 

    Monday’s opinion also called the district’s policy “unconstitutionally vague” and said it has led to anxiety among teachers who remain confused about the policy and fearful of consequences — even if there are accidental violations. 

    But supporters of the district’s policies maintain that they do not discriminate against students of color or transgender students. 

    “Critical race theory and its offshoots have no place in public institutions that are meant to serve all individuals equally. These ideas promote division, resentment, and a distorted view of history that punishes students and staff based on skin color rather than character,” said Nicole Velasco, a spokesperson for Advocates For Faith & Freedom, a law firm representing the district for free, in an email to EdSource. “We remain committed to defending lawful policies that reject this kind of racialized thinking and instead promote unity and equal treatment under the law.” 

    Velasco added that while disappointed in the ruling, they “remain confident in the legality of Temecula Valley Unified School District’s actions and the strength of the case as it proceeds.” 

    In a statement released Tuesday, David Goldberg, the president of the California Teachers Association, said that “as educators and union workers, we work so hard to provide every student with a quality education and for schools to be safe places for all students, regardless of their race, sexual orientation, or gender identity.” 

    He added that teachers should be able to focus on teaching without being caught between state law and district policies. 

    Temecula Valley Unified has not announced whether it will appeal the court’s decision, according to Velasco. But Piazza said they will continue to litigate until a final decision that will “permanently enjoin” Temecula’s resolutions is reached. 

    “Especially, as the federal government sort of escalates its attack on public schools and the right to a fact-based education, I think it’s a really meaningful decision to come down in the California courts,” Piazza said.





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  • Court blocks Temecula Valley Unified from enforcing Critical Race Theory ban

    Court blocks Temecula Valley Unified from enforcing Critical Race Theory ban


    The Temecula Unified School District can no longer implement its ban on Critical Race Theory as litigation moves forward, a California Court of Appeals ruled Monday — marking the first time in California that a court has overturned a district’s effort to censor student learning about racial and LGBTQ+ equity, according to Amanda Mangaser Savage of the Strategic Litigation Counsel at Public Counsel. 

    “This ruling binds all of California,” said Amelia Piazza, an attorney with Public Counsel’s Opportunity Under Law project, “and, I think is an important signal to school districts all over the state that this type of censorship, the courts aren’t going to tolerate it — and that students shouldn’t be deprived of a fact based education now for any reason, and certainly not because it conflicts with the ideological positions of school board members.” 

    The decision is the latest chapter in the lawsuit Mae M. v. Komrosky, filed in August 2024, on behalf of the district’s teachers union, teachers, parents and students — alleging that the December 2022 ban on Critical Race Theory has led to a hostile environment at schools, censored teachers and infringes on students’ right to equal protection and to receive information. 

    Monday’s opinion also called the district’s policy “unconstitutionally vague” and said it has led to anxiety among teachers who remain confused about the policy and fearful of consequences — even if there are accidental violations. 

    But supporters of the district’s policies maintain that they do not discriminate against students of color or transgender students. 

    “Critical race theory and its offshoots have no place in public institutions that are meant to serve all individuals equally. These ideas promote division, resentment, and a distorted view of history that punishes students and staff based on skin color rather than character,” said Nicole Velasco, a spokesperson for Advocates For Faith & Freedom, a law firm representing the district for free, in an email to EdSource. “We remain committed to defending lawful policies that reject this kind of racialized thinking and instead promote unity and equal treatment under the law.” 

    Velasco added that while disappointed in the ruling, they “remain confident in the legality of Temecula Valley Unified School District’s actions and the strength of the case as it proceeds.” 

    In a statement released Tuesday, David Goldberg, the president of the California Teachers Association, said that “as educators and union workers, we work so hard to provide every student with a quality education and for schools to be safe places for all students, regardless of their race, sexual orientation, or gender identity.” 

    He added that teachers should be able to focus on teaching, without being caught between state law and district policies. 

    Temecula Valley Unified has not announced whether it will appeal the court’s decision, according to Velasco. But Piazza said they will continue to litigate until a final decision that will “permanently enjoin” Temecula’s resolutions is reached. 

    “Especially, as the federal government sort of escalates its attack on public schools and the right to a fact based education, I think it’s a really meaningful decision to come down in the California courts,” Piazza said.





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