Three newly elected school board trustees who ran on a parental rights platform in Temecula, Calif., and voted to ban critical race theory from being taught in the classroom last week were met with student walkouts over the issue, along with accusations of “white supremacy.”
The proposed critical race theory (CRT) ban was discussed at a school board meeting on Dec. 13 at Temecula Valley High School, where more than 500 people gathered and several hundred others watched the meeting online.
Earlier in the day, dozens of fliers calling the proposed ban “white supremacy in action” were posted on windows throughout the high school.
At the meeting, cheers and jeers filled the high school theater as each of the five candidates were sworn in, marking a shift in balance on the board to a majority of trustees who ran on a platform of traditional Christian values.
Just hours after he was sworn in and elected school board president at Temecula Valley Unified School District (TVUSD), Joseph Komrosky introduced two resolutions. The first declared a new district policy against racism and the second banned CRT. The board passed both resolutions by a 3-2 vote with newly elected trustees Jen Wiersma and Danny Gonzalez voting in favor and Allison Barclay and Steven Schwartz opposed.
Schwartz and Barclay had earlier urged the rest of the board not to elect Komrosky as board president, claiming he was unqualified and inexperienced.
Since the meeting, there have been at least two student walkouts—one at Temecula Valley High School with about 200 students and another at Great Oak High School with about 350. Schwartz, a retired teacher and longtime union activist, attended the Great Oak walkout with students last week.
CRT Ban
The teaching of the tenets of critical race theory has been a source of contention among parental rights groups in California and across the nation in recent years.
