Temecula Valley Unified School Board President Dr. Joseph Komrosky and fellow school board member Danny Gonzalez held a press conference on June 7 to respond to a letter from California Governor Gavin Newsom, Attorney General Rob Bonta, and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond.
They were not representing TVUSD officially, but made it known they were speaking personally.
Separately, On June 1, 2023, Gov. Newsom issued a statement to California County and District Superintendents Charter School Administrators, and School Principals about “Educational Rights and Requests to Remove Instructional Materials.”
According to Tom Wait of KCAL News (CBS News Los Angeles), “The Governor says he is ready to fight any school district in the state that tries to ban books that teach about race and sexual orientation.”
During the press conference, Trustee Gonzalez and Board President Dr. Komrosky said, “Challenge accepted!”
The controversy was sparked when, during a recent TVUSD board meeting, Gonzalez referred to Harvey Milk as a pedophile. The speakers explained that they were not referring to Milk’s sexuality, but to reports that Milk had multiple relationships with teenage boys.
Although the event was held at the 412 Church of Temecula Valley, Pastor Timothy Thompson did not speak or take part in the event.
To watch the full press conference. go to the link below. Note: Audio for the first 45 seconds. The video footage starts after that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTcPET8Cpzk
President Komrosky started out by saying, “I do not attend or represent the 412 church or its members, even though I’m grateful that this press conference is hosted by them. I’m grateful for this private setting as I don’t feel safe at all having this in the general public. Secondly, I speak personally here as Dr. Joseph Komrosky, (Dr. K), not in the capacity as board president, and not on behalf of the entire TVUSD Board of Education.”
He continued, “I’ve heard the voices of the parents, and I’ll always strive to protect our children in this TVUSD school district, as we want a safe learning environment for all students.”
He said, “Regarding our forward-thinking collaborative approach to the curriculum of any kind, we have a lot to fix at the local school board level after state leaders kept schools closed longer than any other state in the nation. Our kids lost more than academics, they lost trust in a public school system that was supposed to protect them. We are thrilled to see these leaders finally take some responsibility for their mistakes during the pandemic. Choosing a content-rich and robust curriculum that emphasizes unbiased historical knowledge remains one of the highest priorities of the TVUSD board. In a competitive era of growth within the private, charter, and homeschool communities, we’re obligated to explore superior materials in a post-pandemic era of learning loss for our students. Parents and families also expect us to include them in the process of selecting instructional materials, and to be diligent in identifying and excluding obscene and hateful material from the curriculum. As provided by California Ed Code 60002, parents and other members of the community are involved. CA Ed Code 51100 emphasizes parental rights. Moreover, CA Ed Code 35160.1 affords us additional flexibility to create our own unique solutions here locally, even if the instructional material hasn’t been adopted by the state, referencing Ed Code 60210.
“Regarding Governor Newsom’s Twitter statement to me, it was never my intention to insult anyone, as it is always my intention to lead with civility. My word choice is based upon facts represented by Mr. Milk, and I don’t believe those facts are a good example for our children to learn about in elementary school.
“Governor Newsom, I’m glad that I have your attention. Now you have mine, as I’ve received my first death threat after your tweet, and relentless attacks on my job as a well-standing tenured professor. Quite frankly, these attacks are ridiculous and unwarranted. My students will tell you that they are from all walks of life, with many different gender identities/sexual preferences, and I treat them all with love and respect in my classrooms. Moreover, rather than resorting to a Cancel Culture tactic of ad hominin attacks against my character whether it’s you and/or any other public figure, let’s instead focus on the substance of my arguments, like respectful adults. Additionally, I assure you that I am anything but ignorant regarding what you’ve said. If you’re offended by my assertion regarding Harvey Milk, I’ll ask you one simple question, “Do you approve of any 33-year-old person, regardless of their gender identity or sexual preference, having a sexual relationship with any 16-year-old child, regardless of their gender identity or sexual preference?” My remarks about Mr. Milk were not based upon him being a homosexual but rather based upon his being an adult having a sexual relationship with a minor. I would express the same sentiments if any adult being offered as an example in K-5 textbooks had admitted to a sexual relationship with a minor. That is the source of my objection to his example to TVUSD K-5 children, not his sexual orientation. The world is waiting to hear your answer.
“While we wait to hear your answer, I’ll let you know, that in this district, God willing, as long as I’m a school board trustee, I will resist any attempts from any and all sexual predators of any kind to harm our innocent children. You should have learned more about the exploitation of young children during the Me Too movement to help you avoid celebrating pederasts and those who would steal our children’s virtue. Or maybe your actions speak for themselves with your signature on a bill that reduces penalties for 24-year-old men to have non-consensual sex with 14-year-old boys (SB 145, Weiner, 2020).
“Even more, I will reject any vulgar, obscene, and pornographic material which offers zero academic merits from our student’s textbooks in K-12. They do not need to be exposed to salacious material that can’t meet longstanding decency laws to be shared on public television or radio. Conversely, we need to stick to the basics of education by focusing on reading, writing, math, science, history, etc., rather than confusing our children with hyper-politicized fads or forcing them to endure a radical culture war experiment. This trajectory is my right as a governing board member, and that is what my constituents voted me in to do, to protect all students in this district.
“Governor, you said it right when you said this isn’t Texas or Florida, as we can be so much better than these states if we had better leadership from the top levels of government who actually believe in the vital significance of public schools to send their own children to those schools. And imagine a world in which millions of families weren’t fleeing this state to find better educational prosperity in other states, but where millions of families were coming to this state because we have the best educational standards. You governor can use your power and influence to help us achieve this end. I am in prayer that you will do the right thing and join us in our efforts to give our students in TVUSD, and all of our other school districts, a safe and excellent education so that they would flourish and be productive and engaged citizens in the great state of California, and the United States overall.
To all of the parents across this country, stand up and protect your kids. They need you to be brave for them, as you are their last line of defense!”
