The Temecula Valley Unified School District (TVUSD) Board of Education yesterday unanimously voted to rescind two controversial policies as a result of an unfair labor practice filed by the Temecula Valley Educators Association (TVEA).
“Because California state law requires compliance with the Public Employee Relations Board, which is also known as PERB, and they have ruled in favor of the charging party, which is the Temecula Valley Educators Association, the California Teachers Association and the National Educators Association, we here are going to vote to rescind [Board Policy] 5020.01 and [Administrative Regulation] 6115,” Trustee Jen Wiersma said. “Very important note the window to file an appeal closed prior to this newly constituted board being seated, and stay tuned.”
The first policy, BP 5020.01 is the controversial parental notification policy, which was approved 3-2 in August 2023, with Schwartz and former Trustee Allison Barclay voting against. The second policy, AR 6115 is the flag policy that largely banned any flag other than the United States or California state flag from being displayed in a classroom.
According to the PERB notice posted by the district, the board violated the Educational Employment Relations Act by adopting both policies without first negotiating with TVEA about the changes.
“The fact that at my first board meeting, I am forced to rescind these policies that I have believed in is deeply disappointing,” Area 2 Trustee Emil Barham said at the end of the meeting, noting that with AB 1955, which prohibits policies like the parental notification, going into effect Jan. 1, there was nothing more to do at this point in regards to that policy until litigation over AB1955 is settled.
As for the flag policy, Barham said that he would prefer if teachers would, as a practice, just keep displaying the American and California state flags, as required under the now rescinded policy.
“I also think by the flag policy that we passed, that we rescinded, I see it as embracing diversity,” he said. “I also see it as promoting a discrimination free environment, because the American flag and the state flag represent all of us.”
Barham said that he would rather not “govern by policy,” but said that if he started to hear complaints about flags other than the American or California flag in classrooms, he would support bringing the policy back to be negotiated with the union.
But the Tuesday meeting started in a much more tumultuous manner.
Immediately after being sworn into office, Area 1 Trustee Dr. Melinda Anderson made a motion to change the order in which votes were taken to align with seniority instead of alphabetically.
“I just think it makes sense that having member Barham and member Anderson, being the newest members, that it would be wise of us to follow and kind of see how Wiersma, [Area 5 Trustee Steven] Schwartz and [Area 4 Trustee Joseph] Komrosky are leading the meeting,” Anderson said.
Wiersma, who at the time was the presiding officer of the board, said that she had worked on the order with Lená Anocibar, executive assistant to Superintendent Gary Woods, before noting that the order that she was following was alphabetical.
Anderson’s motion to change the order was approved with a 3-2 vote, with Wiersma and Komrosky voting against.
But this wasn’t the biggest showdown of the night, which came during the board’s organizational meeting when Schwartz nominated Anderson to serve as president of the board.
“I believe right now we need a new board and a new direction for our district,” Schwartz said. “With all the strife and all the arguments and disagreements that went on in the last board, I believe it is critical for us to have a fresh start, and I believe Dr. Anderson, with her expertise, would be a great person to lead that forward.”
Barham agreed, stating that he felt there was a need for a fresh start on the board that he felt could be achieved with Anderson at the helm.
“And what I see here is in the last two years, accomplishments are very little, and the process of navigating oversight has been contentious for the board and also for the community, which I don’t think has helped, and this is about the students,” Barham said. “For me, I’m a teacher first, before a board member, and like I said, I see accomplishments as being very little, so I am in favor of moving in a new direction.”
For her part, Anderson said that she has spent time trying to master and understand parliamentary procedure as a member of the board with hopes to “bring professionalism back to the boardroom.”
“I believe the power of the president is really to manage the meetings, to respect the public speaker, make sure that the public respects and honors their free speech and to keep the board meetings on task,” she said. “So that is why I think that I would be a good candidate for board president.”
Wiersma, while congratulating the newly elected and re-elected board members, said that over the last two years she had “evaluated the importance of experience.”
“I believe that continuity is important as a best practice, and looking back to 2022, and now understanding where I am, I believe the individual serving as a president should have at least a year under their belt,” she said.
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In December 2022, immediately after they were sworn into office, Wiersma nominated Komrosky to be president of the board, a position he was later elected to in a 3-2 vote with Schwartz and Barclay voting against.
“I remember when Dr. Komrosky was elected, and I nominated a board member who had been serving on the board, and he was brand new,” Schwartz said at Tuesday night’s meeting. “And Jen, you had no problem supporting him as a brand new board member, so can we put the honesty on the table and stop playing games, and let’s get on with what we have to do?”
Both Wiersma and Komrosky said that decisions made in December 2022 were made in a certain context that they said did not currently exist.
“We were an anomaly,” Komrosky said. “We didn’t trust the previous board and [administration], so that’s why I was voted in [as] president on the first night. Things have changed now.”
Both Komrosky and Wiersma voted against Schwartz’s nomination of Anderson, stating that they believed Wiersma deserved the position.
“The person seated here is the one that has earned it,” Wiersma said. “Month after month, two years out, and I know I can bring what needs to change.”
Barham said that he believes Wiersma is responsible for a lot of what has happened in the district over the last two years, including the need for the board to rescind the two policies, calling her actions that led to the PERB ruling as “reckless.”
“You have assumed no responsibility for what has taken place here in the last two years,” he said. “You don’t assume that responsibility, and I think that you are accountable for a lot of things.”
Barham further alleged that Wiersma called people in the community to try to get them to sway Barham’s vote and “threaten me if I don’t get in line with how things are supposed to be,” something Wiersma denied. Anderson, when asked by Barham, said he was telling the truth.
“You can have your truth,” Wiersma said.
Anderson, with a 3-2 vote, was chosen to serve as president of the board. Barham was subsequently chosen to serve as clerk of the board, though Wiersma kept those duties for the remainder of the meeting.
The board also, after another round of heated discussion, voted to put both Schwartz and Komrosky on the ballot for possible election to the CSBA Delegate Assembly for 2025-2027.
Schwartz voted against placing Komrosky on the ballot, and both Wiersma and Komrosky voted against putting Schwartz on the ballot, saying that they had concerns about how he would represent the board.
Weirsma pointed to reports that she received from the most recent California School Boards Association Annual Education Conference earlier this month.
“I’ve got so many friends and people who understand what’s at stake,” she said. “And so whether it was this year, which was reported to me, or last year when I sat in a room and heard you call us white Christian nationalists and be a part of the excitement of the recall, these are things that matter.”
Komrosky also noted Schwartz’s support of the recall as one of his concerns, along with Schwartz’s statements against the now-rescinded parental notification policy and his statements expressing disappointment at the then-board majority’s desire to fire a teacher who gave students the option to read the Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Angels in America,” as part of a class assignment.
“If you do get elected, I will serve with you at CSBA if I get elected,” Komrosky said. “But I just want to let the public know we want good representation up there and professionalism.”
A few of those in the audience who spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting called for the board to tone down the rhetoric, stop the personal attacks and move away from the “culture wars.”
“People don’t want this,” one parent said. “I don’t want this for my kids.”
Others expressed their disappointment that Anderson and Barham did not back Wiersma for board president.
“I’m actually just kind of disgusted how this first meeting has gone all right, so I’m expecting you guys to come together, lean on [Wiersma] and Dr. [Komrosky], OK, because you’ve got a lot of experience there,” Christopher Bout, a parent, said. “I was hoping that you would step out, OK, that you would concede when Schwartz nominated you, but I don’t know what’s going on in your head.”
The board also voted to postpone further discussion on a contract with the law firm Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud, & Romo, though it approved a contract with the law firm Orbach Huff and Henderson that designated attorney David Huff as general legal counsel for the board.
In less contentious matters, the board learned that the district’s finances are in a good position for the next two fiscal years and created two new subcommittees. The first, with Barham and Komrosky, will focus on accountability and goals. The second, with Schwartz and Wiersma, will get the ball rolling for the board to have a student board member, as requested by the students. Anderson also joined Wiersma on the subcommittee focused on the options for drug prevention programs.
A full recording of the Dec. 17 regular meeting can be found here on the district’s YouTube channel. The recording from the closed session can be found here, also on the district’s YouTube channel.
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