One Temecula Valley PAC opposes insulting move by TVUSD’s Gonzalez to hire political propagandist costing district an estimated $30,000

TEMECULA (March 10, 2023) — In yet another example of bad governance on display by the newest elected members of Temecula Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees, trustee Danny Gonzalez has a proposal on the March 14 meeting agenda to spend an estimated $30,000 to defend the board’s passage of an anti-Critical Race Theory resolution last last year. 

Link to the agenda (Action, Item 2: https://simbli.eboardsolutions.com/SB_Meetings/ViewMeeting.aspx?S=36030186&MID=19013

“Some members of the Governing Board have heard this consultant speak and would like to make his services available to certificated staff,” the proposed resolution reads. 

The $15,000 would come from the district’s General Fund and be paid to The Arend Law Firm. But an additional estimated $15,000 would then be expensed to pay for substitute teachers covering for teachers attending the “political” events.

Christopher Arend, of Arend Law Firm, was on the Paso Robles Joint Unified School Board for just two years from 2020-2022 and he lost a reelection bid, garnering just 27% of the vote, while his opponent won more than 48% of the vote. His own school district didn’t want him representing them any longer.

Prior, Arend was an attorney in Frankfurt, Germany, for 19 years before he moved back to California and he now works as a translator of legal documents, according to a story in The San Luis Obispo Tribune.

During his short tenure on the school board, Arend wrote a 6,600-word essay, where he wrote that systemic racism is “nothing more than intellectual contortion intended to sow division in the United States of America."

Arend told The Tribune that he used his experience as an international lawyer to analyze the definitions of the words racism and racist.

He has said in previous interviews that he believes that nonpartisan school boards are really political positions. "I would rather have a conservative candidate on the board than a liberal board member," he told New Times.

Nowadays, apparently Arend appears on obscure podcasts and politically motivated groups to "teach" anti-CRT rhetoric, using his alleged "analysis" of racism.

He has zero experience in teaching, education, or education administration beyond his short stint on the Paso Robles school board. His specialties, while practicing law in Germany included Business Law, Corporate Law, and Computer and Software.

TVUSD Trustee Danny Gonzalez wants to pay $15,000 to a legal document translator who admittedly has a political objective, so he can come to TVUSD and "teach" an unscientific, uneducated political opinion theory to teachers and staff within the school district. 

Then, he wants to pay another estimated $15,000 for substitute teachers covering for teachers attending what are essentially political rallies — thus providing a substandard quality of learning to students. 

This is beyond ludicrous and yet another expense that taxpayers will have to foot the bill for in order for these three newly-elected trustees to push their politically-based agenda into our schools and onto our teachers and children. 

Hiring Arend, a man with no educational background and a stated political objective, to lecture formally accredited teachers with make-believe, unproven political rhetoric is equivalent to hiring a Fantasy Football league champion to take over for a local football coach before a CIF championship game. 

The man has no business “teaching” anything to educated, experienced teachers. It’s an insult. 

Combining this expense — which comes from the district’s General Fund and could be used to purchase classroom supplies that are in dire need throughout the district — with the $650-per-hour hiring of a political hitman attorney for an undisclosed reason is even more troubling. 

It is clear that the new majority on the TVUSD school board has no problem spending taxpayer money earmarked for students and schools on personal political projects. 

Further, moves such as these only serve to damage the fine reputation of Temecula Valley Unified School District, its schools, its students, and ultimately the community.

Partisan politics have no place in nonpartisan elected positions such as school boards and local city councils. 1TVPAC calls on the community to voice their opposition in person at the March 14 meeting and in email to Gonzelez and the rest of the board to this proposal and continue to push back against the misinformation being spewed by the new board majority and their proposed speaker. 

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One Temecula Valley Political Action Committee was to support and foster a stable and common sense approach to governance for Southwest Riverside County. The group has expanded to five working teams actively monitoring local school boards and city councils throughout Southwest Riverside County encompassing the cities of Temecula, Murrieta, Menifee, and Lake Elsinore. To learn more, volunteer, and donate, visit www.onetvpac.org. 

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Paid for by the One Temecula Valley PAC (FPPC #1454922) and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.