Response to ‘anti-racism’ and ‘CRT ban’ resolutions proposed by new TVUSD school board member Dr. Joseph Komrosky

TEMECULA (Dec. 13, 2022) — It is the opinion of One Temecula Valley PAC (1TVPAC) that the resolutions — Resolution No. 2022-23/21, prohibiting the teaching of Critical Race Theory; and Resolution No. 2022-23/20, Resolution Condemning Racism — are little else than politically partisan performative measures intended to serve the interests of campaign benefactors and open the door for a politically-charged witch hunt on teachers and administrators within the Temecula Valley Unified School District. 

Resolution No. 2022-23/21, prohibiting the teaching of Critical Race Theory — which incidentally is not taught within TVUSD, has never been, nor has it ever been considered for the district’s curriculum — as written, is rife with misrepresentations of CRT. 

The examples used in the writing of the resolution are taken directly from the playbooks of radical right-wing Christian conservative groups such as Moms for Liberty, Proud Boys, and Heritage Foundation.

The simple fact is: Dr. Komrosky’s resolution is political grandstanding, put forth at the behest of a local pastor and leader of the Inland Empire Family PAC, and was not intended to serve the students of TVUSD.

Rather, it is vague and misrepresentative to the point that it will serve as a template for targeting and doxxing teachers and administrators throughout the school district. A stated intent the majority of the new trustees campaigned upon. 

“A resolution like this one represents an abandonment of what education means, and a flight from truth and reality – it depends upon nationalistic fantasies rooted in the very history of racism is seeks to deny,” writes William "Liam" O'Mara IV, PhD, professor of world, Middle East, and European history, on behalf of 1TVPAC. “To claim that TVUSD exists to provide quality instruction to our heirs while ordering that the district throw away all the scholarship upon which that instruction depends is beyond dishonest – it represents a dangerous slide into reactionary politics and myth-making that cut us off from the past and constrain our ability to analyze and understand the present.”

The resolution, at its core, is politically-charged propaganda and rhetoric based in no reality whatsoever. 

Resolution No. 2022-23/20, Resolution Condemning Racism, is intended to further undermine district teachers from teaching history as well as social studies and places a target directly onto their backs. 

The resolution walks hand-in-hand with Resolution No. 2022-23/21 to serve as a prosecutorial tool for this majority group to attack teachers and administrators within the district. 

Why Dr. Komrosky not included anti-semitism in the resolution? We believe it is because, as written, the group of board members intend to create enough gray area in the language to provide a case for acts of “reverse racism.”

“The danger of this resolution is that it is a collection of seemingly benign words that, at first, read like crazy things that everyone knows isn’t happening so it shouldn’t be a concern,” writes Krist Rutz-Robbins, who has taught History, Geography and Critical Issues in Education at CSUSM, and a former TVUSD Board of Trustee. “But, these words are intended to trick the reader into agreeing with their hateful action items intended to ostracize our diverse body of students and teachers. Again, this is manipulative language that are words of hate masquerading as words of love and acceptance. 

“Pay attention to that little word ‘feel,’” Rutz-Robbins writes. “They are using this resolution to mean that if a student ‘feels’ bad on account of race or sex then that is a violation. “Read the news from across the nation, they are teaching their children to identify with white supremacy and ‘feel’ bad if a teacher teaches about racism, then they cry foul of the resolution which would lead to banning books, fire the teacher, and tear down the posters that call for diversity, love and acceptance.”

It is the opinion of 1TVPAC that the incoming school board members should seek to educate themselves about the workings of the district before attempting to shove these politically-motivated resolutions into the faces of teachers, administrators, parents and students.

They should be reminded that they serve every single student within the district, not only those that contributed to their campaigns, or align with their political or religious views. 

The TVUSD Board of Trustees is a non-partisan collective of representatives throughout the great City of Temecula, working in the true spirit of service — putting the wellbeing of others ahead of their own personal beliefs.

We ask that Dr. Komrosky reconsiders putting those above-mentioned resolutions forth until input is received from the community, parents, and the student body.

Additionally, we would be happy to provide experts in the fields of history and the law to each and every board member that requests more information on the topic of Critical Race Theory. 

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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.