The Temecula Valley Unified School District (TVUSD) School Board's September performance has left parents, educators, and community members frustrated and disheartened. According to the latest OneTVPAC report card, only one trustee received a grade above a B, while three trustees earned a failing grade — a stark reflection of the ongoing dysfunction plaguing the board.

The One Temecula Valley Political Action Committee (PAC) is sounding the alarm over potential Brown Act violations and the Temecula Valley Unified School District’s (TVUSD) proposed engagement with Murrieta-based law firm Advocates for Faith and Freedom (AFF). A special board meeting to consider the agreement is scheduled for Tuesday, September 17.
1TVPAC is encouraging members of the community to attend the 8:45 a.m. meeting to express concern.

The board voted against a proposed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Riverside University Health System — Behavioral Health, which would have provided free, family-consented mental health and substance abuse services to adolescents. This was not a vote grounded in facts or a thoughtful debate about best practices — it was a politically charged rejection that will have real consequences for students who are struggling.

Public schools are in the business of offering education, not enforcing it at gunpoint. Too often, districts treat parental opt-outs like a threat to the system, when in reality they’re just a reflection of choice. 

If parents want to pull their kids out of health class, history lessons, literature, locker rooms, or extracurriculars, let them. It’s not the district’s role to force feed knowledge to unwilling families.

When ideologues seize local school boards, they don’t just inflame meetings. They run up bills. A first-of-its-kind study from UCLA’s Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access tallied the national price tag of these culture-war fights—legal fees, investigations, security, PR, and staff time—and found U.S. districts spent about $3.2 billion in 2023–24 responding to politically manufactured conflict. That’s money not spent on teachers, tutoring, arts, buses, or repairs.

In this conversation, Jeff Pack interviews Alison Barclay, a former school board member at TVUSD, about the controversial anti-CRT resolution passed by the then-TVUSD board majority in 2022. They discuss the implications of this resolution, the subsequent lawsuit (Mae vs. Komrosky) and impending possible seven-figure settlement, and the educational consequences for the district.

The meeting devolved into yelling, name-calling, violation of Robert’s rules of order, lack of adherence to proper procedure, Brown Act violations, and multiple audience members being removed. There are many ways this meeting could have been shorter, professional, and more productive; there is enough blame and responsibility to share.

The recent release of a third-party investigation thoroughly discredited Wiersma’s public sexual harassment accusation against fellow Trustee Steven Schwartz. The report from Nicole Miller & Associates found the claim unsubstantiated, inconsistent, and likely driven by political and personal grievances, including Wiersma’s disappointment at not being named board president.