Anti-book banning bill moves through Senate Education Committee

An Informed Response to CA Assemblyman Jackson’s Misrepresentations in AB 1078
Standing up for parental rights over our children’s education is more than a campaign slogan; it is essential. As parents are taking action to regain control of their children’s education, we are seeing disinformation campaigns launched to upend their efforts. As a Temecula Unified School District (TVUSD) board member, I’m compelled to address the inaccuracies represented by California Assemblyman Jackson, and co-sponsor Tony Thurmond, California Superintendent of Education, regarding AB 1078.

Thurmond recently implied that the TVUSD school board has engaged in: 

• Threatening, bullying and mistreating students throughout the district 
• Banning books specifically designed to target LGBTQ+ and persons of color 
• Wielding local control to avoid inclusive education.

Here are the facts: 
Local school boards are uniquely positioned to engage with the local community and obtain important insights about the educational experience of our community. The law requires all students to have equal access to their education free of pervasive vulgarity, obscenity, pornography, and sexual harassment, which are not protected speech under the First Amendment. Recently, the play “Angels in America,” was assigned to a group of students in a TVUSD drama class, included over 100 “F—words”, sexual violence and descriptions of explicit sex and drug use. See highlighted pages 60, 61, and 63 below.

During Superintendent Thurmond’s visit, he met with school activists, but neglected to speak with a family whose daughter was traumatized by this sordid material aimed at sexualizing our students. After alerting her parents, who testified at a TVUSD board meeting, this student suffered mistreatment and subsequent, retaliatory abuse on campus. She SHOULD have been Thurmond’s primary concern. State leaders, schools, teachers, and local board members should be making unbiased, ethical decisions in the classroom and designing policy to support and protect all stakeholders as per CA Educ Code § 233.5.

“Each teacher shall endeavor to impress upon the minds of the pupils the principles of morality, truth, justice, patriotism, and a true comprehension of the rights, duties, and dignity of American citizenship, and the meaning of equality and human dignity, including the promotion of harmonious relations, …to teach them to avoid idleness, profanity, and falsehood… and foster an environment… free from discriminatory attitudes, practices, events, or activities.”

While evaluating our recent K-5 social studies pilot, my colleague and I noted the lack of parental and citizen involvement as per California Ed Code. We initially paused the decision to adopt the curriculum based on the district bypassing the requirement to “promote the involvement of parents and the other members of the community in the selection of instructional materials.” Sec. 60002. The curriculum committee was comprised of 47 teachers and zero parents.

In the process of seeking a robust, collaboratively chosen history curriculum rich in civics and geography, we discovered Harvey Milk’s biography in the proposed supplemental material for 4th grade. We learned this controversial historical figure had an intimate sexual relationship with a minor as reported by Randy Shilts, an award-winning gay reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, who covered Harvey’s activism and political career. After five months, we just received full access to the teacher’s edition to finish a comprehensive review. The board majority has the right and responsibility to exercise both authority and discretion when adopting materials for 7-10 years. We are NOT banning books as Jackson’s bill asserts. We are working diligently to provide the best educationally suitable materials for our community in our elementary school classrooms while adhering to Fair Act guidelines in the K-12 setting. 

This school board was elected to protect and oversee the education of every student regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, or ethnicity. I specifically voted to ban racism and supported a resolution disallowing Critical Race Theory to prevent students from being judged by the color of their skin instead of the content of their character. TVUSD is committed to education which learns from past injustices, racisms, and discrimination and rejects current discrimination threatening to undermine our shared humanity. In a recent Supreme Court decision striking down racial discrimination in college admissions, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote, “The words of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 are not like mood rings; they do not change their message from one moment to the next.”

Conclusion
AB 1078 clearly threatens to limit the authority and autonomy of a school board to make the best decisions in educating and protecting kids while upholding parent’s rights. It levies fines against districts, encourages the public to dox school board members, and removes local control in an unconstitutional manner. This is a direct attack on voters. Parents and patriots must call their California state senators and urge them to vote NO on this bill. 

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Jen Wiersma is a wife, mother and trustee for the Temecula Valley Unified School District, Area 3