Temecula Valley Unified CRT ban has created a hostile school environment, lawsuit says

Community member Kayla Church stands in support of LGBTQ+ community and in opposition to Temecula Valley Unified curriculum ban.

Credit: Mallika Seshadri / EdSource

Temecula Valley Unified’s school board has created an environment of fear and divisiveness on school campuses since it passed a resolution banning critical race theory, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday.

The lawsuit filed in Riverside Superior Court on behalf of seven students, three teachers and the district’s teachers union, alleges that the resolution has resulted in the censorship of teachers and has taken away students’ fundamental rights to an education, violates the California Constitution because it is vague, infringes on the right of students to receive information and violates their rights to equal protection. 

The plaintiffs want the court to declare the board resolution unconstitutional and order the board to revoke it.

“We will be seeking an injunction to end the hatred and the division sowed by this resolution,” said Mark Rosenbaum, an attorney with Public Counsel, a nonprofit public interest law firm at a news conference Wednesday morning. Public Counsel and Los Angeles law firm Ballard Spahr are representing the plaintiffs. 

The Temecula Valley Unified resolution banning “critical race theory and other similar frameworks” passed 3-2  in December. After numerous statements opposing racism and a quote from civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., the resolution’s prohibitions include teaching that racism is common or that a person should feel uncomfortable, guilty or any sort of psychological distress because of their sex or race. It also forbids discussions on whether the United States was founded to preserve slavery. Teachers are permitted to teach about critical race theory only if instruction focuses on its flaws.

Critical race theory, usually taught at the college level, examines the role of institutions in racism throughout history. The theory is seldom taught in K-12 schools, and is not included in California’s voluntary state model curriculum. Critical race theory is often confused with culturally relevant teaching, according to the California School Boards Association.

The lawsuit challenged the school board’s definition of critical race theory. It claims the board is using the term as a catchall to include a wide range of concepts including racism, sexual orientation, sex discrimination, culturally responsive education and social-emotional learning. 

“With the broad and vague nature of the intent and language of the resolution, it creates a hostile environment to teach and learn,” said Edgar Diaz, president of the Temecula Valley Education Association, the district’s teachers union. “Educators are uneasy about how to balance the facilitation of the discussions while avoiding broad topics and potential discipline.”

The resolution has had a chilling effect on Temecula Valley Unified teachers, who aren’t sure if they can comply with state standards while also complying with the board policy, according to the lawsuit. “Can a U.S. History teacher facilitate a discussion — as the California History-Social Science Framework instructs — on the question: Did the Civil Rights movement succeed?” it asks.

Teachers, students and parents who spoke or had their statements read at the news conference Wednesday, painted a picture of schools where teachers are afraid to teach about Black history and race and, as a result, discourage student discussions on the topic out of fear of retribution from administrators.

Teachers at the news conference spoke about colleagues being called into administrators’ offices to discuss the appropriateness of a mural or the display of the image of a civil rights leader on their classroom walls. 

“It’s a chilling effect, and teachers are teaching in a hostile work environment, and we are being intimidated, and the students feel it,” said Dawn Sibby, who teaches government at Temecula Valley High School. “It affects them every day and makes them feel unsafe. It isn’t moving us forward; it’s moving us backward into a bad place in our district. We can’t get teachers to come to our district.”

Some teachers have received hostile voicemail messages and through social media, according to speakers at the news conference. 

A parent identified only as Rachel P. said she is no longer confident that teachers can freely teach in the district. Two years ago, her son’s class read King’s “I Have a Dream” speech in its entirety, but the year after the resolution passed, no lessons were taught around Black History Month, she said, adding she’s concerned her son might fall behind academically as he progresses through grade levels in the district.

All the student plaintiffs and their guardians have been given pseudonyms to protect the children because of their ages.

Fourth-grade teacher Amy Eytchison broke into tears as she read a statement from Mae M., one of the student plaintiffs.  “The board passed the resolution back in December, and it had an immediate impact,”  Mae M. said in the statement. “Young adults became targets for social media harassment, not by children, but adults. Although this resolution has impacted my personal life, the continuation of the board’s ideological policies has the potential to harm the future of this district.”

The vote to ban critical race theory was the first of several controversial moves made by the Temecula Valley School Board since the election of a conservative majority last year. Since then, the board has fired Superintendent Jodi McClay and voted to ban state-approved textbooks that include lessons on gay rights and gay rights activist Harvey Milk — a move that led to an investigation by the California Department of Education. Under pressure from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office, the board voted to approve the teacher-vetted curriculum, excluding chapters on civil rights, including the gay rights movement.

In July, the board called for the removal of books that they disagree with from school libraries, according to the lawsuit.

Speakers Wednesday talked about increased intolerance in school toward students of color and LGBTQ-plus youth. Diaz spoke of teachers who were afraid to display photos of their same-sex spouses in their classrooms.

The three-member majority of Joseph Komrosky, Jennifere Wiersma and Danny Gonzalez was elected in November as part of a conservative effort to flip school boards. Wiersma and Gonzalez were not available for comment for this story. The three board members are now the subjects of a recall effort by the One Temecula Valley PAC, a grassroots organization.

Board President Komrosky said he was only made aware of the lawsuit on Wednesday and has not been served with the suit yet.

“While I and the board will address and respond to the suit in due course through the board’s counsel and the judicial process, I will simply note for now that, in my view, this suit effectively represents an effort by those behind it to secure the ability to use CRT and its precepts of division and hate as an instructional framework in our schools,” he said in a statement sent to EdSource. “As one of three trustees who voted for the resolution and who prioritizes the interests of our students and the rights of parents and legal guardians, I do not believe that CRT or any racist ideology is a suitable educational framework for classroom instruction at the elementary and secondary level.”

Board member Steven Schwartz, who voted against the resolution to ban critical race theory, calls the resolution racist. He isn’t surprised by the litigation. 

“Parents and students involved in the initial lawsuit decided that the only way to get satisfaction was to go to work,” he said. “That’s where we are now.”

Temecula Valley Unified joins other districts across the country that have pushed to prevent the teaching of race and racism in the classroom. Elected officials nationwide introduced at least 563 measures to restrict teaching about race in 2021 and 2022, and 241 of those passed, according to “CRT Forward: Tracking the Attack on Critical Race Theory,” a report from the UCLA School of Law. Almost all the measures impacted K-12 education, and 70% sought to control teaching and curriculum in the classroom. The most common consequence for a breach was withholding funding.

In California, Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified, Visalia Unified, Paso Robles Joint Unified, Ramona Unified and Newport-Mesa Unified are among the districts that have joined Temecula Valley in passing measures to restrict instruction about race.

“Since the board passed the resolution, it has created an unsafe, discriminatory and dangerous environment for our Black students, students of color and LGBT-plus students,” said Anthony M., a parent of a plaintiff.  “In particular, the Black students who have voiced opposition have suffered an ongoing campaign of harassment by primarily adult supporters. The resolution is restricting our students’ access to an education free from intimidation, harassment and discrimination, pushing its ideological censorship agenda.”

EdSource reporter Mallika Seshadri contributed to this story.