Temecula School Board Reverses Course on Social Studies Textbook

Temecula Valley Unified trustees have waved the white flag over a controversial social studies textbook.

On Friday, the school board reversed its earlier rejection of the “Social Studies Alive!” curriculum. Elementary school students will have access to the material, minus a chapter on civil rights that features three paragraphs on the LGBT movement.

You can read the chapter that has been excluded here.  

School Board President Joseph Komrosky, who initially opposed the textbook, explained Friday that the district was at risk of a lawsuit for failing to provide adequate textbooks for its students. The reversal had nothing to do with Newsom’s threats, he claimed.

“Newsom, Thurmond, Bonta, they are salivating for us to make a mistake,” Komrosky said. “So, for me, I want to make the right decision. We do not have curriculum. We are three weeks out (from the start of school). This is just my concern. What I’m saying is we have to take action that’s legal, not illegal, to avoid litigation.”

Newsom expressed relief that TVUSD students would have the materials they need. 

“But this vote lays bare the true motives of those who opposed this curriculum,” he added. “This has never been about parents’ rights. It’s not even about Harvey Milk — who appears nowhere in the textbook students receive. This is about extremists’ desire to control information and censor the materials used to teach our children.”

Many parents and teachers just seem happy the drama is over.

“I honestly don’t think my mental health can take another of these board meetings,” one teacher said during public comments. “Morale is at an all-time low. I’ve taught for 26 years, grew up in a family of educators, grew up in the Bible Belt and never have seen this much contention and division that is of your own making. Saying that gay people fought for their rights is not sexualizing children.”