Gov. Gavin Newsom has called Temecula school board President Joseph Komrosky “an ignorant person” after he referred publicly to slain gay rights activist Harvey Milk as “a pedophile” when the board voted to block curriculum that mentions Milk.
RELATED: Curriculum that mentions Harvey Milk blocked by Temecula school board
Newsom’s Saturday, June 3, tweet called the comment “an offensive statement” and also stated: “Congrats Mr. Komrosky you have our attention. Stay tuned.” The governor’s tweet includes a link to a television news report on the school board’s action.
An offensive statement from an ignorant person.
This isn’t Texas or Florida. In the Golden State, our kids have the freedom to learn.
Congrats Mr. Komrosky you have our attention. Stay tuned. https://t.co/4HHLm3q57r
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 3, 2023
Komrosky could not be reached for comment Monday, June 5, nor could he be reached Friday afternoon, June 2.
The tweet comes after a Thursday, June 1, letter from Newsom, Attorney General Rob Bonta and State Superintendent Tony Thurmond to all county schools superintendents, school district superintendents and charter school administrators to warn them against banning books.
“Access to books — including books that reflect the diverse experiences and perspectives of Californians, and especially those that may challenge us to grapple with uncomfortable truths — is a profound freedom we all must protect and cultivate,” the letter states.
School systems that remove or ban materials from classrooms or libraries may be asked to provide information to the Attorney General’s Office for analysis, the letter states.
Messages with the offices of Newsom and the Attorney General seeking information about what might be asked of the Temecula Valley Unified School District were not answered Monday.
Temecula Valley Unified spokesperson James Evans said in an email Monday that the district would not comment on Newsom’s tweet.
On May 16, the conservative Christian majority on the Temecula Valley school board blocked a social studies curriculum on a 3-2 vote because its supporting materials — not the textbook — mention Milk.
Temecula Valley Unified officials proposed that the school board adopt a book called Social Studies Alive for students in first through fifth grades for eight years. The textbook would have been used starting with the 2023-24 school year and cost about $1.6 million, according to a report to the board.
Komrosky, who voted against the book’s adoption, called Milk “a pedophile.” Board member Allison Barclay challenged Komrosky and said Milk was not a pedophile. He replied: “I beg to differ.”
A 1982 biography of Milk, “The Mayor of Castro Street,” by late journalist Randy Shilts describes a relationship he said Milk, then 33, had with a 16-year-old named John Galen McKinley.
Along with Komrosky, the two other members of the board’s new conservative bloc raised concerns. Board member Jen Wiersma said teachers don’t need to teach about LGBTQ issues and sexual orientation in kindergarten through fifth grade.
“I talked to the parents who said, ‘I don’t want my third grader studying a LGBTQ issue, I don’t want them going into gender ideology,’” Wiersma said. “I took in what the parents said. There’s a time for all of these things in education. It’s not K-5.”
Milk, the subject of a 2008 film starring Sean Penn, isn’t in the actual textbook that children would have seen, but in an optional supplemental book, Anna Tapley, Temecula Valley’s director of curriculum, instruction and assessment, told the school board.
In response to the board’s vote on the curriculum, Temecula Valley PRIDE plans demonstrations Friday, June 9, and Tuesday, June 13, at the school board meeting, with the message that “hate speech has no place in Temecula and showing community support behind equality,” the group’s Community Outreach Director Justin Daley wrote in an email.
“My draw dropped at the comment on Harvey Milk and it made me feel like we weren’t in Temecula,” Daley said by phone Monday. “The speech is taking us back as a community, it’s not allowing the community to continue to progress and feel safe. And in Temecula, hate speech has no place here and it’s just not acceptable.”
Along with Temecula Valley PRIDE, the local organization Temecula UNITY and the Temecula Valley Educators Association plan to protest at the June 13 Temecula school board meeting against the board’s rejection of the new social studies curriculum.
Teachers across the district will gather Tuesday morning, June 6, to picket at each elementary school before staging an after-school rally at 4 p.m. at the Temecula Duck Pond.
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