Temecula Valley Unified School District recall, California (2023-2024)

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Temecula Valley Unified School District recall
Officeholders
Area 2: Danny Gonzalez Area 3: Jennifer Wiersma Area 4: Joseph Komrosky
Recall status
1 Recall approved; 2 Did not go to a vote
Recall election date
June 4, 2024
Signature requirement
Gonzalez: 4,392 Wiersma: 3,987 Komrosky: 4,280
See also
Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2024 Recalls in California California recall laws School board recalls Recall reports

A recall election against Joseph Komrosky, the Trustee Area 4 representative on the Temecula Valley Unified School District Board of Education in California, was held on June 4, 2024. The ballot asked voters if they were in favor of recalling Komrosky, and they were able to vote yes or no. A majority of voters cast yes ballots, removing Komrosky from office.

The effort to recall Komrosky and two other members of the board began in June 2023. Trustee Area 2 representative Danny Gonzalez and Trustee Area 3 representative Jennifer Wiersma were also named in the notices of intent to recall. Recall supporters did not collect enough signatures to recall Gonzalez and Wiersma.

The effort started after the board voted 3-2 against a new social studies curriculum published by the Teachers Curriculum Institute (TCI) at a board meeting on May 16, 2023. The social studies curriculum was for first through fifth grades and was scheduled to be used for eight years starting in the 2023-2024 school year. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced on July 13, 2023, that the state would provide the school district with social studies books to replace the ones that were canceled with the board's vote against the curriculum.

The board reviewed the textbooks again on July 18, 2023, and again voted 3-2 to reject them. After the second vote, Newsom announced that the district would be fined $1.5 million and charged an additional $1.6 million to pay for the state to ship the district new textbooks. On July 21, 2023, the board voted 4-0 to approve the new curriculum. The vote also postponed one lesson for fourth graders pending further review. Wiersma and Komrosky voted with the other members of the board to approve the curriculum. Gonzalez was absent.

Gonzalez, Wiersma, and Komrosky were elected to four-year terms on the board in November 2022.

Recall vote

Joseph Komrosky recall, 2024

Joseph Komrosky lost the Temecula Valley Unified School District school board Trustee Area 4 recall election on June 4, 2024.

			Recall  Vote	%	Votes
		✖	Yes	51.1	4,963
			No	48.9	4,751
			Total Votes		9,714

---

It has been certified. Source

Recall supporters

The recall was started by the One Temecula Valley Political Action Committee. On its website, the PAC said, "We understand that the chaos created by these board members has caused concern and frustration within our community. Therefore, we are taking action to ensure that our schools can move forward in a positive direction."

Temecula Valley Educators Association President Edgar Diaz said the board's vote left elementary school students without a social studies textbook for the 2023-2024 school year. “As we prepare for next year, this all is bringing unanticipated chaos and instability to the educators in the district, who continue to provide a quality education for our students at the elementary level and it has put into questions what direction the district will be headed to,” Diaz said.

The Temecula Valley Educators Association voted to support the recall effort. The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) Inland Empire chapter and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Southwest Riverside branch 1034 also announced their support of the recall effort.

Recall opponents

When voting against the social studies curriculum, Wiersma said that sexual orientation and LGBTQ issues did not need to be taught in elementary school. Both Komrosky and Gonzalez said they did not agree with the mentions of Harvey Milk in the textbook's optional supporting materials. They both called Milk a pedophile in reference to a report that Milk had a relationship with a 16-year-old when he was 33.

“When I look at the TCI curriculum, I don’t see American exceptionalism,” Wiersma said. “I don’t see all the things we need to see. We are going to hit the standards, but if we are totally going to utilize TCI, we need to talk about bias. I don’t see a fair and balanced viewpoint. I don’t see the civics.”

In response to the governor's announcement that the state would provide the school district with social studies books, Komrosky said the governor had ignored concerns that he and other board members had discussed. He also said that an effort was underway to replace the books. “That proposed curriculum will be presented to the Board of Education for consideration and adoption on July 18, 2023 at its next regular meeting,” Komrosky said. “What is also unfortunate is that the Governor knows this and has elected to publish this threatened action ahead of the District’s hard work on this matter that will be come to fruition in just a few days.”

In response to the governor's announcement of the fine against the district, Komrosky said the school district still had time to meet state and federal mandates for the 2023-2024 school year. "We do not appreciate Governor Newsom’s effort to usurp local control and all that will apparently result from these tactics is a waste of the taxpayers’ money," Komrosky said.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing recall in California

California does not require specific grounds to be met for recall efforts to make the ballot. Recall supporters must collect signatures equal to 10% to 30% of registered voters depending on the jurisdiction's population and have 40 to 160 days to do so depending on the size of the jurisdiction.

Temecula Valley recall supporters served notices of intent to recall to each of the three board members in June 2023. To get the recalls on the ballot, supporters had to submit signatures equal to 20% of registered voters in each trustee area of the school district by December 8, 2023. The following number of signatures were required to put each recall on the ballot:

• Gonzalez: 4,392
• Wiersma: 3,987
• Komrosky: 4,280

Supporters filed approximately 5,200 signatures against Komrosky on December 6, 2023. They did not collect enough signatures to recall Gonzalez and Wiersma. The Riverside County Registrar of Voters had 60 days to verify the signatures against Komrosky. On January 22, 2024, the county announced that enough signatures had been verified to schedule a recall election. On February 20, 2024, the county scheduled the recall election for June 4, 2024.

2024 recall efforts

See also: School board recalls

Ballotpedia tracked 40 school board recall efforts against 83 board members in 2024. Recall elections in 2024 removed 14 members from office, including three who resigned before the election, and retained seven members in office. The school board recall success rate was 13.4%.

The chart below details the status of 2024 recall efforts by individual school board member.

2023 recall efforts

See also: School board recalls

Ballotpedia tracked 48 school board recall efforts against 97 board members in 2023. Sixteen of those board members faced recall elections. The recall elections were held on January 10, 2023, August 1, 2023, August 8, 2023, August 29, 2023, November 7, 2023, and December 12, 2023. The school board recall success rate was 13.4%.

The chart below details the status of 2023 recall efforts by individual school board member.

Recall context

See also: Ballotpedia's Recall Report

Ballotpedia covers recall efforts across the country for all state and local elected offices. A recall effort is considered official if the petitioning party has filed an official form, such as a notice of intent to recall, with the relevant election agency.

The chart below shows how many officials were included in recall efforts from 2012 to 2024 as well as how many of them defeated recall elections to stay in office and how many were removed from office in recall elections.

See also

• Temecula Valley Unified School District, California
• Recall campaigns in California
• Political recall efforts, 2024
• Political recall efforts, 2023
• School board recalls
• States that allow school board recalls

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• Temecula Valley Unified School District
• Riverside County Registrar of Voters