With nine candidates, four open school board seats and two PACS, the race is on for the Temecula school board.
Four of five seats on the board are at stake in the Tuesday, Nov. 5, election. For much of the time since the 2022 election, three seats have been occupied by a conservative majority. The election also features a comeback bid from Joseph Komrosky, the board’s former president who was ousted by voters in June.
Against this backdrop are two political action committees — a grassroots parents’ rights group and a non-partisan movement that spearheaded Komrosky’s recall — battling it out in hopes of getting their candidates into the Trustee Area 4 and 5 seats.
One Temecula Valley PAC, which says it stands against political and religious extremism, was co-founded by Jeff Pack in response to the Inland Empire Family PAC’s conservative movement. The IE Family PAC, a Judeo-Christian organization that says it’s focused on parents’ rights, is supported by Pastor Tim Thompson, a Murrieta resident, founder of Our Watch and pastor at 412 Calvary Church. He could not be reached for comment.
The conservative PAC emerged in 2022 as a grassroots campaign from parent frustration over COVID-19 pandemic mandates and a California Republican Party focus on winning school board seats. It has endorsed Jon Cobb in Area 5, a new face in the political sphere, and Komrosky in Area 4.
Meanwhile, One Temecula Valley has thrown its support behind board member Steven Schwartz for Area 5 and newcomer David Sola for Area 4.
In 2022, the conservative PAC recruited Komrosky when it was looking to fill school board seats in Temecula, Murrieta and Lake Elsinore, Komrosky said Wednesday, Oct. 16. Its candidates won five of the seven seats for which they ran.
“They endorsed me two years ago, when I was new to all things school board, I shared moderate and conservative, traditional family values like they did,” Komrosky said.
Komrosky took his seat in December 2022 as part of a conservative majority, along with Jen Wiersma and Danny Gonzalez. The three board members drew the ire of critics with moves such as a ban on critical race theory, approving a policy requiring parents to be told if their child identifies as transgender and starting a feud with Gov. Gavin Newsom over a social studies curriculum with materials that referenced slain LGBTQ civil rights leader Harvey Milk.
The conservative majority ended when Gonzalez moved to Texas in December 2023. His seat wasn’t filled as the board could not agree on who to appoint so that decision is now on the ballot.
One Temecula Valley in late 2023 began efforts to recall Komrosky and the other two conservative trustees. Only the effort against Komrosky moved forward, and 51.09% of district Trustee Area 4 voters ousted him in June. Trustee Area 4 includes locations between Temecula Parkway and Rancho California Road and extends into Temecula Valley Wine Country.
Shortly after the recall, Komrosky announced that he would try to win back his seat in November.
“Basically he’s running again on technicality,” Pack said.
Pack said he does not believe the public will look kindly on a candidate who was just recalled running again. Komrosky is basically telling voters they were wrong, Pack said.
Komrosky said he had three reasons to run again.
First, he alleges that One Temecula Valley ran a deception campaign against him. PAC members lied about him and misled the community by saying they were for parents rights and confusing voters, Komrosky said. He said the PAC did not support the parent notification policy when it passed and called it disingenuous for the committee to say it was for parents’ rights.
“So that really was unfair, and it’s a false representation of me as a community member and board member to my community,” Komrosky said.
The ballot language was confusing for voters and some thought that a yes vote would support keeping Komrosky in office, he said. Komrosky added that many wanted him to run again.
“I stood firmly against Sacramento’s interference in our district and the partisan unions prioritizing politics over children’s education,” Komrosky said. “When reelected, I promise to continue working with parents, students, teachers and staff to raise educational standards, ensure fiscal and disciplinary accountability and oppose initiatives that prioritize social and political agendas over educational excellence and merit-based principles.”
Komrosky has campaigned with other candidates endorsed by IE Family PAC, even appearing in Instagram videos with fellow candidate Cobb, a former Marine and parent of four.
Cobb, who is running against Schwartz, could not be reached for comment. But he wrote on his website that his main objectives would be keeping drugs out of schools, defending parents rights and removing explicit books from schools.
In a Sept. 23 Instagram video, Cobb said that he isn’t conducting a witch hunt but looking to protect kids before they are faced with explicit content.
For its part, One Temecula Valley is taking a more aggressive approach to the election by putting up four Temecula school board candidates.
“We were late to the party last time when it changed,” Pack said. “We’re not late this time, and we’re working really hard to push back and also throw a few punches.”
He said the conservative board members have spent more than $1 million and done nothing to better education.
“But we are saying that we want our public school system here in this town to thrive, and that’s decidedly not what the other side wants, from everything that we’ve seen and heard from their supporters to their activities over the last year, two years,” Pack said.
Schwartz said that the actions of his former and current board colleagues have been counterproductive to educating students. Schwartz said that, as a teacher for 40 years, he understands what it’s like to be in the classroom.
“I am there for the kids and I am there for the parents, they are our partners in education,” Schwartz said.
He said he isn’t interested in the politics but wants to be there for the community.
“There is no glory in being a school board member, the glory is in doing the good things for the kids,” Schwartz.
Sola, who is running against Komrosky, is a district parent and former Marine who became more involved in 2022 after the board’s critical race theory ban.
“I’ve been an independent voter for my entire adult life,” Sola said. “I don’t identify and I don’t appreciate the extremes on either end of the platform.”
Sola said he prefers to step back from partisan politics and wants to hear from the entire community to learn of everyone’s needs.
“Because right now, it’s just a shouting match that, you know, occurs when everyone gets up there and again, on their performative moral high ground, and they start trying to tell everyone else what they should do. And unfortunately, that’s not what’s best for our children,” Sola said.
Related links
Joseph Komrosky, Temecula Valley Unified School District, Trustee Area 4, 2024 election questionnaire
David Sola, Temecula Valley Unified School District, Trustee Area 4, 2024 election questionnaire
6 Inland Empire school board candidates get backing of Christian conservative PAC
Recall of Temecula school board President Joseph Komrosky appears to succeed
Temecula’s Joseph Komrosky can run for old school board seat – months after his recall
He said the board’s conservative policies have not benefitted all and seem focused on a small pocket.
In a Southern California News Group candidate questionnaire, Sola said he wants to focus on student safety, parent involvement and academic excellence.
“We need to empower our children to succeed by providing them with a quality education free of political influence,” Sola wrote. “We cannot afford to be distracted and must focus on the statistics and solutions.”
Other candidates endorsed by One Temecula Valley are board member Allison Barclay for Trustee Area 1, and Gary Oddi in Trustee Area 2.
Barclay faces Melinda Anderson, while Oddi is running against Angela Talarzyk and Emil Barham.
