Temecula, CA – The Temecula Valley Unified School District Board of Education meeting ended early on Tuesday due to a lack of quorum after board member Jen Wiersma told members of the public that they may leave the meeting if they don’t want to hear her comments on her controversial open letter. Immediately following that remark, the two other board members, along with many members of the public, stood up and left the meeting, causing the meeting to adjourn early due to a lack of quorum.
Trustee Wiersma was planning to comment on action item 8, an open letter by Wiersma herself, addressing Superintendent Woods’ recent communication where Woods stated that the district would not be implementing the policy requiring schools to forcibly out students to their parents if the student identifies as a different gender.
Wiersma’s proposed action item was a motion intended to distribute her letter to TVUSD students, parents and employees, explaining the current situation with the board’s controversial gender notification policy. In her letter, Wiersma defended the controversial policy and argued that “the Board has never authorized or approved the District, the Superintendent, or any other staff member to refrain from implementing BP 5020.01.”
Before she could comment on that, board member Steven Schwartz called for a motion to skip the discussion and vote on whether Wiersma’s letter should be distributed. After Wiersma’s insistence on discussing the letter, Schwartz walked out, causing the meeting to pause due to a lack of quorum.
Because the TVUSD school board has two vacancies, meetings can not proceed if the majority of the board is not present. This means that the meeting will pause if one of the three current board members is not present.
After a short recess, Schwartz returned and the board proceeded to discuss on how to proceed with the meeting. Wiersma accused board member Schwartz and board member Allison Barclay of trying to censor her, to which Schwartz responded by stating that everyone had seen what’s in the letter, and all that’s left to do is to vote on whether it should be distributed.
After more back and forth between the board members, Wiersma said “if those of you in the room want to stay to hear this out, you may. If you don’t wish to stay, you may leave.” To which board member Barclay replied with “sounds good” before packing up and leaving along with Schwartz, effectively ending the meeting.
The superintendent’s letter to students, parents and employees came after the California Department of Education sent an investigation report to TVUSD, requiring the superintendent to clearly communicate that the board policy violates non-discrimination guidelines.
Trustee Jen Wiersma remains as the only member of the TVUSD Board of Education that supports the controversial policy, after Trustee Danny Gonzalez resigned last year, and Board President Joseph Komrosky was recalled by Temecula voters.
