Komrosky TVUSD Recall Inspired By 'Student Heroes' A RivCo Pastor Says

TEMECULA, CA—It's been a long road for Temecula residents to find their voice, speak out, walk out, and collectively put their foot down against the Temecula Valley Unified School District board's conservative majority. According to a Riverside County pastor and civic leader, no one spoke more clearly than two students from Temecula Valley High School, whom he calls "the heroes" of the recall movement.

This week, Temecula Valley Unified School District board president Joseph Komrosky, an outspoken conservative Christian who supported and directed the move to remove "Critical race theory" from any classroom, was recalled from office, according to the Riverside County Registrar of Voters. Of 21,000 ballots mailed to voters in Trustee Area 4, under half were returned by the residents who live between Temecula Parkway and Rancho California Road into Temecula Valley Wine Country.

Read: Recall Of Temecula Valley USD Trustee Komrosky Confirmed By County

Ahead of the recall, many voiced their concerns over the conservative majority board's decision-making, including national organizations who blasted a critical race theory ban, their controversial critical race theory "panel" that many TVUSD teachers dubbed "indoctrination camp"; their censoring of instruction about California's gay rights movement; their attempted defiance of state education code; their firing of the district superintendent; the hiring of their own team of attorneys at taxpayers' expense to defend against ongoing lawsuits over their actions; their ban on pride and other flags; and their mandate that educators report to parents about transgender students. Their actions cost the district in legal fees and caught the ire of state leaders.

Pastor Brian Hawkins—pastor, current San Jacinto City Councilmember, and 41st District hopeful candidate—attended meetings held by the board in discussions on Critical Race Theory.

"When the school board was convinced that the black voice in the community needed to be silenced, we yelled louder, 'we are here,'" he wrote on social media. "The recall of the Trustee started with the movement of two young women that had enough."

He spoke with CBS journalists about the young students who led others to be outspoken, who he calls the heroes of the TVUSD recall movement. "No longer will our voices be hijacked."

Hawkins referred to TVHS student leaders Genesis Kekoa and Brooklyn Anderson, who rallied other students to picket outside the school and declare their intentions that difficult subject matter should not be taboo or removed from classroom discussion.

"I was willing to say what I needed to say and do what I needed to do to stand up for what was right," Kekoa told reporters. Her outspokenness came at a cost, though. "It emboldened racists. Disrespect was coming online as grown men were more comfortable attacking us behind the screen."

During the critical race theory conversation and TVUSD meetings, the district said its goal was to "uplift and unite students by not imposing the responsibility of historical transgressions of the past."

That translated differently to Anderson, she said in a recent on-camera interview.

"In my mind, they were trying to get rid of the discussion of racism and race," Anderson said. "Experiencing being called the N-word, being called 'blackie' and having your hair touched, tears down your self-esteem."

According to Hawkins, there is a systemic problem in the country that can be helped by young people speaking out for what they believe.

"I think America needs therapy," he told reporters. "I think America really needs to sit on the couch and be brutally honest about its history. It needs to have a real dialogue, a real conversation."