Controversial school board president to face recall election in Riverside County

The controversial school board president from the Inland Empire will face a recall election in the latest development in the culture wars on Temecula campuses.

"People are kind of pushing back," Jeff Pack, co-founder of the group that organized the recall effort, said. "We did not want our school board members standing up screaming and yelling, calling teachers pedophiles. Like, this is not what we signed up for."

Pack helped start the political action committee One Temecula Valley. Its members collected 4,800 valid signatures, certified by the Riverside County Registrar of Voters, to trigger the recall election of Dr. Joseph Komrosky, board president of the Temecula Valley School District.

One Temecula Valley and Pack claimed the controversial policies over pronouns, Pride flags, curriculums and book bans Komrosky's conservative majority board championed were not coming from their own communities. 

"They're taking directives from a national playbook and enacting them because that's what they're supposed to do," Pack said. 

In a statement, Komrosky urged voters to vote no on the effort "since many of the signatures gathered were based upon lies. 

"I have fulfilled my campaign promises by fighting for traditional family values, such as parental rights," he stated. "That said, I would urge voters to vote NO on this."

A Temecula resident claimed a majority of the community supports Komrosky's policies. 

This recall effort is an attempt to dehumanize a parent and community member who decided to take a firm stand and run for school board," Temecula resident Danny said. "The majority of the community in Temecula supports the policies Dr. Komrosky has been involved with... The recall effort has been colluding with state officials, and two other school board members to spin stories into lies to sell to our community."

Teacher and long-time Temecula Valley resident Julie Geary said that "democracy is never a waste of time."

"It is always worth fighting for the constitution, for our rights, our liberties," she said. 

Many who supported Komrosky's policies argue that they're fighting for their rights too. 

"Over 80% of parents in California side on the issue of parental rights," pastor Tim Thompson said. "So this is a winning issue. We are going to grab a hold of and capitalize on."

Thompson formed a PAC that recruited conservative school board candidates, including Komrosky, spending tens of thousands on their campaigns, according to county records. 

Thompson was not available for an interview on Monday. He posted a message of support for Komrosky online.