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EDUCATION - During her time as a student in the Temecula Valley Unified School District, Brooklyn Anderson has been a cheerleader, a member of student government and president of the Black Student Union. And every step of the way she says she has endured racism from students and teachers alike, and watched fellow students being taunted by homophobic bullies.
For her, life at Chaparral High School has only declined further since the election of three far-right members to the school board.
“I didn’t really notice that so many of my peers’ parents thought certain ways until the school board came in,” the 17-year-old senior said outside of her high school.
When the school’s new conservative majority banned Critical Race Theory and any open discussion of racism in the classroom — just two of the many divisive policies the board enacted — Anderson and her friend Genesis Kekoa coordinated with the local high schools’ student bodies and organized a walkout in protest. Following the walkout, California Superintendent of Schools Tony Thurmond met with Anderson and members of the BSU and offered his support. Anderson and her club’s adviser, Dianne Cox, also reached out to meet with the newly elected board members.
The meetings never happened.
Since the election of Joseph Komrosky, Jen Wiersma and Danny Gonzalez, teachers and students alike said there has been a chill in the classrooms of Temecula – teachers afraid to answer tough questions from their pupils for fear of being suspended, students unsure whether they can still confide in their teachers and instructors considering whether to quit their jobs and leave the district, all while name-calling and threats abound on campus and at board meetings.
“You’re now starting to have PTSD in the classroom,” said Amy Eytchison, a fourth grade teacher and 26-year veteran of Temecula Unified. A lawsuit against the school board and the district states a student has sought mental health care following the passage of the new policies in August.
All three of the newly elected school board members were contacted for this story but did not respond to a request for comment.
(Cerise Castle is a Los Angeles-based journalist specializing in arts & culture, civil rights, crime, and human-interest stories. I have several years of experience as a multimedia journalist across print, television, and audio. I wrote the first history of deputy gangs inside the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. I’ve produced and hosted segments for the Emmy-award winning nightly news program, VICE News Tonight, NPR and nationally syndicated radio program Marketplace. I’ve also produced podcast series for Audible, iHeartMedia, and Wondery. My reporting and commentary have been featured in publications like The Daily Beast, The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Magazine and MTV. In 2022, I was a recipient of the International Women in Media Foundation’s Courage Award. In my free time, I’m an avid hiker and stargazer. This story was reprinted from CapitalandMain.com.) Photo: Barbara Davison
