TVUSD Board Member Komrosky's Recall Likely

TEMECULA, CA — As the last ballots are counted in the June 4 Temecula Valley Unified School District Trustee Area 4 Special Recall Election, the ouster of Dr. Joseph Komrosky appears imminent.

As of Tuesday night, TVUSD Trustee Area 4 voters who cast "yes" ballots in favor of recalling Komrosky were ahead of "no" votes by 211, or about 2 percentage points, according to a 6 p.m. update from the Riverside County Registrar of Voters Office.

"Vote counting continues and results are not final," the Registrar's office reported. "An estimated 110 Vote-by-Mail ballots and 1 Conditional Voter Registration (CVR) ballot remains to be counted."

The tallying will wrap up by June 18, according to the Registrar. Election results are unofficial until June 20, when the Registrar certifies the final tally. The results are then forwarded to the Secretary of State.

Trustee Area 4 voters were asked a single yes-or-no ballot question: "Shall JOSEPH WAYNE KOMROSKY be recalled (removed) from the office of Governing Board Member, Temecula Valley Unified School District, Trustee Area 4?"

One Temecula Valley PAC led efforts to recall Komrosky. Trustee Jennifer Wiersma and former Trustee Danny Gonzalez were initially targeted by the group as well, but those efforts were dropped. Gonzalez resigned his post in December. His Trustee Area 2 seat remains vacant.

Efforts to recall the trio started not long after they took office. The three were each elected in November 2022 to a four-year term on the TVUSD board following support from Inland Empire Family PAC, which works to "stop the indoctrination of our children by placing candidates on school boards who will fight for Christian and conservative values."

Komrosky was appointed as board president seat by his colleagues.

Critics, including national organizations, blasted the three trustees over their 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.