The Temecula school district has settled a lawsuit over its board president’s practice of ejecting people from public meetings who he deems to be disruptive, the plaintiffs’ lawyers announced Tuesday, April 16.
The settlement, which alleged violations of free speech rights and the state open meetings law, ends litigation filed in December by the ACLU Foundation of Southern California and the First Amendment Coalition on behalf of Upneet Dhaliwal and Julie Geary.
Both women were kicked out of Temecula Valley Unified School District board meetings by board President Joseph Komrosky.
Under the settlement, Komrosky “may only remove members of the public for conduct that actually disrupts a meeting and not conduct that he decides is merely ‘likely to disrupt’ the meeting,” an ACLU news release states.
The president or his designee also must verbally warn someone and give them a chance to stop disruptive conduct before ejecting them, according to the ACLU. Yellow and red cards, which were part of Komrosky’s system to warn attendees, “cannot substitute for the verbal warning that is required by California law,” the release states.
The settlement also calls for the district to pay the plaintiffs’ lawyers $75,000 to cover legal costs. No damages were awarded to Geary or Dhaliwal.
“The ability to question elected officials is crucial for democracy,” ACLU attorney Jonathan Markovitz said in a news release.
“Today’s settlement ensures members of the public that no one can violate their right to participate in school board matters that are crucial to their children and families.”
In the same release, coalition Legal Director David Loy said: “Debate is democracy, not disruption. The settlement protects the people’s right to engage with their elected officials free from unlawful censorship.”
The settlement “is great news for the district,” Komrosky said via email.
“(The district) celebrates our communities’ First Amendment rights to speak. We also expect adults to act like adults and follow proper parameters of decorum at the meetings,” he said. “Activists are consistently weaponizing lawfare and victimhood while draining district resources meant for our students.”
The Southern California News Group is a longtime member of and contributor to the coalition, which advocates for free speech and government transparency.
Board meetings have become lively, if not raucous, affairs since three Christian conservatives, including Komrosky, won a majority of board seats in 2022. That majority ended when Danny Gonzalez resigned in December, resulting in a 2-2 deadlock between conservatives and board members who opposed their agenda.
At times, the board’s supporters and critics cheer, clap and wave signs during meetings about controversial topics, like policies banning the teaching of so-called critical race theory and requiring parents to be told if their child identifies as transgender.
Komrosky, who said “this is our meeting, not yours” to the public and threatened to eject entire audiences from meetings, has used a soccer-style system of yellow and red cards to warn and eject people deemed to be disruptive or threatening. Often, those ejected are escorted out by sheriff’s deputies.
Some meetings have featured multiple ejections. During one July session, Komrosky booted Temecula parent Jennee Scharf for calling Gonzalez a homophobe.
During that same meeting, Komrosky ejected 412 Church Temecula Valley Pastor Tim Thompson after Thompson said board member Steven Schwartz was a possible Communist.
Geary received a red card after speaking from the audience when conservative activist Chauncy “Slim” Killens called the state Board of Education perverts and, quoting Bible scripture, threatened to “destroy” Gov. Gavin Newsom.
In August, the board’s conservative bloc approved a list of behaviors that could be “disruptive” and lead to removal from a session.
The list includes, among other things: use of hate speech, obscenity and “similar conduct;” loud, profane and abusive language; speaking, whistling, clapping and stomping; and “efforts to engage other attendees for the purpose of creating a disruption.”
The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court accused the district and Komrosky of violating the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech, and California’s Brown Act, which sets rules for how public agency meetings are advertised and conducted.
It alleged that, while appearing on a podcast in August, Komrosky said he doesn’t believe the “conventional First Amendment” applies to board meetings and that he’s justified in ejecting people.
Komrosky “may not determine that members of the public are being disruptive and order them removed merely because he disagrees with the viewpoint of their speech,” the release states.
