Statement From the TVUSD Board President and Board Clerk in Response to Recent Media Reports on the March 22, 2023, Special Meeting:

Yesterday evening, the Board convened a public workshop on critical race theory (CRT).  As noted in the Board’s agenda, in the wake of the Board’s December 13, 2022, resolution banning CRT, the purpose of the workshop was to raise awareness of the potential harms of CRT and its associated tenets, to receive information and hear diverse viewpoints from a panel of experts, and to provide an opportunity for community members, staff, and students to ask questions of the panelists.

The meeting was for discussion and information only, and no action item was agendized for the Board at this meeting.  Nonetheless, like all of the Board’s public meetings, the workshop was subject to, and conducted in accordance with, the Board’s rules and policies governing public comment, free speech, and civil and appropriate conduct for its public meetings. 

During the meeting, three audience members were removed for disrupting the meeting and/or making inappropriate personal comments toward another audience member.  The race of these individuals was irrelevant to the removal decision, just as any other personal attribute of either individual would also be completely irrelevant.  While it is always regrettable when a removal has to occur, the Board’s rules and policies are intended to promote an orderly process for Board meetings and an open, reasoned, and effective dialogue and exchange of ideas, and these rules and policies are applied consistently without regard to anyone’s personal attributes or subject matter viewpoint.  We appreciate the public’s adherence to standards of appropriate conduct and mutual respect, especially toward those with whom we may disagree, which makes for a more participatory and robust policymaking process for us all.

Dr. Joseph Komrosky, Board President

Jen Wiersma, Board Clerk