On December 21, 2023, Temecula residents Upneet Dhaliwal and Julie Geary sued the Temecula Valley Unified School District, its Board of Trustees, and its president, Joseph Komrosky, for violating their rights under the First Amendment and California law by ejecting them from school board meetings without cause.
Since May 2023, Komrosky has unlawfully removed school board meeting attendees for speech protected by the First Amendment, such as calling a board member a “homophobe” for objecting to a curriculum that mentioned Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, and who was assassinated while in office, or calling another board member a “Communist.”
Komrosky has demonstrated a consistent pattern of violating the First Amendment and the Ralph M. Brown Act, California’s open meetings law for local governments, which allows removal of members of the public only if they are “engaging in behavior during a meeting of a legislative body that actually disrupts, disturbs, impedes, or renders infeasible the orderly conduct of the meeting,” and typically only after a warning and opportunity to stop the alleged disruption.
Both Dhaliwal and Geary were ejected from school board meetings for objecting to Komrosky’s free speech violations. Neither of them engaged in any conduct that actually disrupted the meeting, as the First Amendment requires before a person may be removed.
Dhaliwal and Geary are represented by Peter Eliasberg, Jonathan Markovitz, and Alyssa Morones of the ACLU Foundation of Southern California and David Loy and Khrystan Policarpio of the First Amendment Coalition.
On April 15, 2024, FAC and the ACLU of Southern California settled the case against Komrosky and the district. According to the settlement, the board president 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. Opposing opinions or stances on topics are not inherently disruptive. The settlement ensures a three-year enforcement period by the U.S. District Court.
Press Releases:
Settlement Reached in Free Speech Case at Temecula Valley Unified (4/16/2024)
Temecula Residents Sue School Board and its President for First Amendment and Brown Act Violations (12/21/2023)
News Coverage:
- City News Service: Temecula Valley USD President’s ‘Penalty Card System’ Sparks Lawsuit (12/22/2023)
- Los Angeles Daily News: Temecula schools, board President Joseph Komrosky sued for booting guests from meetings (12/22/2023)
Legal Documents:
- Settlement (4/15/2024)
- Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief (12/21/2023)