The Brief

Temecula Valley Unified’s school board has created an environment of fear and divisiveness on school campuses since it passed a resolution banning critical race theory, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday.

The lawsuit filed in Riverside Superior Court on behalf of seven students, three teachers and the district’s teachers union, alleges that the resolution has resulted in the censorship of teachers and has taken away students’ fundamental rights to an education, violates the California Constitution because it is vague, infringes on the right of students to receive information and violates their rights to equal protection.

The plaintiffs want the court to declare the board resolution unconstitutional and order the board to revoke it.

“We will be seeking an injunction to end the hatred and the division sowed by this resolution,” said Mark Rosenbaum, an attorney with Public Counsel, a nonprofit public interest law firm at a news conference Wednesday morning. Public Counsel and Los Angeles law firm Ballard Spahr are representing the plaintiffs.

The Temecula Valley Unified resolution banning “critical race theory and other similar frameworks” passed 3-2 in December. After numerous statements opposing racism and a quote from civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., the resolution’s prohibitions include teaching that racism is common or that a person should feel uncomfortable, guilty or any sort of psychological distress because of their sex or race. It also forbids discussions on whether the United States was founded to preserve slavery. Teachers are permitted to teach about critical race theory only if instruction focuses on its flaws.

What is critical race theory?

Critical race theory, usually taught at the college level, examines the role of institutions in racism throughout history. The theory is seldom taught in K-12 schools, and is not included in California’s voluntary state model curriculum. Critical race theory is often confused with culturally relevant teaching, according to the California School Boards Association.

The lawsuit challenged the school board’s definition of critical race theory. It claims the board is using the term as a catchall to include a wide range of concepts including racism, sexual orientation, sex discrimination, culturally responsive education and social-emotional learning.

“With the broad and vague nature of the intent and language of the resolution, it creates a hostile environment to teach and learn,” said Edgar Sanchez, president of the Temecula Valley Education Association, the district’s teachers union. “Educators are uneasy about how to balance the facilitation of the discussions while avoiding broad topics and potential discipline.”

The resolutions impact

The resolution has had a chilling effect on Temecula Valley Unified teachers, who aren’t sure if they can comply with state standards while also complying with the board policy, according to the lawsuit. “Can a U.S. History teacher facilitate a discussion — as the California History-Social Science Framework instructs — on the question: Did the Civil Rights movement succeed?” it asks.

Teachers, students and parents who spoke or had their statements read at the news conference Wednesday, painted a picture of schools where teachers are afraid to teach about Black history and race and, as a result, discourage student discussions on the topic out of fear of retribution from administrators.

Teachers at the news conference spoke about colleagues being called into administrators’ offices to discuss the appropriateness of a mural or the display of the image of a civil rights leader on their classroom walls.

“It’s a chilling effect, and teachers are teaching in a hostile work environment, and we are being intimidated, and the students feel it,” said Dawn Sibby, who teaches government at Temecula Valley High School. “It affects them every day and makes them feel unsafe. It isn’t moving us forward; it’s moving us backward into a bad place in our district. We can’t get teachers to come to our district.”

Some teachers have received hostile voicemail messages and through social media, according to speakers at the news conference.

A parent identified only as Rachel P. said she is no longer confident that teachers can freely teach in the district. Two years ago, her son’s class read King’s “I Have a Dream” speech in its entirety, but the year after the resolution passed, no lessons were taught around Black History Month, she said, adding she’s concerned her son might fall behind academically as he progresses through grade levels in the district.

All the student plaintiffs and their guardians have been given pseudonyms to protect the children because of their ages.

Fourth-grade teacher Amy Eytchison broke into tears as she read a statement from Mae M., one of the student plaintiffs.

“The board passed the resolution back in December, and it had an immediate impact,” Mae M. said in the statement. “Young adults became targets for social media harassment, not by children, but adults. Although this resolution has impacted my personal life, the continuation of the board’s ideological policies has the potential to harm the future of this district.”

Controversial moves

The vote to ban critical race theory was the first of several controversial moves made by the Temecula Valley School Board since the election of a conservative majority last year. Since then, the board has fired Superintendent Jody McClay and voted to ban state-approved textbooks that include lessons on gay rights and gay rights activist Harvey Milk — a move that led to an investigation by the California Department of Education. Under pressure from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office, the board voted to approve the teacher-vetted curriculum, excluding chapters on civil rights, including the gay rights movement.

In July, the board called for the removal of books that they disagree with from school libraries, according to the lawsuit.

Speakers Wednesday talked about increased intolerance in school toward students of color and LGBTQ+ youth. Sanchez spoke of teachers who were afraid to display photos of their same-sex spouses in their classrooms.

The three-member majority of Joseph Komrosky, Jennifere Wiersma and Danny Gonzalez was elected in November as part of a conservative effort to flip school boards. Wiersma and Gonzalez were not available for comment for this story. The three board members are now the subjects of a recall effort by the One Temecula Valley PAC, a grassroots organization.

Board President Komrosky said he was only made aware of the lawsuit on Wednesday and has not been served with the suit yet.

“While I and the board will address and respond to the suit in due course through the board’s counsel and the judicial process, I will simply note for now that, in my view, this suit effectively represents an effort by those behind it to secure the ability to use CRT and its precepts of division and hate as an instructional framework in our schools,” he said in a statement sent to EdSource. “As one of three trustees who voted for the resolution and who prioritizes the interests of our students and the rights of parents and legal guardians, I do not believe that CRT or any racist ideology is a suitable educational framework for classroom instruction at the elementary and secondary level.”

Board member Steven Schwartz, who voted against the resolution to ban critical race theory, calls the resolution racist. He isn’t surprised by the litigation.

“Parents and students involved in the initial lawsuit decided that the only way to get satisfaction was to go to work,” he said. “That’s where we are now.”

History of censorship

Temecula Valley Unified joins other districts across the country that have pushed to prevent the teaching of race and racism in the classroom. Elected officials nationwide introduced at least 563 measures to restrict teaching about race in 2021 and 2022, and 241 of those passed, according to “CRT Forward: Tracking the Attack on Critical Race Theory,” a report from the UCLA School of Law. Almost all the measures impacted K-12 education, and 70% sought to control teaching and curriculum in the classroom. The most common consequence for a breach was withholding funding.

In California, Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified, Visalia Unified, Paso Robles Joint Unified, Ramona Unified and Newport-Mesa Unified are among the districts that have joined Temecula Valley in passing measures to restrict instruction about race.

“Since the board passed the resolution, it has created an unsafe, discriminatory and dangerous environment for our Black students, students of color and LGBT+ students,” said Anthony M., a parent of a plaintiff. “In particular, the Black students who have voiced opposition have suffered an ongoing campaign of harassment by primarily adult supporters. The resolution is restricting our students' access to an education free from intimidation, harassment and discrimination, pushing its ideological censorship agenda.”

EdSource reporter Mallika Seshadri contributed to this story.

A long-running court battle between California veterans and the Trump administration will continue, as federal officials consider asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a lower court’s order to build more housing for unhoused L.A. veterans.

A federal appeals court on Thursday agreed to temporarily pause the order to construct more than 2,500 new housing units on the Veterans Affairs campus in West L.A.

Mark Rosenbaum, an attorney with Public Counsel representing the plaintiffs, told LAist the delay could spell life or death for unhoused veterans, especially as the region braces for strong El Niño-driven storms.

“These are veterans who risked their lives and suffered both the visible and invisible wounds of war,” Rosenbaum said. “What the government is saying to them is, you're supposed to stay on the street."

VA officials did not immediately respond to LAist’s request for comment.

Veterans' lawyers in a court filing called a possible appeal to the Supreme Court a “hopeless shot.”

“The government has lost every time they have taken this to court. No court has ruled for them on any of these matters,” Rosenbaum told LAist. “This is part of the administration’s war on its own veterans, and it’s time for that war to come to an end.”

Could long-running case end up at the Supreme Court?

The litigation was initiated in 2023 by L.A. veterans struggling with homelessness. The case has centered on the 400-acre V.A. campus, which U.S. District Judge David O. Carter has ruled should offer more housing to the approximately 2,250 veterans experiencing homelessness in L.A. County.

In 2024, Carter ordered officials to add thousands of temporary and permanent homes, and end leases with UCLA, a private K-12 school and an oil drilling company, which he said did not serve the needs of veterans.

An appeals court last month blocked the federal government’s efforts to halt the housing construction. But veteran advocates knew that federal officials could ask for further delays as the case winds through the courts.

VA officials now have until Dec. 10 to decide whether to appeal their fight to the Supreme Court. Judges with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals told lawyers for the federal government that if they do not decide to appeal by Dec. 10, “the stay will be lifted immediately.”

The Los Angeles Unified School District shortened the application window for specialized academic programs this year, and will no longer accept paper forms.

Applications for the district’s magnet, dual language and affiliated charter schools for the next academic year opened Oct. 1 and are due Nov. 6, 2026.

How does it work?

If you want your child to attend their neighborhood school, enrollment is fairly straightforward. There’s a separate process for the district’s specialized programs called Choices.

There are two windows to apply — on-time and late. The latter consists of all the spaces left after families who applied on time accept their offers.

Here’s the timeline for the 2027-28 school year:

• Sept. 2026: School fairs start.
• Oct. 1, 2026: Choices application opens.
• Nov. 6, 2026:  Deadline to apply online.
• Dec. 1, 2026:  Late applications begin. 
• February 2027: On-time applicant results sent. 
• March 5, 2027: Deadline to accept or decline school offers for on-time applicants. School assignments for late applications follow the processing of on-time applications. Students may be offered a spot through the start of the spring semester. 
• Aug. 12, 2027: The school year begins.

LAUSD will no longer accept paper Choices applications. If families do not have a computer, they can use a smartphone to complete an application. LAUSD will also allow families to use computers at school parent centers.

How to prepare

Every child within LAUSD boundaries is assigned a school — find yours through the district’s “resident school identifier.”

But there are also hundreds of other programs available through the Choices process.

Those include:

• Magnets: Programs on a specific theme, such as science, math, language, advanced studies or art. These programs were originally established to integrate segregated schools and have a unique “points” system to prioritize applications. 
• Dual language or immersion: Students learn in English and in a second language such as Spanish, Mandarin, Korean or Armenian. 
• Affiliated charter schools: District-run schools with more freedom to try different types of teaching or other programs. 

No one type of school is inherently better than another, and no one metric defines a great school — there are many factors beyond test scores to consider, and we go over some of those here.

By far the most frequent piece of advice we’ve heard is to go on an in-person school tour if possible.

“The very best thing that people can do is go to the school and try to watch the way that educators interact with students, the way that students interact with each other, and the way that families are included or not in the life of a school,” said Jack Schneider, a University of Massachusetts, Amherst, education researcher and parent. “Once you do that, you really get a sense of what kind of place kids are going to school.”

Some schools post tour information online, but you may need to call for details.

LAUSD also hosts fairs, organized by geographic region, where multiple schools table and share information about their programs, through mid-October.

The Justice Department found Thursday that the law school at the University of California, Los Angeles, illegally considered race in admissions.

The announcement follows a similar finding against the university’s medical school and comes as President Donald Trump’s administration ramps up scrutiny of colleges’ processes for selecting students. The administration also has accused the UC Berkeley Law School and the medical school at the University of California, San Diego, of illegally discriminating against white and Asian applicants.

The UCLA School of Law said in a statement that it was committed to making admissions decisions in compliance with all applicable laws.

“Students are admitted through a comprehensive, merit-based review process that considers each applicant’s achievements and experiences,” the statement said. “We are confident in our process.”

Affirmative action in college admissions has been illegal since a 2023 Supreme Court ruling forbade it. The same ruling said colleges could continue to assess how applicants’ backgrounds might speak to broader characteristics, but Trump has accused colleges of using applicants’ personal statements and other proxies to consider race in admissions — which conservatives view as illegal discrimination.

The Justice Department’s investigation found UCLA’s law school discriminated against white and Asian American students by favoring Black and Hispanic applicants in its 2023, 2024 and 2025 incoming classes. Its analysis found the mean LSAT score was lower for admitted Black applicants than for admitted white applicants.

The department also said admissions staff at the law school instructed applicants during recruitment efforts, including one called the “Diversity Admissions Open House,” how to reveal their race in essays.

“Like many of its peer institutions, UCLA Law School runs a two-tiered admissions system whose academic bar for acceptance shifts up or down depending on the color of your skin,” said Harmeet Dhillon, head of the department’s Civil Rights Division, in a news release.

California voters ended affirmative action in college admissions in a 1997 ballot measure. In a brief filed in the Supreme Court case, the UC system said the change led to a precipitous drop in underrepresented minorities, especially at the system’s most selective campuses. The brief said UC went on to implement a range of race-neutral measures to increase diversity.

The Trump administration also has sued over the main UCLA campus’s response to allegations of antisemitic harassment. The administration’s latest finding sets the stage for a voluntary resolution to bring UCLA into compliance with the Justice Department’s legal interpretation or, if none can be reached, potential legal action.

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Artist Hedy Torres asked a 20-something student from Cal State Northridge to sit for a portrait nearly a decade ago. Using charcoal on paper, she drew the dark-haired young man in black and white — but she deliberately kept the portrait unfinished.

The idea was that she would complete the piece if her subject, a DACA recipient named Lino de Jesús Pérez Cuevas, ever attained lawful permanent residency.

And now he has.

DACA, which stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, is a program that provides two-year work permits and deportation relief for people who were brought to the U.S. as children. The permits can be renewed, but the program does not grant a pathway to citizenship. 

In late September, Pérez Cuevas — who is now married, a father, a green card holder and an adjunct instructor at his alma mater — sat with Torres once again.

Torres’ project involves interviewing subjects as she sketches them. This year, she invited the public to watch her complete the portrait as she spoke to Pérez Cuevas about what it took for him to get a green card and what that means for his life.

About two dozen people gathered at a community center in West Hollywood’s Plummer Park to see her add details to the piece that speak to the passing of time.

“I just wanted to make people empathetic to what [immigrants] go through during this process,” she said. “You have to be very patient. There is a lot of uncertainty.”

Responding to the potential loss of relief

Pérez Cuevas, who was born in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, was brought to the U.S. by his parents when he was 2.

When Torres drew him in 2017, he was pursuing a master’s degree in kinesiology at Cal State Northridge. That year, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced intentions to rescind DACA, which had enabled him to set goals without the fear of being deported. A 2020 Supreme Court decision allowed the program to continue.

Torres was once undocumented herself, so she understood the 2017 announcement was earth-shattering for the approximately 800,000 people who were then in the program, she said.

The original, unfinished portrait of Lino de Jesús Pérez Cuevas.

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Courtesy

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Hedy Torres

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That year, Torres was also a student at CSUN, working toward a master’s in fine art.

She recalled recently that she wanted people to see DACA recipients as people, not numbers. And so, for her master's project, she proposed creating portraits of DACA beneficiaries.

The portraits would be rooted in interviews conducted as she drew her subjects. Leaving them unfinished, she said, would symbolize the precarity of the moment.

The pieces would have enough detail for viewers to see the subjects’ faces clearly, particularly their eyes and expressions. Other elements, including their bodies and clothing, would be more of an initial sketch.

The university greenlit her project and gave her a grant to pursue it. There was just one problem: Torres had to convince reticent DACA recipients to share their stories.

Building trust 

When Torres first messaged Pérez Cuevas about the project, he ignored her for two weeks, he said. But because they had a mutual friend, he eventually agreed to meet with her.

“I was trying to see whether this person was just an academic trying to complete a project for her own benefit, or whether she really cared about the community,” he told LAist.

They met at a coffee shop. Pérez Cuevas learned about the artist’s journey from the Mexican state of Colima and everything she’d lived through since.

Before 2015, for example, an undocumented person in California could not get a driver’s license. When she was undocumented, Torres was stopped by police and had her car impounded. She said she had to cobble together thousands of dollars to get her car back from a tow yard.

Pérez Cuevas could relate. He had experienced the same thing.

He decided to trust her.

After she drew him, Pérez Cuevas helped Torres connect with more DACA recipients at the university. She drew four other portraits, which were also left unfinished.

These works were acquired by the university, with the agreement that Torres would be able to borrow and complete them when — and if — her subjects attained lawful permanent residency.

Community members watch Artist Hedy Torres update the portrait at Plummer Park in West Hollywood.

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Julia Barajas

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LAist

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‘A sense of freedom’  

As she worked on the portrait, Torres added soft lines rendered in charcoal to the image of Pérez Cuevas’ face, along with a robust mustache. And she continued the interview.

“What did you imagine your life would be like when you were young?” Torres asked.

Thinking back to high school, Pérez Cuevas said he realized then that not having a social security number barred him from decent-paying work.

“I didn't really understand what I was doing with my life,” he said, adding that he used to not think higher education was for him even while he was at CSUN. “My state of mind was really dark back then.”

He credited a college counselor with helping him navigate school. He earned his degree in 2017.

Pérez Cuevas said he has intimate knowledge of what it’s like to live with constant uncertainty: not knowing how he would pay for college because he did not qualify for federal financial aid; not being able to travel outside the country; and waiting anxiously for federal officials to make decisions on immigration laws that could transform his life.

“I can't stress enough how difficult it is psychologically to wait because it's something that can revolutionize your life,” he said. “You're betting your whole life on this approval and just that suspense of waiting, waiting, waiting, living with that anxiety.”

Torres completed her portrait of Pérez Cuevas in September 2026. Four other portraits remain unfinished.

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Julia Barajas

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LAist

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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services continues to process renewal requests for existing DACA recipients, but the agency is no longer approving first-time applications.

Under the second Trump administration, DACA recipients are also experiencing significant delays with renewals. Some have lost their jobs. Recipients have been deported. According to the agency, the median processing time for DACA renewals was one month in 2023. Currently, it’s taking seven months to process most cases.

Pérez Cuevas said he was able to adjust his immigration status after marrying a U.S. citizen and consulting with an attorney. His lawyer helped him secure a document that allowed noncitizens to travel abroad and seek legal re-entry.

“Did getting permanent residency give you a sense of freedom, a freedom you probably didn't have when you were under DACA?” Torres asked him.

“Absolutely,” Pérez Cuevas said. “The biggest freedom was psychological freedom. You have this weight that you've been carrying all these years that finally just gets thrown off your shoulders.”

One of the things he feared most was long-term separation from his parents, he said.

When his mother and father migrated to the U.S., they did not see their own parents — his grandparents — for 40 years, Pérez Cuevas added. After his parents moved back to Mexico during the pandemic, he feared they would also go decades without seeing each other.

But having a green card enables him to travel and see his family.

Pérez Cuevas told Torres that, paradoxically, the threat of losing DACA made him “weirdly ambitious."

He said he doubled down on his studies and took on every internship he could. He figured that if the U.S. decided to deport him, he’d still have his education and work experience.

“Even on the days where I didn't necessarily have the greatest energy or the greatest state of mind, I showed up for myself,” Pérez Cuevas said.