Inside the Brave New World of Santa Barbara Unified School District

By Vera Témoin

(The following is a blow-by-blow account of the most recent Santa Barbara School Board Meeting, held Tuesday, 27 May 2025.)

Inside the Brave New World of Santa Barbara Unified School District

“Line in the sand,” I thought to myself.

Then I realized — there is no sand left.

It’s all been bulldozed to build a rainbow stage and a multilingual suggestion box.

Item G1 — DEMLAC: No Quorum, But Plenty of Tamales

At 6:30 pm promptly, the board turned to Item G1: the District Emergent Multilingual Learner Advisory Committee (DEMLAC) report. The entire report was delivered in Spanish.

The DEMLAC representative was blunt:

“Board members rarely show up. We can’t even get a quorum.”

As for parents? Low turnout there too. So, the proposed fix?

“We need to provide food to get families to attend.”

Because in 2025 Santa Barbara, civic engagement isn’t driven by parental duty—it’s driven by what’s for dinner.

“Newcomers” in a 175-Year-Old State

Another DEMLAC speaker urged the district to teach “recent arrivals” in their foreign language and highlight their foreign culture.

Were they referring to Chinese, Ukrainian, or Sudanese children?

No. Just one group: Spanish-speaking immigrants from Mexico.

Let’s set the record straight:

● Santa Barbara’s indigenous people were the Chumash.

● California has been part of the United States since 1850.

● That’s 175 years of opportunity to assimilate—and counting.

The Melting Pot That Refuses to Melt

Can you imagine our country speaking Italian, German, French, Farsi…. To accommodate the melting pot of cultures that make up this great nation?

So why is the district bending to accommodate those who have been part of this country for 175 years who refuse to join the American melting pot?

Perhaps it’s because many aren’t 2nd or 3rd generation, as we’re told.

According to the Santa Barbara Independent, 44,000 undocumented immigrants live in Santa Barbara County—including 8,000–12,000 in the city. (Talk to the Independent if you don’t like the facts).

According to MPI (Migration Policy Institute) there are 3,000 undocumented children age 3-17 enrolled in our schools.

As we have seen, this State bends over backwards to accommodate immigrants from Mexico to the tune of $25 Billion each year. At the expense of our children’s education as evidenced by CA being one of the lowest ranked states in education in the entire country.

It is about Spanish-speaking immigrants from Mexico, many of whom have lived here for decades—some for generations. Yet never learned English.

SBUSD is reshaping education to cater to foreigners—while students already here fall behind in math, English, and basic literacy.

And yet we’re told it’s unreasonable to expect English proficiency.

Here’s where their argument falls apart.

Former board member Virginia Alvarez and current board member Rose Muñozhave both publicly stated that as children, they didn’t speak English—but they learned it quickly.

They are proud of it.

And they should be.

Because it proves what we already know:

It doesn’t take 18+ years to learn the language of your country.

My daughter’s friend in college is another example. She came from a foreign country with zero English fluency.

It wasn’t easy—but she worked hard and adapted.

Within one term, she was participating, passing, and thriving.

If students and parents aren’t fluent in English after years—or generations—the problem isn’t capability.

It’s refusal. It’s policy. It’s politics.

The American promise is about shared values, a coming together in unity, not division.

Immigrants once asked: “How can I contribute?”

Today, the system asks: “How can we accommodate certain foreigners without offending?”

This isn’t unity. It’s a redefinition of public education through the lens of identity and entitlement.

Item H1 — Pride Month, Queer History, and a Full Ideological Calendar

Then came Item H1: SBUSD’s unanimous declaration of June as LGBTQ2IA+ Pride Month.

But wait—there’s more.

The resolution also declared:

● June as LGBTQ2IA+ Pride Month

● October as Queer History Month

● October 11 as National Coming Out Day

● March 31 as Transgender Day of Visibility

● Second Friday of April as Day of (No) Silence

Over two months of the school year dedicated to the LGBTQ+2a community.

All based on The Trevor Project’s 2021 report highlighting mental health challenges for LGBTQ youth.

But here’s what SBUSD didn’t mention:

Over 40% of suicidal youth are heterosexual

Heterosexual children do not receive equal treatment at SBUD.

That’s right, heterosexual children are marginalized by SBUSD, sexually discriminated against.

There’s no flag for them.

No special month.

No family celebration month.

No board resolution acknowledging their pain.

One student spoke the truth, social, emotional, homeless issues start at home. This is true of all troubled and vulnerable youth and is not unique to any segment of the population.

“Straight Kids Don’t Need Recognition”

That was a verbatim quote from a teacher at the meeting.

He said it unapologetically—because “they’re the dominant group.”

Apparently, disregarding straight children is now equity.

Imagine saying that about any other demographic.

Because now, suffering is only recognized if it serves a narrative.

Truth Is Now Hate Speech

Then it got worse.

A student stepped up to the microphone and pronounced something that froze the room:

“Saying a man is a man is hate speech.”

Let’s check the facts: Every human being is either XX or XY. That’s biology. That’s science. That’s how modern medicine functions. Even in progressive countries, sex is still determined chromosomally.

Per basic biology, every human being is born either XX or XY. That’s not bigotry—that’s science which progressives adore, until science gets in the way.

Chromosomal reality is not a social construct. It’s how doctors identify male or female in every hospital on earth.

Yet now, stating that reality publicly is labeled as violence.

So, we’ve arrived at this dangerous conclusion:

Science is hate.

Biology is bigotry.

And if you don’t comply—you’re the problem.

Let’s be honest. Gender identity is a complex, largely psychological mystery—still not fully understood by scientists, therapists, or even those experiencing it. That doesn’t make it invalid.

But it does mean the rest of the world shouldn’t be forced to conform overnight to an ideology still in development.

Tolerance doesn’t mean forced affirmation.

Understanding takes time.

Science is not hate.

Biology is not bigotry.

And truth is not violence.

What SBUSD is demanding isn’t inclusion—it’s submission.

Dismissing Stories of Growth

One mother courageously shared how she identified as lesbian at the age of 12, but through healing, reflection, and maturity, realized she was straight.

Her honesty was mocked by LGBTQ+2A audience members, who sneered and accused her of “lying for attention.”

So much for tolerance. They only tolerate others who identify as they do, meaning they discriminate against most of the population.

Parents Speak Up — GSA Counselor Cries “Homophobia”

One parent quoted Genesis 1:27: “Male and female He created them.”

Another cited the CDC’s suicide statistics on heterosexual teens.

Then a Santa Barbara High School GSA (Genders & Sexualities Alliances) counselor stood up, managed a “fake” sniveling cry and responded by labeling those comments: “Homophobic.”

Then they sat down with a big grin on their face smiling after the performance for the camera.

So now, quoting the Bible equals hate speech. Referencing Science equals hatespeech. Relying on mental health statistics equals hate speech.

All under the rainbow of tolerance.

The party of tolerance is now the most intolerant of all.

Even LGBTQ Students Are Exhausted

Ironically, even LGBTQ students say the district is doing more harm than good.

My daughter’s classmates—gay and trans alike—say they feel hunted by SBUSD staff surveys and teacher questionnaires.

They’re being asked, in every subject:

What’s your gender identity?
How do you feel about it?
How does your family respond?
“We’re already out,” one said.

“But we don’t want to be dissected.”

Another added:

“It’s not support anymore. It’s pressure.”

We need to have qualified counselors to help those that need help.

Instead, what we have is an entire school of unqualified “counselors” – from the gym teacher to the math teacher – hunting and potentially mislabeling students all in the name of? Equity, inclusion, compassion?

As one parent of a 6th grader asked, “why does the school insist my boy is a girl despite my boy telling them he is a boy.” It was because he chose to have long hair. The boy cut his hair short of his own choice to make the teachers stop harassing him about his gender. Guess what? It worked. That child was forced to make an outward statement to the SBUSD staff to stop their harassment.

Again, yes, we need to have open arms, open hearts, and open doors. But to hunt children down is doing more harm than good.

COVID Déjà Vu — Divide and Comply

We’ve seen this kind of coercion before. It was money- and control-driven, just as the above programs are. It is not about safety, inclusion, or any other public excuse provided. Look at the academic record of this school over the decades and you will see they have no intention of educating, academically.

During COVID, I personally delivered to board members:

● The FDA’s myocarditis risk warning for teens

● The CDC’s data showing zero COVID deaths under age 18

● The local health department at the time recording zero deaths of children in SB County

● The public admission of Alameda County and Cook County that they purposefully inflated COVID deaths by 22-25%

It was all ignored. Instead, they hosted on-campus vaccine clinics, bribed students with food, encouraged minors to get vaccinated without parental consent, shamed those who refused, ignored medical risk for political conformity and funding.

That wasn’t about health.

It was about control.

Now they’re applying the same playbook to sexual identity and ideological reprogramming.

As one parent put it, “stop playing politics with our children.”

Who’s Responsible? Look in the Mirror.

This board wasn’t forced on us.

Its members were elected—by a population of trusting, busy parents who believed schools still taught reading and math instead of sex, flags, and Marxist theory wrapped in glitter.

If you’re shocked, that’s on us.

Now our children are the lab rats.

Truth is forbidden.

Silence is mandatory—unless you say what’s approved.

But silence makes you complicit.

It’s Time to Redraw the Line

SBUSD has made its position clear:

● Accommodate culture over unify students

● Affirm feelings over teach facts

● Replace academics with agendas

● Redefine tolerance as total compliance

● Prioritize ideological identity over education

● Marginalize majority kids while rewriting science

● Punish facts and protect feelings—at all costs

Now It’s Our Turn

Draw the line—not in hate, but in truth.

Not in fear, but in love—for every child, regardless of identity, background, or chromosome.

This isn’t about stopping others from living freely. It’s about preventing a system from replacing truth with ideology and silencing those who see it.

It’s time we draw a line—not of hatred or division, but of truth, clarity, and protection for all students.

Not just the loudest ones.

Not just the labeled ones.

All of them.

•••

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness…” — Isaiah 5:20

“Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed.” — Isaiah 1:17

Take a look at COLAB’s latest video, “The Great Fee Heist”