Parents' rights group endorses Templeton school board candidates 

The SLO County chapter of a national organization that formed in response to COVID-19 restrictions such as school mask mandates weighed in on local school races, including two Templeton Unified School District board candidates.

Moms for Liberty endorsed Jennifer Grinager, who is running against five other candidates vying for the two seats on Templeton's board. Grinager is listed as a co-chair of Moms for Liberty's SLO County chapter alongside Rebekah Kozneh, who's running for an Atascadero Unified School District seat. Moms for Liberty also provided a recommendation for Jason Tesarz in Templeton.

Tesarz told New Times that he only learned about the recommendation after someone sent him a Facebook post from the organization.

"With a lot of the things that the Moms for Liberty stands for, I agree with, there's also a bunch of things that I don't agree with," Tesarz said. "So just because they support a handful of things that I agree with, doesn't mean that you should be judged with a broad stroke."

Grinager did not respond to the New Times' request for comment, but she was featured on the Moms for Liberty Facebook page.

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• Photo Courtesy Of Jennifer Grinager Campaign Website
• CULTURE WAR Jennifer Grinager is one of the two candidates for Templeton Unified School District backed by conservative nonprofit group Moms for Liberty.

"I decided to start a chapter because our districts are truly harming children more than ever. It is so bad that I could not ignore it. I have been upset about the curriculum, but I didn't feel like I could do much about it. Now I'm doing something about it, all of it," Grinager wrote.

School boards across the country have become engulfed in culture wars, such as the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District, which has fielded controversy regarding pronouns for LGBTQ-plus students and more.

The national group's founders state that they started the organization because they witnessed shortsighted policies that hurt children and their families. According to its website, Moms for Liberty is dedicated to "fighting for the survival of America" by defending parents' rights at all levels of government.

Templeton school board candidate Matt Allison said he wasn't interested in having schools become ideological battlefields.

"I feel that I can put my any personal beliefs aside, and I sincerely believe that our schools are something where our entire community needs to be represented and not just one group, or particular view, but decisions need to be made to benefit the entire school community," Allison said. "I don't want to see our board and our schools fall down into the rabbit holes of some of the ideological battles that are happening in school boards around the country and even in North County."

Instead, Allison is setting his sights on bridging the learning gap caused by the pandemic as the forefront of his campaign.

"So what can we do there to help our students recover and get back to where they were pre-pandemic and then even exceed that," Allison said. "Making sure that we're offering high quality extracurricular activities and athletics programs so that students feel engaged in their schools, helping create and continue to create school cultures and environments so that all of our students feel safe and feel welcome."

Janel Armet, Fiona Bond, and Jay Raftery are also listed on the ballot for Templeton schools. Armet and Bond didn't return a request for comment. Raftery told New Times that he is no longer running for the school board because he recently moved to Arroyo Grande. Δ