Templeton Unified School District voters will choose between two incumbents and a newcomer this November. Candidates are highlighting issues including declining enrollment and academic performance along with familiar debates over parental rights and LGBTQ-plus students.
Two at-large seats are up for election, with incumbents Janel Armet and Jennifer Grinager seeking another four-year term against Forrest Pearson, a high school English and history teacher.
The candidates are drawing support from different corners of the community.
Pearson was endorsed by the Templeton Teachers Association and San Luis Obispo County Democratic Party. Grinager announced endorsements from the Republican Party of San Luis Obispo County, District Attorney Dan Dow, and 1st District county Supervisor John Peschong, among others.
For Grinager, the race comes after a first term that included debates over transgender students and her continued involvement with Moms for Liberty.
Grinager, a mental health therapist, helped launch the SLO County chapter of the national parental-rights organization during the COVID-19 pandemic and was its co-chair when she first ran in 2022. She currently serves as the chapter’s secretary and told New Times that she expects another endorsement from the organization.
“I don’t know that I would say Moms for Liberty inspired me to run,” Grinager said. “I think COVID is what inspired me.”
But, she added, Moms for Liberty provided “the tools … that I needed in order to be able to pull that off.”
Her affiliation drew scrutiny in 2023 after Grinager spoke at a SLO Tea Party meeting ahead of a school board study session on California laws protecting transgender students. The Gala Pride & Diversity Center accused Moms for Liberty of attempting to end protections for LGBTQ-plus students.
Grinager denied that characterization, saying Moms for Liberty did not direct the meeting.
“No one ever wants to end protection, no one ever spoke to us about ending LGBTQ-plus protections,” she said at the time.
Grinager continues to oppose some transgender-inclusive policies. In a July 2025 letter she posted to Facebook, she criticized “tampons in boys’ bathrooms” and “allowing boys and girls to comingle in bathrooms and locker rooms.”
Writing about federal education funding that the Trump administration had frozen, Grinager added, “Honestly, I hope President Trump does remove federal funding from California. We don’t deserve it. Our kids deserve better.”
Grinager now points to the district’s creation of individual changing spaces as one of her accomplishments. She said she pushed for private spaces for students who are uncomfortable changing around their peers.
For a second term, Grinager said she wants to focus on academics, declining enrollment, parent involvement, and reducing students’ screen time.
“We have a decline in our educational outcomes,” she said. “It’s slowly, inch by inch, getting better, but I think we really need to look at … what are we doing to the kids who are caught in this gap right now?”
Pearson is challenging the incumbents after more than a decade in the classroom.
He teaches English and history at Grizzly Youth Academy in San Luis Obispo, primarily working with at-risk youth, and has two children attending Templeton schools.
“My main goal is to improve academic success,” Pearson told New Times.
Pearson said his priorities include supporting struggling students, particularly English learners and students with special needs, improving literacy, and creating a positive learning environment.
Like Grinager, Pearson also sees declining enrollment as a major challenge for the district.
“I think [student enrollment] is probably the keystone to everything because that affects … the funding for your school district and everything else,” he said.
Pearson said questions about Moms for Liberty and book restrictions repeatedly come up while he’s campaigning door to door.
“That’s been the No. 1 question I’ve been getting on the campaign trail,” he told New Times. “People have been like, ‘Well, how do you feel about banning books?’”
“I’m 100 percent against banning books,” Pearson said. “I think that violates our U.S. Constitution and some of our most fundamental constitutional rights, specifically freedom of speech.”
New Times reached out to Armet but did not receive a response before publication. ∆
This article appears in Sept 17-24, 2026.
