Cajon Valley Union board keeps existing middle-school health curriculum after 3–1 vote

The Cajon Valley Union School District governing board voted 3–1 to reject proposed revisions to the district's middle-school health curriculum, keeping the version the board adopted in 2024 and directing staff to await the California Department of Education ecision.

The vote followed a staff report that the state informed the district of corrective actions after a complaint and granted the district an extension to submit revisions through Feb. 12. A district staff member told trustees that, under the previously adopted curriculum, roughly 531 middle-school students opted out in 2023–24 while about 3,069 participated.

The meeting drew a large public-comment turnout. Speakers opposing the proposed changes repeatedly urged trustees to preserve parental control over instruction, argued the district should not include material they characterized as "gender ideology," and accused the superintendent of bypassing a board-appointed committee. Public commenter Melissa Donegan said, “I emphatically oppose changing the current *** ed curriculum,” and others urged trustees to vote no.

Trustee Lily proposed a narrowly tailored compromise during deliberations, asking the board to consider three edits: remove the terms "pansexual" and "asexual" from the materials; modify a passage on gender stereotypes to say stereotypes "can be harmful" rather than stating they are categorically harmful; and reword a student activity so scenarios end with an empowerment framing that asks how students could turn a negative situation into a positive outcome. Lily said she would "be willing to accept" the curriculum with those changes as a compromise.

Trustee Anthony moved to reject the proposed revisions and keep the current curriculum as written; the motion was seconded. After a roll-call vote, the chair announced the motion passed by a 3–1 margin. The board president said the result means the district will keep the existing curriculum and observe how the state responds.

Several public speakers also raised process concerns, saying the superintendent had bypassed the committee that developed the curriculum; one commenter named the district superintendent, David Maheshara, and urged trustees to "hold him accountable." Legal counsel explained that the board could rescind prior actions and revote if trustees believed an item was incorrectly handled, and that the board had options including tabling, making limited edits, or adopting the draft before sending it back to the CDE.

The meeting began with several procedural votes on travel and conference items that were handled earlier in the agenda. The board then returned to item C, discussed options (reject changes, adopt with edits, send back to committee, or table), and after debate opted to reject the proposed revisions. The board adjourned at about 5:15 p.m.

The board did not adopt the compromise edits put forward by Trustee Lily. Staff repeatedly told trustees that the CDE had requested specific corrections; the district obtained an extension to Feb. 12 to complete those corrections and the board ecided to keep the current curriculum while awaiting the state
ction.