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TEMECULA, CA —On academic leave since a parent called his judgment into question in May, Temecula Valley High School’s award-winning drama teacher Greg Bailey is starting each day in a conference room instead of the classroom.
He now reports to the Temecula Valley Unified School District Human Resources office conference room, writes a daily lesson plan for his substitute and waits in the wings for his chance to return to the classroom.
His daily mantra remains the same: “I’m here, and I’m ready to work.”
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The TVHS drama class drama exploded at the May TVUSD governing board meeting when Tracy Nolasco, the mother of a beginning drama student, accused Bailey of providing pornographic material for children to read in his beginning drama class, namely “Angels in America,” a Pulitzer prize-winning play detailing the Aids epidemic.
Nolasco insisted her daughter was “unprepared” for what she would read, adding that reading such material “isn’t like a bad meal you can throw up. It is in your brain now.” She contended she attempted to email the teacher and intervene on her daughter’s behalf, but her email was blocked by the school system and flagged as having inappropriate content. Nolasco and her supporters calling for Bailey’s removal contend he showed obscene material to children, violating the trust of the community.
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At that meeting, accusations flew about Bailey’s character and the play. Three of the five trustees, Joseph Komrosky, Danny Gonzalez, and Jennifer Wiersma, decided “Angels In America” contained inappropriate content, and Bailey was removed from the classroom. The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department got involved and investigated Bailey based upon the parent’s complaints. Finding no wrongdoing, no charges were filed, and the case was closed in July, according to Sgt. Deirdre Vickers.
Komrosky, Gonzalez and Wiersma were elected to the TVUSD board in November, financially backed by the Inland Empire Family PAC led by Pastor Tim Thompson of 412 Church Temecula Valley. The PAC works “to stop the indoctrination of our children by placing candidates on school boards who will fight for Christian and Conservative values,” according to its website.
In under a year of work — the three banned any murmur of critical race theory; held a controversial and costly critical race theory “panel” that many TVUSD teachers dubbed “indoctrination camp”; they censored education about California’s gay rights movement; defied the state’s education code; fired the district superintendent; hired their team of attorneys at taxpayers’ expense to defend against ongoing lawsuits over their actions; sparked numerous TVUSD student protests; adopted a policy that requires the district to quickly notify students’ parents if their child wants to be identified by a gender other than what is shown on official records; and put the district in a national spotlight on hot-button issues.
Attempts to reach TVUSD board members for further details were unanswered.
Drama families consider Bailey another casualty of the controversial agenda. He is still waiting to learn his fate while his students worry about their teacher, the fall productions, and their biggest fundraiser.
One TVHS drama mother, who asked to be referred to as Jen A., has written multiple letters on Bailey’s behalf since May. She’s been writing to the TVHS Vice Principals, Principal, and former Superintendent, Dr. McClay, each board member, the County Superintendent, TVEA union reps, and the governor.
“My daughter tried out for advanced drama last year and got into the class. She has been excited about it all summer, working on her monologue for the first day of school,” Jen A. wrote in an email to Patch. “She decided not to try out for cheerleading this year so that she could dedicate herself fully to the drama program and all of their performances. Withholding Mr. Bailey from the start of the year will devastate the drama program, affecting the fall performance, the fundraising Cabaret show, the start of the Improv team, and the student’s ability to earn their drama letter.”
Bailey has been essential in shaping her daughter’s dreams of a future in theater arts, she said. “She is more confident, willing to try new things, braver. The environment Mr. Bailey has cultivated is one of comfort, compassion, and empathy.”
Empathy is absent in many of the adults at the school board meetings, she said as she described them.
“I’ve watched these adults repeatedly disrespect any student who voices opposition. These children are asserting their voices and repeatedly being shut down by adults rather than lifted and supported in their early efforts in democracy. This group has become a ‘mob,’ and my concern is if they get what they want by having Mr. Bailey fired, it will only fuel their fire and continue to allow them to bully our district’s teachers until no one is left.”
Other letters submitted to Patch on Bailey’s behalf commented on the quality of his character, the drama parents’ trust in his decisions, and the students’ ease in working with him. Many parents shared similar anecdotes of children who found their voices and the ability to speak out for what they believe in while in Bailey’s class, as did parents Tammy and Todd Meyer.
The Meyer’s daughter is a senior in the advanced drama program. Tammy Meyer is a local theater producer in her own right. She first met Bailey in 2018 when producing “Young Frankenstein” with the Temecula Valley Players. She is familiar with both the beginning drama class exercise and the play that led to the primary complaint against Bailey and wanted to set the record straight.
“First, the play ‘Angels in America’ is not pornography. Second, no students were assigned this play specifically. The students chose their play with their group. Any student who didn’t like the play their group chose would have been welcome to change groups. Also, no student was instructed to act out a sex scene or use a scene from the play that contained explicit language. In fact, they were specifically told not to use scenes with explicit material or language. Suffice it to say, this is simply not permitted. Any claims to the contrary are lies, and these falsehoods were created to slander Greg Bailey’s good name.”
Todd Meyer agreed, writing in an email to Patch that “there is no legitimate reason to keep Mr. Bailey away from the school and its drama program any longer, but the majority of our school board (whose campaigns were funded by a political action committee linked to this ‘pastor’) have refused to listen to the overwhelming outrage of the community because they simply seem to feel like they don’t have to.”
Many have discussed the concern about the upcoming TVHS drama club fundraiser, the Fall Showcase, which annually raises the $20,000 needed to keep the program running.
Bailey told Patch that his program is entirely on hold right now. “A ton of preparation work needs to take place” to produce full-scale theatrical presentations even at the high school level.
This fall, he is scheduled to direct two plays, William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” and Sarah Ruhl’s “Eurydice.”
“Both of those productions are in jeopardy of being canceled entirely if I am not reinstated soon,” he said. “We are also scheduled to produce a student-directed production of Tom Stoppard’s ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead,’ and I am scheduled to direct the musical ‘The Mystery of Edwin Drood,’ based on the final unfinished novel by Charles Dickens, in the spring.”
Bailey hand selects each play and takes pride in working to find performance subject matter that is appropriate for the high school stage and the teen performer, he said.
When he returns to campus, TVHS Drama will immediately erupt in activity, he predicts. There are months of delays and uncertainty to make up for while the TVHS Drama program remains without a full-time teacher and advisor, he said.
“It’s actually quite heartbreaking to have the school year begin without me,” Bailey told Patch. His heartbreak goes beyond his own trials and tribulations. For multiple parents in the Temecula Valley Unified School District who reached out to Patch in his support, it raises the question: How much sway should one person have when it comes to unfounded accusations?
“I’m mostly just angry and sad back and forth about the false accusations and character attacks I have been facing,” he said. Bailey said he believes the board will find that his actions and curriculum were all within the ED code, TVUSD board code, and TVEA’s collective bargaining agreement with the district.
“With all that information out there, your guess is as good as mine as to what is holding everything up,” he said.
Patch learned there was a Friday meeting between Bailey and the Human Resources department, the results of which should be made public next week.
“Under normal circumstances, school boards do not involve themselves in staff discipline, which by contract is handled by the district’s Human Resources department,” Bailey said. “It seems as if, despite my belief that the investigation’s results will likely clear me of any wrongdoing, someone still doesn’t want me back at TVHS. I would suggest that parties interested in finding out why the district has not reinstated me direct their questions to the members of the TVUSD governing board. Perhaps they have the answer.”
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