Two California school board members are facing growing backlash after comparing shirtless teen water polo players in school-issued Speedos to exotic dancers and adult-content creators — with one outraged mom now demanding both resign over claims they “sexualized” minors.

Temecula Valley Unified School District Board President Joseph Komrosky and trustee Jennifer Wiersma came under fire after weighing in on a photo of six Temecula Valley High School water polo players cheering on the baseball team with “B-E-A-R-S-!” written across their chests.

The athletes were wearing their brown-and-yellow team swim briefs when the photo was posted to the high school baseball team’s Instagram page with the caption, “Our fans > better than yours. GO BEARS.”

But the spirited school-pride post quickly descended into controversy after Wiersma reposted the image to her Instagram story and wrote: “Speaking of dress code…are our teams now an ‘OnlyFans’ crew? Hats off to the kids that kept their pants on.”

Komrosky also weighed in publicly, reposting the district’s vision statement before blasting the photo in the comments section.

“If they want to support the baseball team or any other team, they can do it by simply saying they do and looking like professionals,” Komrosky wrote. “My concern is that I do not want them to look like they’re in a sexually provocative strip tease looking like their one step close to the Chippendales. We don’t need that in our school district in our community.”

The remarks sparked outrage among parents, including Sharon Sardina, whose 17-year-old son was one of the players pictured.

“They do not have the best interest of our kids right now,” Sardina told the LA Times. “They’re putting our minors through a lot by sexualizing them. I want them to see the real issue is not about dress code. It’s about these two adults who have taken it to a next level and it’s sexual harassment at this point.”

Sardina said the players had simply stopped by a baseball game between swim meets on April 28 and revealed their team uniforms while cheering from the stands — something she said is common for water polo athletes.

“The fans loved it, the team loved it, the baseball coach loved it,” Sardina previously said. “Everybody loved the support and thought that was pretty cool because that’s typically what water polo players do as far as cheering on their teams.”

Other parents and community members also blasted the trustees online.

“If this is the jump, you shouldn’t be around kids,” Instagram user Stephanie Berry wrote in response to Komrosky’s comments. “As a parent, it looks like swim boys being silly and supporting their friends. I’ll pray for your deviant minds.”

On Tuesday night, Sardina formally addressed the school board and called on both trustees to resign.

“Tonight, I am asking this Board to finally recognize the seriousness of what has happened, hold the individuals involved accountable, and understand why so many of us no longer feel we can trust the leadership that was supposed to protect our children,” Sardina said in a written public comment.

“I am asking for accountability. I am asking for integrity. And yes, I am asking for resignation, because leadership without responsibility is not leadership at all.”

Sardina also claimed she was prevented from speaking directly during the meeting because board members wanted to consult attorneys first.

According to Sardina, Wiersma later posted an apology to her Instagram story — though she argued the disappearing 24-hour post was not enough.

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Komrosky defended his remarks in a statement to the Times, saying he believed the image violated district standards.

“I’m sure these are amazing kids and that they didn’t intend to cause harm with this post,” Komrosky said. “In the end, I would encourage them to ‘dress for success,’ as they will be our future leaders when they leave TVUSD.”

Sardina said the controversy has already impacted her son, who was allegedly pulled from class to speak with the school principal about the image.

“He doesn’t feel like he can trust his school board members any longer,” Sardina said. “Trust has been broken but he knows he has a lot of good people behind him and backing him up. If something’s not done as far as reprimanding, what will that do to him as a student? This could be very detrimental to someone’s mental status.”

Komrosky and Wiersma were part of a conservative majority elected to the Temecula school board in 2022.

They previously backed a ban on critical race theory, a flag ban and a parent notification policy. The latter two policies were rescinded in late 2024 after a public Employment Relations Board ruling.

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