Two California school board members are facing growing backlash aftercomparing shirtless teen water polo players in school-issued Speedos to exotic dancersand 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,” Sardinatold 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 iscommon 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.”
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
