A Temecula Valley Unified School District board member is under fire after security video captured the moments she allegedly placed a recording device under her colleagues' desk during a meeting in September.
"I just couldn't even believe what I was watching," said Emil Barham, one of two TVUSD board members who sit at the desk where the device was allegedly hidden. "It's a lot to process, because you're watching the act of somebody trying to eavesdrop on you."
Barham and fellow board member Steven Schwartz were shown the security footage by TVUSD Superintendent Dr. Kimberly Velez two days after the September 22nd meeting.
"I was like, you gotta be kidding me," Schwartz said. "I was just completely in shock."
According to Schwartz and Barham, the closed session of the board meeting had ended and they were on an hour-long break before panels would be reopened to start the open session. It's in that hour that cameras caught Dr. Melinda Anderson leaving her seat next to board member Jennifer Wiersma and walking over to the desk, where she appears to place something underneath.
More video showed the end of the meeting, when she walked back over and retrieved something from under the desk in front of Velez.
"That's how brazen she is," Barham said. "That she took the device from under our desk right in front of our superintendent."
The Riverside County Sheriff's Office is conducting an investigation into the allegations.
"If it's criminal, I would like to see them punished criminally," Schwartz said.
CBS LA has reached out to Dr. Anderson for comment on the allegations, but has not yet heard back. She did address the incident in a video she shared on social media over the weekend, claiming that she carried a recording device to protect herself after she was allegedly threatened by other TVUSD board members.
"I have repeatedly raised concerns about threats and behavior toward me and my family by another school board member," Anderson said in the video, without explicitly naming anyone.
Schwartz and Barham both say that they've never threatened Anderson.
"She has this thing in her mind that because people don't agree with her, she's being threatened," Schwartz said.
They both agreed that Dr. Anderson and Wiersma should resign from the board over the ethical and trust issues raised by the footage from the meeting.
"It's dirty politics and we need to clean up our act here in Temecula," Barham said.
In her video, Anderson said she plans to step down, but didn't give a timetable as to when she would do so. They're hopeful that she follows through for the sake of TVUSD.
District officials confirmed they're aware of the video from the September meeting in a statement provided to CBS LA.
"Our responsibility is to support our students and staff and ensure the daily work of our schools continues with care and professionalism," the statement said. "We remain focused on providing a safe, supportive learning environment for students and ensuring our staff have the resources and support they need to serve them."
TVUSD has constantly made headlines over contentious topics that often lead to heated meetings with members of the community. In recent years, the district was threatened with a $1.5 million fine after clashing with Gov. Gavin Newsom over the state approved curriculum, barred flying any flag other than state or U.S. flags, and was sued over controversial policies on gender notification and critical race theory.
In 2024, TVUSD board president Joseph Komrosky was recalled in a special election. Months later, however, he was reelected to the board and in late 2025 he was again selected as board president.
