California pre-K teacher who said kids younger than 5 should be exposed to sexual topics still employed at a salary of $64K

A California preschool teacher who landed in hot water for controversial social media posts  saying pre-K kids should be exposed to sexual topics is still employe, The Lion has confirmed.

An agenda item from the Rialto Unified School District (RUSD) board meeting from June 2023, said that the teacher in question would be brought back for the 2023 school year as a “Preschool Teacher II-1” at Trapp Preschool.   

The approved contract pays $63,843 annually and was effective Aug. 3. 

The teacher, William “Willy” Villalpando, said previously that the idea of “childhood innocence” is a myth and preschool kids should be exposed to topics such as “queerness,” reported Fox News.  

“Not talking about Queerness in the Classroom, is NOT Letting Children be Children. It’s Telling Those people They Do Not Deserve to Exist,” Villalpando wrote on social media, reported the Daily Mail in February. 

Fox News said that it received a tip from a concerned source, which originally confirmed Villalpando is still employed.  

His comments and especially his interest in early educators guiding childhood sexual development should absolutely disqualify him, say critics.  

Previously, Fox reached out to the Rialto Unified School District about Villalpando’s employment status, but never received a response.  

Villalpando is currently listed in the staff directory for Santa Anna College as a Child Development & Education Studies professor. He is also listed on the directory for the preschool. 

“There is a common mythology that children live in this world of pure innocence, and that by introducing or exposing them to the real-world adults are somehow shattering this illusion for them,” Villalpando wrote in a 2020 post on Instagram, reported The Lion.  

“Kids are never too young” and “Let kids practice with you,” Villalpando suggests about trans and queer issues.  

Professionals and critics were outraged by his comments, which were subsequently deleted or went dark.  

“Children should not be pawns in a game to validate adults’ identity choices,” said Nick Flor, a university professor. 

A copy of Villalpando’s website, which was subsequently scrubbed, was provided by Fox News.  

“While I absolutely love working with young children, my passions really lie in teaching others why we do the things we do, and advocating on behalf of young children and their families. My research and interest areas is in gender development in young children, and the impact that early educators have on that development,” Villalpando said, according to Fox News.   

He also defended the idea that young children should be exposed to sexual topics.  

When asked if the area was inappropriate for preschool age and younger, he replied aggressively. 

“Absolutely not,” Villalpando said, reported Fox. “Infants begin making gendered association by the time they are 10 MONTHS OLD! By the time they are 3 most children can label what gender they believe they identify with and by 4 they can tell you what that gender means for what they can or cannot do.”