Join The Rebellion: Flipping The School Board

Fighting A Rigged School Board Election

The sign in the conference room at the school board’s headquarters tells the public all they need to know about the board’s priorities: Indoctrination over Education.

This American is very proud to announce that I was involved in “flipping the school board” in our little coastal community in the Marxist State of Washington. This is not a Biden-type exaggeration: IF MY NEIGHBORS & I CAN DO IT, SO CAN YOU & YOUR NEIGHBORS.

The current five-member school board has shown virtually no interest in improving the quality of education for the 990 students, even though test scores are, and have been for some time, among the lowest in the state. At least three of the board members appear to hold their seats for the sole purpose of improving their political and/or business interests.

Like way too many school boards in today’s America, this board was owned by Indoctrination-First, Education-Last, Far Leftists, and the schoolkids’ test scores proved it. The five-person board consisted of two bullies who ran the show, two apparent sycophants and one member who did his best, but was outnumbered. The board chair openly supports BLM violence,^ and lives in a delusional world with “she/her” in her email signature line.

The board has been fully aware, since at least Spring 2022 when a bond measure was slaughtered at the ballot box (78% in a high-turnout election voted NO), that voters are very unhappy with them and don’t trust them. They responded to this by blocking public involvement even more.

SUCCESS!!!!

Of the three board seats up for election, one of “our” candidates was smashingly successful during the November 7th election. He beat the Woke incumbent by a wide margin. He is a retired Washington State school superintendent who was & is very well thought of in the school district 100 miles away from which he retired a few years ago. With him on the board, the two remaining Woke board members (their terms end in 2025) will not be able to get away with all the shenanigans that have so damaged the quality of education and destroyed public trust. Yes, just ONE out of five seats can make a big improvement, if the seat is filled by an experienced, common sense educator such as this man.^^

RIGGING ELECTION FOR ONE BOARD SEAT

It was long known in this little community that one board member was moving out of state this year. Indeed, he had already purchased retirement property on the other side of the country. So, many were shocked when he filed for re-election in May. About 10 weeks before the 11/7 election, when it was too late to remove his name from the ballot, he resigned from the board when his dishonesty was publicly exposed.*

Why would this board member do that to his neighbors? This ruse did not benefit him. He & his wife had lived in this community for decades. When a seat is vacant, the board gets to APPOINT the person to fill that seat. Most who have watched this school board believe they talked him into filing for re-election so that THEY, not the voters, could choose who filled this seat for the next four years. [When incumbents run fewer people are willing to become challengers.] When the public became aware of this open seat two people applied as write-in candidates. One of them is suspected to be the person the board planned to appoint to the seat and one of them is a member of our candidate recruitment group. SEE BELOW

Since his was the only name on the ballot, the man who now lives on the other coast, won. Election statutes prohibit the counting of the write-in votes for second place and third place. This places the public back in the same position wherein the board, which now has one new member,** will appoint someone to the seat, UNLESS one of the write-in candidates files a request with the court to 1) declare the “winner” ineligible to serve, 2) count the write-in votes, and 3) place the second place winner on the board.

A TWO-YEAR STRUGGLE

A year after we moved here from a beautiful burb of Portland, I discovered that the school board in our new community was chaired by a woman who openly supports BLM violence,^ and that the kids’ grades were among the lowest in the state. I started attending school board meetings. I attempted to form a “school board watchdog group.” After the first meeting of seemingly enthusiastic residents, all of whom were relatively recent transplants, the group fell apart.

About the same time, the school board was creating a bond measure, claiming they needed an ungodly amount of money from the taxpayers. If passed, this bond measure would also have closed both community-located grade school buildings in this very small school district and transported the kids to a central campus as much as 25 miles (40-50 minute school bus ride) from their homes. I immediately signed up to be one of the three voters who wrote the “Vote No” statement for the voters’ pamphlet. My two teammates were long time residents and well-known mover & shakers.

The bond did not just fail, it was wiped out with a 78% NO vote. One of the reasons it failed was due to the fact that the board refused to tell the public what they intended to do with the two relatively new school buildings they wanted to abandon. Rumor had it that the board chair (BLM supporter), who owns several motels & restaurants in this tourist community, would buy these buildings at below-market rates. Residents were worried about how these buildings would be utilized after they were sold.

CANDIDATE RECRUITMENT GROUP

This January a small group of us,*** came together to discuss how to recruit new candidates for these three school board seats. I was the newest resident in this group. The remaining members were well known and well respected in the community. With three seats coming up for election we strategized how to get the word out to the public and how to find residents who would file for the seats. As mentioned above, all three incumbents filed for re-election and we initially recruited only one challenger, the retired school superintendent. Then, when we discovered one incumbent was not eligible because he was moving, our group recruited a write-in candidate for that seat.

As this article goes to press, the board is only receiving one new member, because one race has yet to be determined. But, given his extensive experience, one board member can do a lot to improve the quality of education for our children. I am proud of my involvement in improving the schoolkids’ chances to obtain a quality education.

When Frederick Douglass's slave owner caught his wife teaching the nine-year-old how to read, he was appalled.  As he chastised his wife, the slave owner said: "Learning would do him no good, but probably a great deal of harm, making him disconsolate and unhappy.  If you learn him now to read, he'll want to know how to write; and, this accomplished, he'll be running away with himself."  

Not all students are as brilliant as Douglass (1818 to 1895), abolitionist, orator, writer and statesman; however, every child deserves to reach his full potential. 

^ As the 2020 BLM/Antifa riots swept the nation, as Portland & Seattle entered their second month of rioting, no one in this little community was joining in. This school board member imported rioters from out of town and apparently paid their expenses, trying to start a riot. They stood outside the police station with cameras for several days, taunting policemen as they came & went, hoping to catch one of them cursing at them so they could post it on social media. Her efforts fell flat, but she still sports the biggest BLM sign I have ever seen on her restaurant’s window.

^^Part of a Letter to the Editor the new board member wrote: “Back in May, I said that focusing on three main areas of improvement would be my commitment as a board member: 1) Student success and in particular all actions that improve on-time graduation rates; 2) Genuine stakeholder input/engagement; and 3) System accountability for improvement with clear goals for action. After listening to many hundreds of citizens throughout our campaign, I am even more convinced that spending our energies in this work is the best path forward to achieve what our students need and supporting stakeholders expect.”

*A member of our small candidate recruitment group stood up at the September school board meeting and asked him when he planned to resign from the board. He finally admitted that he had sold his house and would be moving out of the district shortly.

** The new board member, who has no political or ulterior motive, will be involved in choosing someone to fill the vacant board seat.

*** This group consisted of several long-time businesses owners, several residents who held local office, one person who was very involved in charity work and me, the only novice member.