Another Brick in the (School Board) Wall

Douglas County traditionally has some of the best schools in Nevada. However, in 2022, these lyrics need some adjustments to reflect the concerning leftward drift of our schools: 

We need real education

Stop trying to push thought control

No CRT in the classroom

School boards, leave them kids alone

Across Nevada and America, there are many concerns with public schools. CRT teaches children that they’re bad simply because of their skin color, in addition to other negative lessons. Restorative justice makes it difficult to discipline students, and has been a factor in alarming attacks on teachers in Clark County. Nevada schools made national news again recently as a parent was silenced by the Clark County school board for simply reading an X-rated lesson that was assigned to her 15-year-old daughter. This has become all too common as liberal public school systems work to undermine families and push their ideas of sexuality and gender on ever younger students.

During the 2019 and 2021 Legislative sessions in Carson City, Democrats (and some squishy Republicans) pushed Critical Rac(ism) Theory, inappropriate sex education and Restorative Justice on every school in Nevada. Due to a lack of media coverage, many Nevadans, busy leading their lives, working hard, and raising their families didn’t notice these insidious laws. We may think that because we live in a conservative county, where we believe in traditional values and a quality education for our children, that these things could never happen in Douglas County. If you think that, you’re wrong. 

Our Douglas school board has the legal right to “select textbooks, teaching aids and materials,” but their choices are not aligned with our community values. Our parents have said overwhelmingly they do not want philosophies which promote racial hatred and inappropriate sexual discussions with minors in our classrooms. They’ve insisted that parents have the right to see any materials that are being taught to their children. Our School Board Trustees have not listened. 

In fact, they’ve engaged in a program of intimidation and harassment towards the parents they work for. They misappropriated taxpayer dollars to hire off-duty police to suppress engaged parents at school board meetings. They’ve publicly denied that CRT exists in Douglas County, despite clear documentation by Carson Valley Middle School Librarian Paul Jensen of information available on the district’s own resource pages.

Despite their success in a liberal dominated legislature, Democrats know they can’t win in Douglas County, where conservatives greatly outnumber liberals. Douglas County votes nearly 2:1 Republican in Presidential elections, and in 2016, Clinton lost to President Trump by more than 2:1. Faced with this math, liberals are trying to elect Republicans that will continue to support their agenda. Actually, Roberta Butterfield has only recently registered as a Republican, and is running on a slate with incumbents Lehmann and Jackson, who have consistently sided with school administration rather than parents.

This is clear from ads posted by the liberal School Board President supporting the group and a spate of recent supportive letters to the editor, all but one penned by Democrats. The current trustees have consistently refused to take action to protect parents and students in our schools, even denying that problems exist. It’s time for transparency and for trustees who support parents first.

Douglas County deserves elected officials who represent their voters and want to empower parents. The best measure of success for a student is involved parents at home. The school board should welcome parental involvement and be a model of transparency. For those reasons, I strongly recommend David Burns, Katherine Dickerson, and Susan Jansen for Douglas County School Board. 

Of course, if you feel government should not be accountable to its citizens, stick with the incumbents.

But if you celebrate America as a free country, and you believe that your children deserve a brighter future, vote for Burns, Dickerson, and Jansen on June 14 and Nov. 8. 

Jim DeGraffenreid is the past chairman of the Douglas County Republican Central Committee.