Note: this post will be periodically updated! (10/14/2024). New endorsements and interesting bits of information are being added all the time!

• VOTER GUIDE QUICK LINKS: Home page
  • PRESIDENT: Here
  • FEDERAL: Senators, Representatives,
  • STATE: Senators, Assemblymembers
  • LOCAL: City Officials, School Boards, Conejo School Board, Special Districts
  • PROPOSITIONS: School Bonds, Local Measures, State Propositions
  • ONE ISSUE VOTING: Health care
  • PROJECT 2025 CHAPTERS: Education, Labor, Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Housing, Immigrants, Media Agencies, Dept. of State, Resources

Student candidate interview, CVUSD-Area 1: Karen Sylvester, Nancy Von Volkinburg, CVUSD-Area 5: Lauren Gill, Frank Enderle, Resources

WARNING! DON’T SKIP OVER THIS “DOWN-BALLOT” SECTION ON SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS! THIS IS WHERE BOOK BANNING, ENFORCED PRAYER, LGBTQ SHAMING, AND THE WHITE SUPREMACIST REVISIONISM OF OUR HISTORY – THE MARKS OF THE GOP’S SLIDE INTO FASCISM, IS SEEPING INTO AMERICA’S SECULAR PUBLIC EDUCATION SYSTEM AND HARMING KIDS!

“Parental Rights/Family Core Values” or “Civic Values?”

How our school board guide works – CHECK THE ENDORSEMENTS!

Along with our normal attention to the endorsements of those we respect, we will note candidates who appear to be part of the eco-system of Project 2025 or who are endorsed by extremist groups such as Move the Needle and Free Ventura who support various parts of this manifesto, which includes public-school-killing voucher systems, the removal of sex education, the shoehorning of religion into schools, book banning and educational censorship, bigotry, xenophobia, anti-science, and virulent anti-LGBTQ viewpoints.

Conejo Valley – HOLY SMOKES! Is there something in your water?!?

Misleading question – Adults need to learn from some lessons from the students above.

Scroll through this thread – video clips from the TO Acorn News Conejo Valley USD Candidate Forum.

https://twitter.com/CAntifascists/status/1837551963762053521

Student candidate interview, CVUSD-Area 1: Karen Sylvester, Nancy Von Volkinburg, CVUSD-Area 5: Lauren Gill, Frank Enderle, Resources, TOP

Conejo Valley Unified School District – Area 1

KAREN SYLVESTER

WINNER

• Age: 61
• City of residence: Westlake
• Occupation: Conejo Valley USD Trustee/Retired business and management consultant
• Education: The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania (BA), Harvard (MBA)
• Funding: 
• Endorsements: here
• Website: sylvester4schoolboard.com

Denise Reader Conejo Schools Foundation, All District Music Festival, Executive Producer	Mike Soules The Soules Group, CEO; Conejo Schools Foundation, Past President*	Pat Phelps CVUSD Board of Education, Past President and Trustee, 1998-2018	Colleen Briner-Schmidt CVUSD, Retired Teacher and UACT, Past President*

Student candidate interview, CVUSD-Area 1: Karen Sylvester, Nancy Von Volkinburg, CVUSD-Area 5: Lauren Gill, Frank Enderle, Resources, TOP

NANCY VON VOLKINBURG

• Age: 63
• City of residence:
• Occupation: Business Owner/ Semi-retired and is a bookkeeper for her husband’s engineering company
• Education: High School
• Funding: 
• Endorsements: here (scroll down)
• Website: nancyvan.com

	Lance Christensen – V.P. California Policy Center	Mari Barke – Orange County Board of Education Trustee	Nicolas Pardue – Teacher at Perris Union High School
Dr. Michael Koslow – Candidate for Congress in CA – 26​	State Sen. Mike Morrell (Ret.)  CA – 23

Know your local MAGA school sabatuers and homophobes!

Link here: https://x.com/cvmamabears1/status/1830963214852694048

Here’s a cringey clip of #NeverNancy disparaging our wonderful #CVUSD schools at an “August MAGA Party”, front and center underneath a Trump flag.

The CVUSD does NOT need extremists on our school board!!#CVUSD (2/2) pic.twitter.com/g7o4oMZAWw

— Mama Bears of Conejo Valley (@cvmamabears1) September 3, 2024

Truly disturbing answer from Nancy.

Link here: https://x.com/cvmamabears1/status/1839741133683077493

1: Happy Friday! In what seems to be a competition for cringiest candidate between Frank & Nancy, Nancy VV gave the WEIRDEST answer to an interview question about state-mandated Comprehensive Sexual Health Education to NPHS, TOHS, and WHS student journalists.

Wild times. #CVUSD pic.twitter.com/T7nBHkMroY

— Mama Bears of Conejo Valley (@cvmamabears1) September 27, 2024

ALL CHILDREN, no matter what their gender expression, should never have to appear before a school board with a member who hasn’t previously publicly mocked them.

Also, one who understands the separation of church and state would be great too!

Student candidate interview, CVUSD-Area 1: Karen Sylvester, Nancy Von Volkinburg, CVUSD-Area 5: Lauren Gill, Frank Enderle, Resources, TOP

Conejo Valley Unified School District – Area 5

LAUREN GILL

WINNER

• Age: 61

• City of residence: Newbury Park

• Occupation: Conejo Valley USD Trustee/CA Deputy Director for the National Wildlife Federation

• Volunteers: Safe Passage Youth Foundation and Adelante Comunidad Conejo
• Education: Brown University (BA)

• Endorsements: here
• Website: www.gill4cvusd.com

Student candidate interview, CVUSD-Area 1: Karen Sylvester, Nancy Von Volkinburg, CVUSD-Area 5: Lauren Gill, Frank Enderle, Resources, TOP

Community Supporters

Community Supporters

Narda Fargotstein, Past President of AAUW Jerry Ludlow, Healthcare Data Analyst Angie Wheeler, NPHS, Sequoia, and Maple mom Deborah Klein Lopez, City Councilmember, Agoura Hills Michelle Fishman, Physician Assistant Jenny Kreitman, Occupational therapist Ben Atkins, Engineer Kyle Yasui, NPHS C/o 2019 Todd Walker, Community Therapist Kinsie Flame, Owner, Moms of Conejo Valley Katie Pfeiffer Polen, Mental Health Professional Brian Polen, Law Enforcement Officer Celeste Russi, Stay at home mom Sharon Beck, Social Worker Katie Nystrom, 5th grade teacher Carrie Howard, M.Ed., CVUSD substitute teacher, wife, mom Mandy Thomas, stay at home mom Mary Anne Van Zuyle, Founder of Conejo Together Bryan Sweet, Dad of 2 CVUSD students Jennifer Rodman-Plost, Paraeducator at CVUSD Wendy Goldstein, Community member and proud CVUSD parent Sarah Casey, Mom of two CVUSD kids Shannon Diffner, CVUSD Parent, Editor Lauren Shaffer, Parent Heather Lindstrom, Engaged community member Autum Sasala, Stay at home mom Brian Pletcher, Activist, volunteer, Stephanie Ettling, Associate Marriage & Family Therapist Ellen Murphy, Attorney and CVUSD parent Patti Reis, Educator and mom Denise Benic, Stay at home mom Rena Robles, Stay at home mom Susan Levy, Teacher Jean Kammerer, Resident of Newbury Park concerned about quality education. Ed Benic, VP Media Services Barbara Andrews, Retired teacher Taira Lanagan Bermudez, Elementary parents and behavior analyst Patricia Tavormina, Proud mom of CVUSD graduates Shannon Atkins, Active School Volunteer Eddie Nash, WHS Student Paula Nathan, Educational advocate Brooke Nind, WHS student Marcine Solarez, Grandma, retired NPHS teacher Pam Burns, Executive Assistant/CVUSD Parent/PFA Board Member Lisa Powell, Social worker/CVUSD Parent Danielle Welch, Stay at home mom Peggy Buckles, Retired Gina M. Kaplan, PhD Scientist Gina Muscatel, Foster Youth Advocate, Mom, Activist Molly Hayden, Avid Supporter of LG Tricia Carter, SAHM/CEO Vickie Ideta Allison, Mom of HS age student Soizic Johnson, stay at home mom Alana Bond, NPHS Teacher Michelle Saremi, Mom, wife, educator, life-long learner Zane Saremi, Microbiologist Marilyn Crane, Speech pathologist Marcia Klein, Vice President, Research and Development Gordon Crane, Architectural engineer Sharron Baird, Licensed Wildlife Rehabilitator, founder Conejo Free Clinic Kenneth Green, MD, PhD, Physician, Virologist Marcy Duben, mom of 2 and former teacher Julie Lewis, PhD, parent, school employee, and editor Cynthia Muscatel, Writer, Former teacher, grandmother Bonnie Shubb, NP homeowner who values public education Lynda Karl, Family Resource Center Staff Elizabeth Allen, Single Mom, Campus Safety Assistant Curt Edmonds, Manager of statistical programming Joo Cho, Parent Volunteer and Librarian Bette Empol, Elected, Ventura County Democratic Central Committee Pat Casey, Retired Karen Claybaugh, Retired Jill Magnante, teacher and community member Catie McBreen, Self Employed Educational Therapist Paul Smith, Publisher and proud CVUSD parent Katie Yant, Stay at home mom Robert, Executive Director for Data Management Systems (retired) Russi-Van Etten Family, Mom, Student, Medical Writer Ken and Sally Hibbitts, Retired Public School Educators Mike Michaud, Sales manager Lisa Anthony, 2nd Grade Teacher at Sycamore Canyon School for 18 years, CVUSD parent, and Dos Vientos resident Conny Kammerichs-Berke, CVUSD parent Jill Elsemore, Campus Safety Assistant & SAHM Clint Elsemore, VP, Finance Jill McArthur, Mom to NPHS 9th grader Jenelle Hogue, CVUSD teacher Donna & Jack Doman, Retired CVUSD employees Montsi Magaña, CVUSD parent Marni San Jose, Teacher Nick Guerin, Teacher Julie Holland, Mother of 4 CVUSD students Darlene Lakeman, Bookkeeper Alexis Jafroodi, Stay at home mom Kara Buss, Real Estate Loan Officer Christine Humphrey, Francophile and Francophone Diane Rudas, WHS Teacher Carol Kammerer, CVUSD parent & school volunteer, taxpayer Laurie Wright Garry, Professor of Religious Studies, MSMU Heather Gibson, Clinical Psychologist Carl Johnson, Director, Engineering (software) Wren Schwind, Caregiver to son David Rakowski, Retired – Technical Support Specialist Julie Herder, CVUSD Teacher Jennifer Sugden, PFA Co-President at Maple Elementary Mary Hickling, Resident and Parent Juliet Woythal, Excellent Student Michael Nese, School Psychologist Mike Safier, Commercial Airline Pilot Kristina Lopez, Parent and Founder, STEMs Grow Lucia Lang, CVUSD Parent Rizvana Leslie, Stay at home mom Dr. Paula Pompa-Craven, Clinical Psychologist, Mom Vissy Wright, Regional Clinical Director, Autism Services Jacqueline Levesque, CVUSD Employee Rick Jones, Corporate Learning Leader Aleta Smith, Retired

Mike Magnante, Teacher, parent, and community member Abigail Cluster, Stay at home mom Lisa Friedman, Conejo Valley Parent Brian Gaffney, Conejo Valley Parent Sally and Ken Hibbitts, Retired Public Education Teachers Serena Couch, CVUSD parent C.J. Keavney, President – DWCCV Lori Peters, Executive Director, One Spark Academy Colleen Briner-Schmidt, 30+ year Teacher/Educator Lora Novak, CVUSD high school English teacher and department chair Kathleen Peterson, Admin at CPIS (Investigative Services) Stacie Lagattuta, Independent Contractor Aesthetician Michelle Beller, Photographer Liz Hoskinson, Preschool Teacher and community member Erika Dahle Petras, LMFT, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Shauna Robinson, Parent Mandy Pollak, Stay at home mom Jessica Gehle, Parent Jon Cummings, Community organizer Dawn Stines, Office Manager at C.V.H.S. Beth Pearcey Neal, Area 5 Parent, small business owner Lainie S. Donnell, MA, ET/P, Educational Therapist Sharon Debidour, Loan Officer Krista Koch, I endorse Lauren Gill, Full time mom Brigette Brazier, Stay home mom Georgene Pantelas, Bankruptcy Lawyer Kathleen Bonn, Retired CVUSD teacher Lori Frankfort, Business Manager Cynthia Thomas, Administrative Coordinator-Library Foundation Russell Thomas, Heavy Equipment Operator Scott Van Atta, Graphic Designer Stormy Tripp, Office Manager at JnK Services Kyle Rohrbach, Producer/Youth & Government Advisor Leanne Tapper, stay at home mom, part-time clerical sub for CVUSD Monica Boedigheimer, NPHS alumna Aaron Van Etten, Medical Writer Leanne Meyers, Marketing Consultant Don White, Risk Manager Anne Pearcey, Middle school art teacher Gwen Cummings, Former CVUSD Parent Gina M. Kaplan, PhD, Scientist Deidre Parmenter, Mom, Grandma, Vendor Performance Manager Lori Stouch-Luck, special education teacher Quinn Moss, WHS Alum Jolina Elia, Self employed graphic designee Rachael Pugh, Stay at home mom Heather Skelly, Uber CVUSD volunteer Mike Skelly, Airline Broker Rebecca Calverley, Software analyst for Pleasant Holidays Dori Fotsch, Mom Liz Armstrong, Nurse Practitioner, mom, volunteer Gina Myra Stevens, Parent Britta Bass, Stay at home mom Glenn Garry, Sales and Marketing Dr. Laurie Garry Professor Kay Tallman, Retired accountant whose son went to CVUSD schools Steven Kammerer, Citizen of Newbury Park. Support public education. Janie Ahlberg, Mom Steve Johnson, NPHS Teacher Pernille Moeller, Administrative Assistant Nicole Johnson, Stay at home Mom / PFA President Jessica Rotter, VP Communications, Westlake Hills Elementary PFA/ Mother Erika Howell, Stay at home mom Bodee Lee, VP Sales, Citizen, Parent Patricia Pond, Attorney Cyndi Horwitz, Marriage and Family Therapist Danielle Linklater, School psychologist Michael Pond, Project Manager -M2Multimedia Jessica Zertuche, PFA President of a CVUSD elementary school Charles Chia, Parent of 3 CVUSD students John Gehle, Father of two CVUSD students Elaine, Retired Social Worker Eric M. Johnson, SVP, Finance Eamon Smith, Moorpark College student, NPHS alum Rory Smith, Student/Actor/Activist Carol Woythal, Sommelier Taryn Massey, Child welfare supervisor David Brant, Finance Manager and proud father of a 2020 graduate of TOHS Trish Kellogg, Retired teacher CVUSD Laurie Wright Garry, Professor of Religious Studies, MSMU Tina Hoover, VP Licensing Teri Sweet, Mom of 2 CVUSD students Gail Casey, Retired educational audiologist with VCOE Pauline Campbell, Stay at home mom Danielle and Brett Welch, Mom and copywriter David Becker, Retired Educator Desiree Goble, Mother, Veteran, Wife, Defense Contractor Sarah Newton, Stay at home mom Julie Bernard, Owner of Art Makes U Smart Jessica Kane, Small Business Owner, Mommy of Kiddos with Special Needs Lindsay Jones, WHS teacher Russi-Van Etten Family, Mom, Student, Medical Writer Jenn Boyd, WHS science teacher Chris Romero, WHS Teacher Veronica Darrah, Teacher Leeanne Shearer, Hair stylist + mama Andrea Rogers, IT Executive Ricki Mikkelsen, Attorney, community activist Don Mikkelsen, Retired physicist, computer programmer Ricki Mikkelsen, Attorney, community activist Sierra Smart-Sleeman, Banyan/Sequoia/NPHS Alumni, Area 5 Parent/PFA Member, Volunteer, Donor, Working Mom and Sometimes Blogger Cynthia McDuffee, Client Service Coordinator (Veterinary) Trish Kellogg, Retired teacher CVUSD Jackuelynne Raft, cosmetologist Chloe Nash, WHS alum Amanda Thomas, Stay at home mom Sonia Corlew, English Teacher, CVUSD Jeanette Zollinger, Substitute Teacher Katelin Zhou, Westlake High School Alumni Christine Turman, Teacher CVUSD Sarah Epstein, SAHM & Postpartum Doula Karen Olson Guetschoff, Retired teacher, Program Manager Becky Dirickson, Stay at home mom Kriss Hurdle, Co-owner Newbury Park Martial Arts Center Deborah Horan, Medical Professional and Mom (Sequoia and NPHS) Tracy Tubb, CVUSD Teacher Siobhan Nimedez, Marketing Manager + Mom

Student candidate interview, CVUSD-Area 1: Karen Sylvester, Nancy Von Volkinburg, CVUSD-Area 5: Lauren Gill, Frank Enderle, Resources, TOP

FRANK “Not-a-serious-person” ENDERLE

• Age: 58

• City of residence: Thousand Oaks

• Occupation: Realtor

• Education: Pierce Community College (AA)

• Funding: 
• Endorsements: frankenderle.com
• Website: frankenderle.com

Project 2025 dog whistles and issues:

We’ve reproduced this part of Frank’s cover page, because it was both confusing (parts were repeated and then repeated for third time on the “issues” page as well) and because it appears studded with dog whistles. Because of his website contents, and his responses for the student interview youtube above, we agree with many in the community that he is NOT an appropriate choice for a public school board.

• “Family Core Values”: According to his site “Family core values are fundamental beliefs and principles that guide a family’s actions and decisions. They serve as a foundation for behavior, communication, and relationships within the family.”
  • Always weirdly capitalized on his site, so we looked it up. His version contains a section on “Sharing and practicing religious or spritual beliefs,” as do many other sites using this phrasing. This is inappropriate to enforce in a public school. (There are over 200 Christian denominations in the U.S. Even if a public teacher inappropriately use their influence to preach to their charges, they assuredly would still piss off people belong to different groups.)
  • Schools should not be run on any one particular family’s values. (See paragraph near top of this section) Schools should be teaching civic values and critical thinking skills, not personal family beliefs.
• “Parental Choice” – This can be deciphered in two ways. One, by the CA PTA, emphasizes choice amongst PUBLIC school offerings. Then there is the wild west outside of private options. Cato Institute believes that there is no way that families with different “values” can exist side-by-side, and that students should be Balkanized into different systems, including private schools, but that parents who do so “should cover at least some of the costs of educating their children whenever possible.”
• AB1955 – The SAFETY Act, Ensuring Safe and Supportive Learning Environments for LGBTQ+ Students. Frank is obviously not a supporter. AB 1955 ensures all students have access to safe and supportive learning environments regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression by prohibiting forced outings.Students’ and parents’ may discuss gender identities within their own families in the manner that they choose, but a school employee needs the consent of the student to disclose any information related to a pupil’s LGBTQ+ identity. The Act does not limit a parent’s ability to request school records.
  • “Truthful and Transparent” – This is also part of his version of “Family Core Values” and most likely part of his rage against AB1955. On a twitter feed, he goes all caps – “REAL ISSUE: YOUR LACK OF TRUST… AND YOU ARE AGAINST PARENTAL NOTIFICATION!! I will change it on Day 1… CVUSD will notify parents!! When someone hides something from a parent it is evil!!”
    • When kids come out to their parents last, it’s often because they are terrified that their parents might kick them out. According to the Trevor Project – “14% of LGBTQ youth reported that they had slept away from parents or caregivers because they were kicked out or abandoned, with 40% reporting that they were kicked out or abandoned due to their LGBTQ identity.” If a kid doesn’t want to come out to a parent… THERE IS A REASON, FRANK!!!
    • AB1955 is now the law. It appears ol’ Frank is setting the Conejo Valley Unified School District up to lose some multimillion dollar lawsuit, especially if a youth is harmed by his actions.
• “our children” – why does this get quote marks?

Frank Enderle – Meme-ster extraordinaire!

• Where are all the memes? Frank appears to be a prolific instagram poster, but there were very few memes. Why would we look? Because we want to know if what he thinks is funny, engaging or enraging, will pose a future harm to students.
  • We found one where he remarks that one shouldn’t worry if one gets COVID, as it has a 99.2% survival rate. “HOAX!!” (Great! As of 2023, 104,538,730 U.S. residents have died of COVID), along with a single anti-mask meme.
  • His X site only goes back to Aug. 18. We suspect that there has been a major “clean-up on Aisle 2.”
• Others suspected what was coming and did thorough job of making screenshots of his alleged site. Link here to the entire 17-part thread below, with lots of misogynistic and transphobic memes which he now disavows: https://x.com/CAntifascists/status/1836216959895245117 and more here: https://x.com/CAntifascists/status/1827409633562259827

https://twitter.com/CAntifascists/status/1836216959895245117?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Most Californians believe in reasonable gun safety laws

• Looks like Frank doesn’t believe in observing the most minimal of care for kids, even though in 2022, guns overtook auto accidents as the leading cause of death in children. His solution mirrors that of the GOP – more imaginary funding for mental health – which does absolutely nothing to keep little kids from killing each other or their parents. Link here to the meme below: https://x.com/CAntifascists/status/1836543959419748534. Waiting for his denial that this isn’t him either.

https://twitter.com/CAntifascists/status/1836543959419748534?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

OMG, it doesn’t end. Frank called people “evil” on NextDoor and doesn’t understand how the 1st Amendment works.

Anonymous Mommy would like a word. Link to facebook post below: https://www.facebook.com/a.anonymous.mommy/posts/pfbid022WUWZ72qcQQc9Ts8e7k7YkUWxaRNFchGPWaveYhuCHV5cW1sutSSt6387zBXSC3pl and https://x.com/cvmamabears1/status/1840829615616770486

Matt Heller Partner, Willner Heller LLC	Carol Inglis	MICHAEL WASSERMAN

Watch here: https://youtu.be/LJwD_PRErh4?si=DeYWQMW-qDP267OK

Student candidate interview, CVUSD-Area 1: Karen Sylvester, Nancy Von Volkinburg, CVUSD-Area 5: Lauren Gill, Frank Enderle, Resources, TOP

• VOTER GUIDE QUICK LINKS: Home page
  • PRESIDENT: Here
  • FEDERAL: Senators, Representatives,
  • STATE: Senators, Assemblymembers
  • LOCAL: City Officials, School Boards, Conejo School Board, Special Districts
  • PROPOSITIONS: School Bonds, Local Measures, State Propositions
  • ONE ISSUE VOTING: Health care

DISCLAIMER: ALTHOUGH THE DATA FOUND IN THIS BLOG/POST HAS BEEN PRODUCED AND PROCESSED FROM SOURCES BELIEVED TO BE RELIABLE, NO WARRANTY EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED CAN BE MADE REGARDING THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, LEGALITY OR RELIABILITY OF ANY SUCH INFORMATION. THIS DISCLAIMER APPLIES TO ANY USES OF THE INFORMATION WHETHER ISOLATED OR AGGREGATE USES THEREOF.

More fun resources! Articles, videos, even a cartoon!

Project 2025 vs. Public Schools

(indivisibleventura) Are you ready for a point-by-point breakdown of Project 2025’s chapter on the destruction of the Department of Education and our public school system? Wanna know who will be the winners raking in profits under a GOP regime, and who will be the losers? Gotta a cup of coffee? Click on the link!

Here’s a short version of what the GOP’s Project 2025 will do to schools.

Want a more detailed version? Who really has the power of choice?

• (nea.org) What’s the Purpose of Education? Public Doesn’t Agree on the Answer

• (aft.org) Defending Public Education – Reclaiming OUr Schools’ Promise and Purpose
  • Proponents of vouchers used to argue that they were a way for low-income and minority families to transfer out of low-performing schools. No longer. Today, most vouchers go to families who already send their kids to private schools. And private schools are not required to follow most federal civil rights laws protecting students, so they can—and many do—discriminate, especially against LGBTQIA+ students and students with special needs.
  • The universal voucher program signed by Florida Governor DeSantis in March will divert $4 billion from the state’s public schools. Florida ranks 44th in the nation in per-pupil spending and 48th in average teacher salaries. DeSantis is sending taxpayers’ dollars in the wrong direction.
  • And then there are the culture wars. What started as fights over pandemic-era safety measures has morphed into fearmongering: False claims that elementary and secondary schools are teaching critical race theory; disgusting, unfounded claims that teachers are grooming and indoctrinating students; and pronouncements that public schools push a “woke” agenda, even though they can’t or won’t define what they mean. Banning books and bullying vulnerable children. School board meetings descending into screaming matches. This is an organized and dangerous effort to undermine public schools.
  • Over the last three years, legislators in 45 states proposed hundreds of laws placing public schools at the center of culture wars: laws seeking to ban books⁶ from school libraries—even books about Ruby Bridges and Anne Frank and Roberto Clemente; laws restricting what teachers can teach and students can learn—particularly about race, gender, LGBTQ issues, current events, and American history; and laws attacking kids who are transgender. Students and staff should feel welcome, safe, and respected in school—but the culture wars are fueling hostility and fear.
  • A torrent of enacted and proposed legislation targeting even the mention of “controversial” topics—sweeping and open-ended restrictions on what can be taught—has teachers teaching on eggshells. In Florida, their Department of Education has threatened teachers and librarians with felony prosecution if they provide students with books that the state later decides are inappropriate. Florida lawmakers have prohibited colleges from spending money on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and have undermined tenure and academic freedom. In K–12 schools, their goal seems to be to ban AP courses and the mere utterance of LGBTQ. And forget about facts. Many laws and introduced bills allow any individual to sue schools and teachers for perceived violations. The intent and effect are to create a climate of fear and intimidation.
  • This takes a toll on the quality of education teachers can provide our students, and on the trust and connection that are so important. Shouldn’t teachers be free to talk with students who are withdrawn or in distress, and to answer students’ questions? Don’t we want students to learn both our nation’s achievements that make us proud and the failings that make us strive to do better? Isn’t that our job?
  • Teachers should have the freedom to teach. And students should have the freedom to learn.
  • The Betsy DeVos wing of the school privatization movement is methodically working its plan: Starve public schools of the funds they need to succeed. Criticize them for their shortcomings. Erode trust in public schools by stoking fear and division, including attempting to pit parents against teachers. Replace them with private, religious, online, and home schools. All toward their end goal of destroying public education as we know it, atomizing and balkanizing education in America, bullying the most vulnerable among us, and leaving the students with the greatest needs in public schools with the most meager resources.

• (firstfocus.org) PROJECT 2025 WOULD DESTABILIZE PUBLIC EDUCATION
  • “The education section of the Mandate reads as if it is designed to exacerbate inequities and make high-quality education and opportunity available exclusively to the wealthy. One of the agenda’s most alarming proposals advocates for giving all parents “the option to direct his or her child’s share of education funding through an education savings account (ESA).”  Voucher schemes such as ESAs siphon money from public schools and funnel it to the private education industry. If Project 2025 is enacted, taxpayer dollars will be used to subsidize the private, oftentimes religious, education of wealthy students, at the expense of the nearly 90% of U.S. students who attend public schools.  
  • It’s hard to overstate the destruction that this plan would inflict on the U.S. public education system. Directing each child’s education funding share to an ESA would rob public schools across the country of the funding they need to operate and would force tens of thousands of them to shut down or drastically reduce education services to children. This scenario has already played out in many states that have enacted school voucher and privatization schemes. Executed at the national level, these schemes would radically exacerbate existing inequities, cause extreme teacher shortages and layoffs, and create huge disparities in access to a quality education. 
  • Imposing universal vouchers would also raise serious concerns about accountability. Private schools have no requirements for serving students with disabilities, are exempt from ensuring students meet grade-level academic requirements, and can reject students as they please, including for reasons such as their sexual orientation.  
  • The lack of enforcement of curriculum standards for private schools and homeschool environments has allowed the existence of groups such as the “Nazi homeschool group,” where nearly 2,500 subscribers were given home school lesson plans and writing assignments based on the teachings of Adolf Hitler. Project 2025 would expand this lack of accountability and drastically reduce oversight of public schools.”  
• (Reuters) Insight: ‘Critical race theory’ roils a Tennessee school district:
  • “Critical race theory, is an advanced concept rarely encountered outside law schools. It holds that racial bias is ingrained in U.S. laws and institutions, negatively impacting people of color. Educators say the lessons about race in most U.S. primary and secondary schools involve basic American history about slavery, post-slavery segregation and the long struggle for racial equality.
    • Critics of the new teaching laws say Republicans are exaggerating the prevalence of critical race theory to use it as a wedge issue to court suburban women, in particular – a group that cares deeply about education and which has shifted Democratic.
    • Republican Governor Bill Lee, who signed the measure into law in late May, told reporters recently that critical race theory is “un-American.”
    • The law prohibits public schools from teaching that anyone is “privileged” due to their race – a reference to “white privilege,” a term derided in conservative circles. Lessons also cannot make students feel “discomfort, guilt [or] anguish” because of their race or sex”.
• (Edsource.org) Conservatives are waging a war for control over California school boards.
  • They are banning books, putting LGBTQ+ kids into the crosshairs of “parental rights” rants, and tearing down the wall between evangelical churches and secular education. They are fighting against public health initiatives, the comprehensive sex education proven to reduce rape, pregnancies and STDs, any history or social studies lessons they deem to be “Critical Race Theory,” and any educational policies on gender identity and racial equity.
    • They are determined to reinstate “traditional values”, which includes erasing the history of systemic racism and contributions of people of Color, homophobia, xenophobia, White Supremacy and Christian Nationalism. (The actions in this post are still “live.”)
• (networkforpubliceducation.org) POLICY DIALOGUE: THE MEANING AND PURPOSE OF PUBLIC EDUCATION
  • If you ask one hundred Americans, “What is the purpose of public education?” you’re probably going to get at least ten different answers. There’ll be some similarities, but some answers will be quite different. In the beginning, the purpose was to create a literate American citizenry to be able to participate in democracy. Our founders realized that if they were going to give citizens the ability to actually shape government through elections, they had to have some knowledge base on which to make decisions. Academic achievement has also always been a big part of the purpose of public education. There have been other purposes as well, such as job training, which is once again becoming very popular. And there has even been the custodial function of schools, which we saw very clearly during COVID-19. When schools closed, education did not stop, but lots of parents were quite upset because they were dependent on the public education system to take care of their kids while they worked.
  • How has public schooling changed over the years? At its beginning, formal education was reserved for the elite. In 1892, the Committee of Ten decreed that education was for college preparation, mostly for white, male Protestant citizens. When the influx of European immigrants began, schools started to take on different functions: training in language, training in Americanism—learning what it is to be an American—and job training, from which emerged systems of tracking and ability grouping. Around the 1950s, the comprehensive high school predominated and we tried to create schools that were all things for all people. Then, in the early 2000s, there was a serious move to make schools more rigorous, focusing on college for all. And now the pendulum is swinging back to job training. So, there’s never been one purpose. And I don’t think there ever will be.
  • One of the things I found interesting about the nineteenth century is that, from the very beginning, the public schools took off, not because everybody wanted to create educated citizens, or everybody wanted to create a common American nation, but because there was a kind of overlapping consensus among a diverse set of stakeholders. There was an overlapping consensus that everybody benefits from these schools in different ways. Parents may have one set of goals. Students may have another. Teachers and educators may have a set of goals. Policymakers may have a set of goals. But there was enough overlap to sustain new institutions and build a very large number of stakeholders. And I think that’s the secret to why public schools have been so successful. The overlapping consensus between all these different stakeholders is that schools really matter to helping us get what we want. We’re all invested in them.
  • And that’s what’s being threatened. That’s what upsets me the most. And it’s by design. Take Neal McCluskey, the education freedom director of the libertarian Cato Institute—the argument he makes for school choice is that we need it because we are so diverse. He argues that we will have wars within our schools if we don’t allow people to choose schools that reflect their values and their values alone. And I find that incredibly frightening because what it creates is Balkanization. Look at all of the major conflicts that we see now in Israel and Palestine, Iraq, and in the past in Northern Ireland. They happen when one faction or religion declares, “Here is my group; this is my set of beliefs, and I want nothing to do with that group and their set of beliefs.”
  • At the end of the day, the real outcome of “school choice” is that the parents really don’t have all that much choice. There are lotteries. There are themes. There are admission preferences. There’s screening and testing. It’s not as though they say, “Okay, this is your choice. And this is the choice of three hundred families who didn’t get the school. We’re going to open up three hundred new seats.” They don’t do that. The market system, whether it is public, charter, portfolio, voucher, just pushes kids around. The idea of a neighborhood high school where all kids of all interests, of all political backgrounds, of all religious backgrounds are welcome—it’s starting to disappear.
  • But what are the long-term effects of choice systems? Now, we’ve created this system where people think of public schools as a large, leaky boat, and pundits are shouting, “Oh, the boat is sinking!” So we start throwing out these life rafts, be they online schools, charter schools, voucher schools, and the emphasis is no longer on trying to right the ship, but to escape it.
• (Chalkbeat) I teach civics. My job is to help students understand that they belong here.
  • “How do we foster a belief in this wounded American democracy that so desperately needs a new generation’s service and commitment? In an address to teachers in 1961, James Baldwin offered this advice: “I would try to make him know that just as American history is longer, larger, more various, more beautiful and more terrible than anything anyone has ever said about it, so is the world larger, more daring, more beautiful and more terrible, but principally larger — and that it belongs to him.”
  • In 2020, civic education must give each student the sense that they belong to this country and that the country belongs to them. It’s fundamental to democratic education in two respects: first, it gives students the feeling of self-worth that teaches them that they matter; second, it extends the experience of worthiness to a collective, letting the student know that just as they matter to their community the community must matter to them. To educate for belonging, teachers and counselors — and behind them, policymakers — first need to give students the experience of being valued in their classroom and in their community. This is not an impossible task. 
  • In all of these examples, a teacher begins the process of educating for belonging by recognizing a students’ essential worth, making them feel at home in their classroom, and then moving the student from the experience of being valued as an individual to an experience of being valuable to a larger group. Belonging is an experience that flows from the center to the periphery, from the individual to the community, and then to the nation. Belonging is not the only pillar of civic education, but it is an urgent part of civic recovery after rupture. If our students do not think they belong in this country, no amount of content will ever compensate. 
  • Even in this year, especially in this year, we must remind our students that each one of them is worthy of a good life. That as Americans, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.” And that their political community needs them, that their government derives its “just powers from the consent of the governed.” This has been, and must continue to be, the building block for a civic education that ushers each student into a democracy that desperately needs their vitality and resolve.” 
• (PBS.org) A Citizen’s Guide to Preserving Democracy – Teach Civics: ‘Schools should be incubators for democracy’

• con’t.
  • “Often called “the father of American education,” Horace Mann argued that free, standardized schooling was key to self-governance, calling education the “great equalizer of the conditions of men.” A curriculum emphasizing the understanding of civics was core to that argument. Up until the 1960’s, American high schools required up to three courses in government and civics but in the last half century, civics education has been eroding.
  • Since 2014, students at the eighth-grade level in the United States have been experiencing declines in civics and US history scores. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NAEP) the average score in history dropped five points between 2018 and 2022 and less than a quarter of eighth graders were at or above the proficient level in civics. A 2022 civics assessment known as the Nation’s Report Card recorded the lowest recorded score since 1998. 
  • Both politicians and educators are making efforts to strengthen civics education nationally. From Maine to Oklahoma and across the country, legislators are passing bills to increase the teaching of civics from elementary school into college. 
  • “I think students ought to learn the value of democracies, the strengths and the weaknesses…” says author and diplomat Richard Haass. He adds, “Students ought to understand the rights, but also the obligations of citizens.”
• (Medium) Why Public Schools? They are Fundamental to Democracy

Student candidate interview, CVUSD-Area 1: Karen Sylvester, Nancy Von Volkinburg, CVUSD-Area 5: Lauren Gill, Frank Enderle, Resources, TOP

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