Let me be perfectly clear, there is no space on any school board for anyone who holds these disgusting views. Period.
I have had a lot of conversations in the last few days with folks spanning the political and ideological spectrum and they're all saying the same thing: they're fearful of the politicization of school board races and the outside forces are making their way into our communities and schools. And they're not wrong to be afraid. Extreme and dangerous rhetoric and values like these are a threat to our children, students, and communities. Hiding behind slogans of 'parental choice' and calling blatant antisemitism 'noise' will never be ok. Minnesota parents do not choose this and we cannot let this stand.
Inaccurate information, attempts to rewrite our history, pushes to ban books, hatred and vitriol directed at our community members and students because of their faith, their skin color, who they love – none if it has a place in spaces of learning.
At the School Board Integrity Project, we lead with values of integrity, respect, excellence, belonging, and trust. These values have never felt more important than at this moment.
This isn't an issue of right vs. left or democrats vs. republicans. This is right vs. wrong and I could not think of something more wrong than creating and fostering an environment where it is good enough to call hatred noise to ignore.
Thank you,
Kyrstin Schuette
Executive Director
School Board Integrity Project
