Douglas Wood
Sartell, MN
I find myself feeling distrustful when three people decide to run for school board positions as a self-described “slate… with similar viewpoints.” (‘Trio of School Board Candidates’ article, Sept. 30) This smacks of running on an agenda – something other than simply wanting to provide the best education possible for our district’s students, which should be the sole priority.
The queasy feeling is heightened when in the Trio’s bios we read about wanting to remove “questionable books” (book-banning, anyone?) and fighting ‘neo-Marxist anti-American bias.’ Pardon me? Sartell schools have never been known as a hotbed of Marxism, socialism, fringe anti-American politics and cultural indoctrination.
We see further references to white race “shaming” and against LGBTQ+ inclusion. As if ‘straight’ caucasians have reason to feel fearful and threatened in our community. Further(more), the recurring references to getting politics out of the schools, about educational “controversies throughout the nation,” to students who have been made “pawns of ideologies and political agendas” strikes me as divisive and offensive.
I’ve lived in this community (more than) 40 years. My wife taught here for 35 years. We know the staff, the schools and the community. In my work, I visit schools all around the state and the nation. The hot rhetoric and political animus of these three relatively new arrivals (two of them within the last five years) suggests anything but a desire to get politics out of our local classrooms. Just the opposite – we see a radical desire to drag national politics and culture wars straight into our local school board and our classrooms. The ramifications are frightening.
Finally, we note the quotes from each of the Trio that Sartell schools have a sterling reputation, one of the reasons they enrolled their students here. Might I suggest the Trio trust the excellent teachers and staff they reference, give them some deserved credit and support, drop their ideological war, and actively help education in the district by staying off the school board.
I will NOT be voting for Emily Larson, Jen Smith or Scott Wenshau – as a trio, a ‘slate’ or individually.
