The good guys suffered a body blow in yesterday’s off-year school board election up in Jefferson County, where the new conservative majority was successfully recalled into oblivion:
The fight in the swing district was significantly more controversial than a typical school board election. At issue were three members of the board elected in 2013 — Ken Witt, John Newkirk and Julie Williams — who ran on a reform platform of expanding school choice and increasing transparency.
All of the members were recalled by large margins. Sixty-three percent of voters opted to recall Newkirk, and just over 64 percent of voters chose to recall Williams and Witt.
The members’ move in 2014 to review a new Advanced Placement U.S. History curriculum, criticized by Republicans, drew national attention. Williams proposed that the board consider whether teachers should present materials that emphasize “positive aspects of the United States” and respect for authority, free enterprise and individual rights, rather than encouraging or condoning “civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law.” Hundreds of students walked out of their classrooms and teachers called in sick, shutting down multiple schools in the district.
The unions fought hard and they won. We have to fight harder and do better.
Scott Walker showed the way in Wisconsin, but until we have a conservative governor here of similar mettle, then sometimes we’re just going to take hits like these.
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