11/01/2024
Maybe I should be flattered, that the opposition is so threatened by me, that they are resorting to these kinds of messages to deter people from voting for me.
I have posted zero negative comments about my opponents, nor have I attempted to misconstrue their positions on the issues.
Here are the facts: Yes, I voted against changing the NPS activity policy ( #5301), and here are the reasons why:
1. The NSAA already had a strict policy in place governing participation by transgender students in athletics, which is handled on a case-by-case basis.
2. Transgender participation in sports has never been an issue at NPS, the push to change the NPS policy came from outside political interests. I am against outside/national political interests stirring up issues that are not affecting our local community. Further, at a time when district resources are already limited, we don’t need to be spending taxpayer money, board and administration time and other district resources on these unnecessary issues.
3. Our students already face mental health challenges, more so than when I was a kid, due in large part to social media, etc., and I felt that the rhetoric and furor brought about by the attempts to change policy 5301, put an already vulnerable student population even more at risk, again for no reason.
4. Changing policy 5301 could have unintended consequences in the future. For example, we have a very robust girls’ wrestling program now. When girls first started wrestling, however, they wrestled with/against boys, for several years before NPS instituted a specific girls’ wrestling program. Where was the community outrage about girls wrestling with boys then? If the new 5301 had been in place then, we most likely wouldn’t have a girls wrestling team today.
Additionally, many young women across the country are starting to play football, and one day, there might be girls’ football teams, but that won’t be allowed now at Norfolk High School because of the new policy 5301.
5. NPS’ lawyers gave the board 3 options for how to handle the political uproar over transgender sports participation, and only one of those options (changing Policy 5301, as the board ultimately voted to do), has opened up our district to potentially costly lawsuits, which I did not see as either fiscally responsible or in the best interest of our district.
If you still have questions, I’m happy to answer them.
