Linda Lyon is a local school board member and former president of the Arizona School Boards Association. she is a retired military officer. She expresses great concern about the tumult and anger at many school board meetings and speculates that some of the outrage is generated by paid shills. She writes here about why school boards matter and how citizens in every community can make a difference:
Although I can understand how the current climate would discourage good people from wanting to serve on school boards, it is exactly the time that they must. Otherwise, the bad guys win. What we’ll end up with is school board members who thrive on hateful discourse and self-destructive environments. We’ll end up with an exodus of good school board members, good administrators, and good teachers. Eventually, we’ll end up with a system of public education that is circling the drain.
I don’t think of myself as a conspiracy theorist, but neither do I think we should be so naive, to think that all this is happening organically. Of the April Vail protests for example, Superintendent Carruth said,
“There was a handful of people – I don’t know exactly how many – who either don’t have kids in the school district, don’t live in the school district, don’t live in the county, who came with the express purpose of whipping up that group.”
Yes, around the country, administrators and school board members have suspected outsiders of coming in to school board meetings to wreak havoc for political purposes. This is not a new strategy, as conservative strategist Ralph Reed, (former executive director of the Christian Coalition), once said he would “exchange the presidency for 2,000 school seats”. But the current political climate and ease message spreading via social media has whipped it into a frenzy.
For those who are shocked at how low we’ve sunk at a country, and are committed to do their part to “Build Back Better”, there is almost no better place to start than to serve on your local school board. Ensuring our students are prepared to build a better future is why I first ran for the school board in 2012, and why I continue to serve. I can assure you that the other side is feverishly working to ensure they win this battle for hearts and minds and they’ve been very successful thus far in using school board seats as stepping stones to higher political offices.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
We are suffering from a concerted effort to govern by division. This is not new. We cannot expect to see unity at any level when one of the political parties has committed to suppression of the electorate as a way to extend the concentration of power it now enjoys. Since the demographic now threatens Republican ascendancy, that party is moving through the range of divide and conquer strategies that go all the way back to the rise of White Supremacy at the end of the nineteenth century (May I suggest Willmington”s Lie as a good explanation of how this worked in the extreme).
When the divided election occurred in 2000, the Republicans made the comittment to rule as though they were the only party. Judges became more right wing. Policies ignored the opposition supporters. Now, 20 years later, any suggestion opposing the Republican policy is called communism and fake news and fear mongering begins, swallowed by a 40% majority of a gullible public.
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DeSantis in Florida has been manipulating the laws to neutralize the impact of local school boards. Yesterday, he was in Pace, Florida to explain why he is eliminating the state tests. He often goes to Pace to make his announcements because the district is made up of mostly white, right wing Christians and libertarians. This district was once fined for its refusal to stop school prayer. Surrounding communities are never informed of DeSantis’ visit as he does not want to see or hear from dissenters. His office always notifies the press so he can present a positive image and seem as though the public is on his side.
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Perhaps they should ID those who attend school board meetings.
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How about limiting attendance at school board meetings only to those who have been vaccinated and who wear masks?
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Yeah, that may have the same effect.
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