Karen Sticht: I-L School Board should not get involved in partisan politics

To The Daily Sun,

This week, the Inter-Lakes School Board decided to bring partisan state and national politics into our school district.  On a 5-2 vote, the board chose to sign a letter from NH Businesses for Social Responsibility, to oppose NH House Bill 544.

Any group preaching social responsibility sends a red flag to my mind conjuring political visions. Another red flag came when I saw that this group also sells many programs and services, such as Business Values DEI-Diversity, Equity (not Equality), and Inclusion; and a NH Workplace Racial Equity Learning Challenge. Among the groups signing the letter, very few endorsements come from public school districts and none are from our surrounding towns.

This opposition came to be an agenda item by way of the superintendent. It was cleverly crafted to favor a vote to sign the letter, opposing the language of NH House Bill 544. Because I was unfamiliar with HB 544, I spent some time reading and understanding it. I wish the board members had done the same.

The Inter-Lakes School District is opposing a bill that "prohibits the dissemination of certain divisive concepts related to sex and race in state contracts, grants, and training programs." Included in the prohibited concepts is that "one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex." The state does not want taxpayer funding used to teach that "the state of NH or the US is fundamentally racist or sexist." Or, "that an individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex."  All of HB544 can be found on the internet.  In the end, however, the bill states that all of these divisive concepts "can be discussed, as part of a larger course of academic instruction, in an objective manner and without endorsement."

Under Requirements for Agencies, HB544 states, "Agency diversity and inclusion efforts shall, first and foremost, encourage agency employees not to judge each other by their color, race, ethnicity, sex, or any other characteristic protected by federal or state law." Why would the administration and school board oppose that?

When it was moved to approve the motion to sign the letter, there was a long silence, as if no one wanted to discuss it publicly.  Finally one rep said that she resents the politics of the (Republican) bill and doesn't think the state should tell the school districts what they can or can't introduce in the schools. Another said that he didn't like the politics either, but also didn't understand critical race theory or HB 544, so felt the letter should be signed. No one acknowledged that the petitioning group is equally political, parrots the Biden agenda, or might jeopardize future state funding to our district.

Kudos to Craig Baker and Charley Hanson, both from Center Harbor, who voted against signing the letter. Local boards have no business getting into partisan politics and this should have been tabled forever.    

Karen Sticht

Meredith