Anti-gay rhetoric concerns shared at Lewis Cass school board meeting

Jan. 13—The Lewis Cass school board had critics and defenders Wednesday night as public commenters reacted to remarks made toward the LGTBQ community by a school board member and a Lewis Cass teacher.

"I'm a '72 graduate of Lewis Cass ... and this is the first time in my life that I have really been almost ashamed of our school and the anti-gay rhetoric," said Debbie Baker of Walton, who was the first public speaker of the night. "It hurts me."

At the center of the controversy is teacher David Richey, who also serves as the chair of the Cass County Republican Party, and Becky Comoglio, a Lewis Cass school board member and vice-chair of the Cass County Republican Party. She was appointed vice-president of the school board during Wednesday's meeting.

The Cass County Republican Party was in the national spotlight in December after a letter of censure they wrote to Senator Todd Young was published by a CNN reporter. The party was upset Young voted with Democrats in favor of the Respect for Marriage Act, which solidified the right to same-sex marriage.

In an interview about the letter, Richey later said he did not believe being LGBTQ is healthy and compared it to being a drug addict. He said that the logical progression of same-sex marriage would be people identifying as cats wanting to marry cats and pedophiles asking to marry children.

Another issue Lewis Cass has been dealing with is alleged racism at the school.

A diversity and inclusion event was planned at Lewis Cass in 2021 but the presenter canceled after they were informed of pushback from parents. The event was never rescheduled despite the school board saying they were looking into options multiple times over the last year.

'Live your faith'

Baker said LGBTQ people were no different than anyone else at the meeting and that it was Christian to support gay people.

Baker was concerned about how LGBTQ students who read or heard about the comments would cope knowing how a school board member and teacher felt about them.

"It's got to be a hard life," she said. "It leads kids to suicide. I think there needs to be more compassion. Live your faith."

On Dec. 15, just days after the Cass County Republican Party letter was published online, The Trevor Project, an organization focused on preventing LGBTQ youth suicide, reported that in Indiana, 45% of LGBTQ youth had considered suicide over the course of 2022. Fifteen percent attempted to take their life.

Former Lewis Cass school board member Amy Miller also spoke. She stepped down from the school board in Feb. 2022 after six years of service, and was replaced by Comoglio. She is married to Andrew Miller.

"I acknowledge that I left the board because I thought it was being politicized," she said. "I'm not naïve that people have opinions. But I do have an expectation that when you are elected or handpicked to a public office and you take an oath to abide by a code of ethics that you will do so. When (Comoglio) signed that letter (censuring Todd Young) you violated those ethics."

Lewis Cass attorney John Damm noted that Comoglio did not sign the Todd Young letter. David Richey's signature was the only signature on the letter.

However, Richey said he crafted the letter from excerpts taken from each member of the Cass County Republican Party.

At the Dec. 14 Lewis Cass school board meeting Comoglio said she agreed with everything in the letter.

"Most importantly," Miller added, "the discriminatory comments, the hateful comments that you made in that letter, and you endorsed in that letter went against the very policy that is on the first page of the Lewis Cass handbook, the non-discrimination policy that is set by (the school board). That is very concerning."

Miller closed by saying she had no confidence that the Lewis Cass school board could support a non-discrimination policy that they themselves set when one of their board members and one of their teachers is "clearly discriminatory."

A second opinion

There were those in attendance who showed support for Comoglio and Richey as well.

Bryan Preston, a father with two daughters who attend Lewis Cass, felt that the comments made by Comoglio and Richey were a non-issue because they happened off of school property.

"This is something they are doing outside of school and has nothing to do with the school," he said.

Greg Comoglio, Becky Comoglio's husband, spoke in support of his wife. He said he thought his wife never told anyone about her appointment to the Cass County Republican Party because it was not the focus of her life.

"Becky, I respect that you have cared for kids for 14 years in a way that is loving and is Christ-like," he said.

Jessica Tkachuk, head of the Cass County chapter of Moms for Liberty also weighed in.

"Having opinions outside of the school — we're all entitled," she said. "We are all allowed. Absolutely they should have a personal opinion. And so be it if it was publicized. I don't see how that affects what happens in the classroom. I think Mr. Richey has done a great job of keeping it professional in the classroom and teaching the content area and I don't think Becky has brought her personal beliefs into this room here."

Zero money for diversity

Miller brought up that superintendent Tim Garland had said the school spends $40,000 to $50,000 a year on professional development. She asked how much of that money was spent on diversity, equity and conclusion.

"As far as an amount going towards that we have not had much going towards it," Garland said. "For an amount I would say zero."

Garland attempted to dismiss Miller's line of questioning stating that someone was laughing in the audience and that he would not go any further.

"How do you expect not a guffaw from that," Miller responded.

Mercedes Brugh, of Logansport, also asked the board about the lack of funding and action when it comes to diversity issues.

"As far as total dollars we don't have a fund that is just for diversity," Garland said. "We have operational funds and other funds that help support needs that we see as they come up."

When asked about rescheduling the diversity convocation, Garland said he had emailed with other super intendents around the state trying to find a diversity speaker but he said no one could recommend one.

He said Comoglio had found a group called Team Truth that the school board was looking at to see if it fits in the school's budget.

"It's very tough to find somebody," Garland said. "As of right now we are looking at a program thanks to Becky."

Garland said if chosen the program would bring in a speaker a couple of times a year and also include classroom activities.

The Pharos-Tribune was unable to find any educational program called Team Truth. There is a program called IMPACTtruth, which might have been what the school board members meant. Garland would not verify the name in an email.

Closing comments

Comoglio addressed the situation with a statement at the end of the board meeting, saying politics had been brought into the school board by outside sources.

Comoglio worked as a nurse at Lewis Cass. She said she never considered the color of a student's skin, their religious affiliation, sexual orientation or gender identification when she helped a student.

"Each student is treated for who they are, a valuable individual created by almighty God," she said.

School board member Ryan Zeck thanked attendees for their passion.

"We need to continue to have our feet held to the fire," he said. "I know we don't have a specific timeline but we will talk about it and I hope by March or April we have something in the works. Hold our feet to the fire and ask us and let's keep going."

In his closing comments, Garland shared a list of struggles the school had been dealing with that included drug use, suicides and elementary school students sharing pornography.

"It breaks my heart to think that one thing is overlooked, and it is a big thing, I don't disagree," he said. "And we will do something about it. We spend a lot of money on a lot of things. Are we doing our best to hold everything together as the ship sails through the ocean and going through the storms we have to go through? Yes. If it wasn't for our staff we couldn't get through the storms and overcome."

Garland said he thought it was unnecessary to point figures.

"What is it you are doing to help us get through these things," he said, directing the question to the audience members who criticized the school. "Are you donating money? Are you setting programs? What are you doing to help out our kids in the community? I don't see that happening. So to sit there and point fingers, I do pray and I hope you can find different ways to help our community and our kids out."