Culture-war issues take center stage in many central Ohio school board races
There are more candidates than seats open on many central Ohio school boards in the general election, with some conservative candidates running over culture-war issues such as book access, transgender students and sexuality and race instruction.
Moms for Liberty, the conservative, Florida-based nonprofit that advocates for parental rights in schools while fighting instruction related to race and gender identity, is endorsing several Ohio candidates.
Those issues have already been debated in the area.
In January, the Big Walnut Local Schools Board of Education in Delaware County voted 3-2 against banning young-adult author John Green's book "Looking for Alaska," featuring parent-child relationships and themes of drug and alcohol use, sex and suicide. The vote came after a five-hour meeting.
At the time, Tiffany Justice, national co-founder of Moms for Liberty, told The Dispatch that communities have reasons to be concerned about some of the content in books.
"We have books in the library that have either graphic pictures or text about rape, incest, pedophilia — all kinds of things in elementary school libraries that have no place there," she said.
Former Big Walnut school board member Liana Lee said these issues are taking away from others the district needs to focus on, such as academics and population growth in the district.
"We're losing sight of what we're here for," Lee said. "One of the biggest issues is every meeting seems to be discussing culture wars and radical political agendas, distracting from our schools."
Lee provided a campaign flyer from a political action committee supporting candidates Zach Duffey and Brandon Hoge that says they are facing two "strongly leftist, pro-union" incumbents in Stephen Fujii and Todd Smith.
Fujii said he is a Republican. "I am definitely left of extreme right individuals," he said.
"I support our staff. To have that spun as pro-union, I can live with that," he said.
But elsewhere in Delaware County, Jennifer Feucht, who unsuccessfully ran for the Olentangy Local Schools board in 2021, said she and other conservative parents are supporting candidate Ben Weber for a seat on that district's board.
Feucht said Weber's supporters believe he brings the most common sense to the table, and said his supporters are proponents of parental rights and education.
Feucht mentioned an incident in the summer of 2022 when she said two Olentangy Orange High School students who identify as transgender males stayed in the same cabin as male students during band camp.
"Parents who support parental rights are supporting Ben," she said.
Weber, whose daughter just graduated from Olentangy Orange and who has another daughter who is a freshman there, said he wants to see the district focusing on academics, not on issues such as diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), which he believes parents should teach at home. He said he believes that counseling and mental health programs are too costly.
Weber said he has no affiliation with the Moms for Liberty. "I don’t even know who the Moms for Liberty are," he said.
In the race for Dublin City school board seats, multiple candidates mention issues such as transgender students, sexuality or teaching about race in schools.
Candidate Darbie Everhart says on her website she wants to “protect girls sports" from transgender athletes participating in girls sports.
“Every girl in Dublin Schools has the right to feel safe and compete on a fair field of play in athletics. Darbie is committed to protecting girls’ spaces and sports. She’ll fiercely defend Dublin girls and their rights,” the website says.
In contrast, Everhart’s opponent, Amy Messick, says on her website she wants to protect LGBTQ students.
Another Dublin candidate, Kearney Lykins, has a few paragraphs on his website about teaching objectional materials in schools. He mentions “collective guilt.” Those who say that critical race theory is being taught in schools – however they define critical race theory – tend to believe that current teachings about racism accuse white people of racism.
From his website: ”There’s an old saying, ‘you can’t un-ring a bell.’ I believe this should be our district’s philosophy when it comes to introducing religion, morality, politics, and sexuality to our students. We need to preserve boundaries that honor the role of parents and the family, and protect children from ideas or concepts that many parents find morally objectionable. Recognizing this, I oppose any curriculum or training programs for students and district employees that seek to ascribe qualities such as collective guilt, moral deficiency, racial bias, or sexism, to groups of people based on their immutable characteristics.”
The website for Westerville school board candidate Diane Jones mentions that she would purpose a zero-tolerance initiative from kindergarten through 5th grade regarding the teaching of sexuality in the classroom. "My goal is to preserve the sanctity of the parent-child dynamic," it says.
Upper Arlington school board candidate Ruth Edmonds, a Black woman and church relations director at the conservative Center for Christian Virtue, has made several comments about critical race theory. Edmonds previously ran for the U.S. House of Representatives. In contrast, one of her opponents, Jenny McKenna, wants to hire a diversity and equity consultant.
The conservative 1776 Project’s has endorsed two candidates in the South-Western City Schools board race. Julie Liskany and Denise D’Angelo are running a joint campaign, and both have been endorsed by the conservative political action committee. The Moms for Liberty website also list D'Angelo as a candidate, which isn't an endorsement, she said, but indicated that she signed a pledge.
The 1776 Project wants to stamp out critical race theory by supporting local conservative school board candidates. The group has been pouring money into local school board races around the country.
On their website, Liskany and D'Angelo list general issues such as implementing parent advisory curriculum teams and increasing parental and community involvement, including a "positive school culture" and "critical thinking skills."
Anthony Caldwell is a South-Western school board member and its president who is running for re-election after one term. He said Moms for Liberty have endorsed both Liskany and D'Angelo.
Caldwell said he is concerned about the school board changing direction and aligning with a certain ideology. He said he and board member Lee Schreiner are campaigning on a students-first platform.
Caldwell said that he is concerned a conservative majority on the board would shift to an agenda focused more on banning books and national culture war issues, versus what’s in the best interest of students.
Caldwell mentioned the South-Western district's diversity. He said 78 languages are spoken in the district, including Spanish, Somali and Ukrainian.
In an email, the Liskany/D'Angelo campaign declined comment. "At this time we are focusing on our campaign and are unable to do any interviews," the statement said.
The Moms for Liberty website lists endorsed candidates for Hamilton County (Cincinnati) and Stark County (Canton) but none for candidates in Greater Columbus.
The Southern Poverty Law Center website calls Moms for Liberty "a far-right organization that engages in anti-student inclusion activities and self-identifies as part of the modern parental rights movement," growing out of opposition to COVID-19 public health regulations while opposing LGBTQ+ and racially inclusive school curriculums and pushing book bans.
Maya Henson Carey, research analyst for the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, said her group is concerned that groups such as Moms for Liberty claim to be innocent parental rights groups, but they represent a very small demographic, seeking to oppress a large swath of students through book bans and oppressive school policies,
She pointed out a 2022 race in Berkeley County, South Carolina near Charleston, where six candidates that the Moms of Liberty endorsed were elected. Afterward, the school board voted to fire the district’s first Black superintendent, got rid of the district’s lawyer, banned critical race theory and set up a committee to determine whether some books and materials should be banned.
Scott DiMauro, president of the Ohio Education Association, which represents about 120,000 teachers across the state, said his group monitors elections closely, but ultimately it's up to each local union to determine whether to screen and endorse candidates.
"More local teacher associations are involved in this work now than at any time I can remember," DiMauro said.
"I'm sure that the proliferation of extremist candidates pushing an agenda that drives book banning and undermines support for educators and in some cases trying to prevent students from learning about important issues in the curriculum are driving that," he said.
"Parent want safe schools for their kids. They want their kids to have the resources they need to thrive, a well-rounded curriculum," he said. "What they don’t want are book bans, what they don’t want is censorship."
Here is the list of candidates for school boards in Franklin County and the six counties surrounding it. Incumbents are marked with an "x."
Bexley
Mike Carter
Victoria E. Powers x
Canal Winchester
Kevin W. Butler x
Scott Ferguson
Chloe Green
Matt Krueger x
Adam C. Twiss
Dublin
Darbie Everhart
Kearny Lykins
Amy Messick
Diva Sony
Heather L. Tubbs Colley
Chris Valentine x
Gahanna-Jefferson
John A. Dooley Jr.
Cynthia Lampkins
Daphne Moehring x
Beryl Brown Piccolantonio x
Grandview Heights
Emily Gephart x
Kevin Cuse x
Groveport Madison
Larry Carey
Benjamin W. Joof
John Kershner
Kathleen Walsh
Hamilton
Walley Obert x
Maria Varney
Hilliard
Kelley Arnold
Kate Lemaster
Nadia L. Long x
Brian Perry x
Jonathan Alder
Bruce D. Hooley
Peter Hansen
Steven Votaw x
Lindsay Streit
William McCartney x
Brette Swider
Licking Heights
Tiffany Blumhorst x
Hannington Tsikiwa
Madison Plains
Mark W. Mason x
Jarrett Gary
Sean Meade
New Albany-Plain
Alex Bilchak
Jennifer Fuller
Paul Naumoff x
Joe Quigley
Wayne Poll
Michael Verlingo
Mark Wilson x
Olentangy
Kevin G. O’Brien x
Shilpa Saxena
Lizett M. Schreiber
Libby Wallick x
Ben Weber
Pickerington
Steve Anderson
D. Keith Kristoff x
Cathy Olshefski x
Cheryl Ricketts
Mark Hensen
Reynoldsburg
Jeni Quesenberry
Neal Whitman x
Southwestern
Denise D'Angelo
Anthony Caldwell x
Lee Schreiner x
Julie Liskany
Teays Valley
Roxanne H. Davis x
Mike France
Heith Good
Bill McGowan x
Upper Arlington
Glen A. Dugger
Ruth Edmonds
Jenny McKenna x
Sumia Mohamed
Liz George Stump
Lori O. Trent x
Westerville
Jennifer Aultman x
Diane Jones
Louise Valentine
Whitehall
Mike Adkins x
Lorena A. Lacey
Jeffrey P. Lees x
Worthington
Leah Breakey
Amber Epling
Erik N. Farley
Stephanie Harless
Big Walnut
(Vote for no more than two)
Zach Duffey
Stephen P. Fujii x
Brandon Hoge
Todd W. Smith x
Buckeye Valley
(Vote for no more than two)
Mary Kate Pembroke
Will Wright
Troy Jeffrey x
Andrew Oberhammer
Delaware
Ted Backus x
Janelle Gasaway
Emmett C. Jarvis, III
Kimlyn N. Queen
Heather Ann Rodenborg
Olentangy
Kevin G. O'Brien x
Shilpa Saxena
Lizett M. Schreiber
Libby Wallick x
Ben Weber
Pickerington
Steve Anderson
D. Keith Kristoff x
Cathy Olshefski x
Cheryl Ricketts
Mark Hensen
Reynoldsburg
Jeni Quesenberry
Neal Whitman x
Southwest Licking
Kandee Engle x
Cory J. Ford
Michael Miller
Debra Moore x
Alexander Smiley
Jefferson Local
Meg Hiss x
Loriena Roberts x
Shelton Stanley
Rhonda Tabor
Circleville
(Vote for no more than three)
Jeff Burrow x
Kara Davis
Dia Hildenbrand
Tony Reeser x
Tonya R. Winfield
Logan Elm
(Vote for no more than two)
Michael Agosta
Nikki Jackson
Heidi D. White x
Westfall
(Vote for no more than three)
Judy Cook x
Brian Cooper
Gerald Timothy Daniel
Casey Pringle
Mark Ruff x
Jennifer Brook Ruoff x
Annie Williams
Marysville
(Vote for no more than two)
Jermaine C. Ferguson x
Matt Keller
Collin Smithey
mferench@dispatch.com
@MarkFerenchik
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Culture-war issues prominent in central Ohio school board elections
