Live, laugh, 'liberty'
Remember those primary election races I told y’all to watch last week? Here’s how they turned out and what they mean for education:
Parents’ rights win — for now
Lindsey Tichenor will be the next state senator for a swath of Jefferson, Oldham and Trimble counties after absolutely thrashing her opponent, Bill Ferko. Tichenor ran on a “parents’ rights,” “liberty” heavy platform, running against “critical race theory,” school mask mandates and what she considers to be sexually explicit books in school libraries.
But does her win signal “parents’ rights” candidates have the support to win school board seats in November? In Jefferson County, no — at least not yet.
While Tichenor dominated the Oldham and Trimble portions of her race, Ferko’s more standard brand of conservatism won in Jefferson. Most of the seat’s Jefferson precincts overlap with James Craig’s seat on the JCPS board, which is up for election this year.
But as an incoming state senator, Tichenor offers a potential "second" to the many floor amendments filed by Sen. Adrienne Southworth, currently the lone voice of liberty in the Senate, that typically wither and die.
Both support ending the educational exemption for pornography, potentially opening up Kentucky teachers and librarians to criminal charges and spots on sex offender lists for making books the right-wing crowd considers "obscene" available to kids. The books local activists have gone after have been predominantly focused on LGBTQ themes and characters.
Teacher vs. Raymond
Carrie Sanders McKeehan, who teaches in JCPS, won the Republican primary to run against Rep. Josie Raymond in November. It’ll be interesting to watch an active teacher in what many consider to be the anti-public education party run against a former teacher who is seen as a pro-public education voice.
McKeehan racked up a decent amount of donations from those with views aligned to Tichenor’s. She got $600 from Frank Simon, who is known to push for charter schools, and $500 from Cecil Blye, a pastor who also backs school privatization efforts.
She also got $1,100 from Bullitt County Rep. Thomas Huff, who apparently warned his constituents about the book “Gender Queer,” prompting the sheriff to visit the public library. Neither Huff nor the sheriff would answer questions about what is going on/if Huff has actually read “Gender Queer” when the Lexington Herald-Leader contacted them.
As an aside, Rep. Jason Nemes told me recently a legislative committee plans on investigating books like "Lawn Boy" and "Gender Queer" after complaints. He didn't know when the process would start, so watch this space.
Down goes an admin
JCPS administrator Jonathan Lowe lost the Democratic House primary race against Sarah Stalker, who ran a more grassroots campaign for the seat representing St. Matthew’s. She doesn’t have a challenger in November, so she’ll be in Frankfort come #KYGA23.
An assignment vote?
I've said it before, I'll say it again (and I may need to say it again after this, too): It looks like the JCPS school board is nearing, at long last, a vote on the district's student assignment proposal.
(To be clear, I have been saying a student assignment vote is OTW nearly the entire time I've been covering JCPS. I have wrinkles now.)
JCPS spokeswoman Carolyn Callahan told me Superintendent Marty Pollio expects his presentation on the proposal tonight to be the last one prior to the vote. The major overhaul, for reasons not explained to me, does not require formal first or second readings, she said.
JCPS has aimed to take a vote in early June, meaning the proposal could be teed up for final passage as early as next week.
It is unclear if Pollio will get the 7-0 vote of his dreams. When board members discussed the plan two weeks ago, a few board members — particularly Chairwoman Diane Porter — still appeared to have reservations and doubts about the plan.
“There has to be something out there more than hope and prayers for our children," Porter said at the last board meeting. "They deserve what everybody else has.”
ICYMI
Happy grad szn: Here's a full list of when each JCPS school is celebrating its seniors.
About CAL: After drawing heat for a homophobic homework assignment, the Christian Academy of Louisville will face a "love-in" rally from alums and community members tomorrow.
A JCPS athletic boycott?: Louisville's private schools are being criticized for recruiting JCPS students to play on sports teams.
Your homework
Follow me on Instagram, please.
OK, bye.
Reach Olivia Krauth at okrauth@courierjournal.com and on Twitter at @oliviakrauth.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Live, laugh, 'liberty'
