Newest Lafayette school board member: Gay agenda, ideology will be stopped

LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Chuck Hockema, newly elected to the Lafayette Community School board, won't tolerate openly gay teachers, the 80-year-old said after Tuesday's election.

He doesn't have a problem with them outside the classroom, Hockema said. But if he has his way, any individual expressing the gay "ideology" at work will no longer be on an LSC campus.

“If there’s a teacher that wants to be gay, that’s OK," Hockema told the J&C. "That’s their prerogative. I’ve hired gay people. I’ve had them work for me, but I would not allow a gay person to push his feelings and his ideology off on other employees.

"If they did that, they’d be gone.”

Hockema defeated his opponent, District 7 incumbent Stephen Bultinck, who had served on the LSC board for almost 15 years.

The margin of victory was 120 votes – 379 to 259.

Hockema is a member of the Tippe Citizens' Devolution of Education grassroots group, a collection of parents who, according to its website, “support school board candidates who put kids first, leave medical decisions to parents, create safe, wholesome environments for our children, oppose 'woke' agendas and defend parental rights,” as described on their website.

Hockema wasn't the only member of the grassroots group in the Nov. 8 election – Matthew Morris for the LSC, and Diane Kelley and Sara Bagsby for the Tippecanoe School Corporation also sought seats on their respective boards.

They fell short where Hockema succeeded. Hockema will be one vote on a board with seven members.

Critical Race Theory and social-emotional learning

Hockema threw his hat in the ring to oppose curriculum he defines as "undermining of traditional values and beliefs, promoting gender confusion, encouraging peer-to-peer sex education, violating or undermining parental rights, supporting critical race theory (CRT) or social-emotional learning (SEL) when used as a cover for divisive instruction, and promoting ‘woke’ ideology."

Critical Race Theory, defined as a study of the relationship between race and American law, is a subject that is primarily taught at the college level of education.

“I’ve got five children that went through school, and we did well with that,” Hockema said. “We never had any issues to worry about when it came down to CRT or woke or SEL or transgender or none of that stuff. They didn’t teach this. We helped them with their assignments, and it was a different world then.

“I wanted to get involved with school boards, so I went to meeting with both TSC and LSC just to see what’s going on. And because of the way they would not respond to me with questions that I had, I decided, ‘Well I’m going to run for school board because I want to know what’s going on.’ ”

The fundamental idea of CRT is that "race is a social construct, and that racism is not merely the product of individual bias or prejudice, but also something embedded in legal systems and policies," wrote Stephen Sawchuk, for Education Week.

Superintendent: CRT not part of curriculum

The Journal & Courier reached out to Les Huddle, the LSC superintendent, and asked if the LSC teaches CRT as part of their curriculum. Huddle said that the LSC does not teach CRT.

“It is not part of the Indiana State standards," Huddle said, "so it’s not part of our curriculum.”

In July, Hockema attended TSC and LSC school board meetings, expressing his concerns during the public comment section of the meetings and going as far as presenting a questionnaire to the board members asking them say how they felt about critical race theory, social-emotional learning or what he describes as a woke culture.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary in 2022 defined the adjective woke as being "aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice)."

When many of the school board members did not reply to his questionnaire, Hockema felt motivated to run for the LSC board.

“My reason for running for school board is because when I talked to the school board members, they would not give me an answer to the questions," Hockema said Thursday. "And I thought, ‘Now this is some crap.’ If you can’t tell me whether you’re going to vote for CRT or you are not, you’re on my list and I’m going to find out why."

'I don’t want to see any banners, I don’t want to see any posters'

His scrutiny doesn't stop with school board members. He's eyeing those in the classrooms.

“And I feel the same way about teachers in class. I don’t want to see any banners, I don’t want to see any posters," he said. "I don’t even want to see an advertisement or a poster for Purdue University. The teachers are there to educate, not to try a form people’s opinions about anything other than reading, writing, arithmetic, civics and science."

In the past, Hockema said he has fired people for these reasons, and he spoke about how he had a few lawsuits filed against him in the past. Hockema said he had never lost a case against him once the litigation reached the court system.

“Now with school boards, it’s going to be a little different," he said. "But I’m not going to monkey around with them. You know, if they want to support these things, I feel like they should be removed from office. That’s my strong opinion. But I’m not going to go there until I know that for sure and have the evidence that it’s true.

"I’m not a troublemaker, but if I see trouble, I want to see what’s the cause of it."

In his determination, LSC employees dismissed for what Hockema sees as too intrusive, too "woke," only have themselves to blame.

“They have the right to make those choices and they have to deal with the consequences of their own choices," he said. "But it’s not fair, I don’t want them telling my children, if I had a child going to school, I don’t want them being indoctrinated by someone’s opinion, who’s 100 percent different than mine. What my wife and I teach our children, I don’t want them to erode that with their ideology. They can make it sound so sweet and so pleasant and so wonderful, and kids are impressionable.”

“When the minority starts ruling the majority like these whole issues, you got one percent of the population dictating what the rest of us, what we can and can’t do, that’s ridiculous.”

Hockema said he has no issue with LGBTQ+ students, “as long as they stayed within their bounds,” adding he wants to create a workplace where teachers focus on teaching the curriculum and not supporting or promoting LGBTQ ideology toward students.

“A little boy might be like, 'I feel more like a little girl.' And if you got a teacher that encourages that, that’s the impression they’re probably going to go. And if they just left them alone because it’s a normal thing to have that thing happen to children at different ages, they’ll grow out of it,” Hockema said.

“I’m totally against that as a way of life, but that’s not my choice for them. And I will not restrict them. But I will not tolerate a schoolteacher that does any that promotes their personal idea and ideology outside of the curriculum of the school.

"And one of my first tasks is going to be what is that curriculum and find out what do these other board members think and what do they do. And I’m not going to do anything until I got a pretty good idea of what’s going on and then I’ll do what I feel is appropriate.”

School official says district supports LGBTQ+ teachers, youth

The J&C also asked Huddle if the LSC stood behind its LGBTQ+ teachers and youth.

The school district, Huddle said, remains supportive.

“We stand behind the federal law that supports all families and students, and staff. And I think one thing the Lafayette community and the Lafayette School Corporation should be proud of is our diversity. I think that’s one thing that makes us a pretty attractive school corporation.”

New board member wants more parents at meetings

Beyond looking into the curriculum, Hockema also wants to encourage parents from the district to attend the meeting and vocalize their concerns to the board.

“I’ve gone to these school board meetings and there’s not very many people there and stuff. I want to get another project is gonna be getting parents to come out to these meetings.

“I would not hesitate at a school board meeting to go out of order and just stand up and say, ‘Listen, I’ve got a question and the school board doesn’t want to answer it. I want you, parents, to hear the question and I want you to raise your hands if you agree with me.’ And I would not hesitate to do that in an open meeting."

Hockema said he's prepared to not be in agreement with his fellow board members.

“I’d probably get shunned by some of my school board friends, but I don’t care. I want to know what the people think. And if I said, ‘Do you want CRT to be taught to your child in this classroom? If you want, that raise your hand. And I’m going to count the hands that come up or don’t come up. And if they agree, we're going to go from there, because I’m going to use that as a platform to say, ‘Hey, you are a school board (member) and elected officials. You will do as the people say, not what you think. The people don’t want CRT, so let’s get rid of it,” said Hockema.

Come January, Hockema said that will be his plan of action when it comes to how he will operate on the school board.

“If I ever make an accusation, you better be sure that I’m going to know that I’m in the right. And I’m gonna do it for the right purpose. I’m not going to do it to crucify the person, I’m going to do it to save the children. That is my goal.”

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: New Lafayette school board member expresses concern for 'gay ideology'