What? ACLU Attacking Parental Rights! Guest: Conrad Woodall, Idaho Affiliate

Upcoming Events:

• Oct 21: "The Great Northwest Awakening" in Richfield, WA.
• Weekly Parents' Rights & Education Zoom trainings on Saturdays.
• Visit website for more details.

Legislation & Lawsuits:

• New "Parents' Bill of Rights" highlights curriculum transparency, student social transitioning reports, and religious exemptions.
• California under scrutiny over school district's gender identity policy.

Organizational News:

• Updated membership form for selecting local affiliate groups.
• Drive for increased representation in schools through "pre-affiliates."

ACLU Actions:

• ACLU challenges transgender restroom policies in Missouri and Texas.
• ACLU counters Indiana's "Education Matters Law" due to vagueness and First Amendment concerns.

Spotlight on Conrad and Kate:

• Collaborating on parental rights legislation in Idaho.
• Backgrounds: Conrad, ex-Sacramento police with a master's in forensic psychology; Kate, education law attorney with 10+ years of experience.
• Concerns: Lack of parental say in school curriculum and decisions.
• Key legislation: Ban on sex and gender education below fifth grade; enhancing parental voice in school board meetings.
• Catalyst: The formation of the Parents' Rights and Education Group in Coeur d'Alene after parents were denied input at a school board meeting.
• Update: One bill passed the Senate last year but was halted in the House; another is in its nascent stages.

Links:

The Pacific Justice Institute:  pacificjustice.org

Conrad Woodall:  conradwoodall@yahoo.com

The Great Northwest Awakening event

Zoom Calls

Legislation: Parents Bill of Rights

Transcript

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Hey everybody, thanks for joining me today. I'm gonna remind you of some of the events that we have coming up. First off, The Great Northwest Awakening is on Saturday, October 21st in Richfield, Washington. And Parents' Rights and Education Zoom calls are every other Monday. So next Monday, we're having a Zoom call. You will wanna check it out, get the updates from National on that call. And our last item is Parents' Rights and Education Zoom Training Calls, which will be every Saturday. And you won't want to miss those. They just started and we've had a great turnout. So please avail yourself of these events. If you want to know more on these events, check out our website, parentsrightsandeducation.com and scroll down on the homepage to events. 

Next, legislation and lawsuits. Always interesting. So the attorney general released an updated version, this is actually the fourth version of the Parents' Bill of Rights. And it focuses on curriculum transparency and mandatory reporting to parents if their student requests social transitioning at school. That means opposite sex pronouns, gender identity, you know the drill. And lastly, It includes honoring parents' requests for religious exemptions and or absences from controversial activities and curriculum content. Very important. Go Indiana. In California, the school board president responded to investigation into the school board policy. So a California school board president spoke to Fox News Digital after state attorney general launched a civil rights investigation into the school district's policy requiring staff to inform parents if their child chooses to change gender identity. You see a thread here, guys? I mean, the schools don't want parents to know, do they? So check out the links to these stories in the show notes. 

Now when it comes to organizational news and updates, I want to remind you that the new your ability to select your local affiliate. We have affiliate groups nationwide, and now with our updated membership form, you can select which affiliate group you would like to join. Pretty cool. If you're already a member, make sure to update your membership and select your affiliate. 

It's back to school. I mean, some of you even going next week. and we need a point of contact in every school district. Those folks are called pre-affiliates. First, become a member of Parents' Rights in Education by filling out our membership form located under the Parents top menu option. And hey, if you're already a member, make sure to update your membership. With our updated membership form, you can select which affiliate group you'd like to join. Now, over the last week, numerous people have applied to become local affiliate leaders. If there is no affiliate in your school district, consider becoming one. Oh my gosh, you guys, it's so simple. All you need to do is fill out the start an affiliate form located under the leadership top menu option. And then we will contact you with more information. 

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So did you know that the ACLU is going after parental rights? Well, yeah, isn't that what they do? The ACLU sued Missouri School District for transgender bathroom policy. So the district policy stated that students must use restrooms that match sex as assigned at birth and use the one gender neutral single stall restrooms. Gosh, that makes sense, doesn't it? But the ACLU of Missouri is suing the Platte County School District for banning transgender students from using restrooms and locker rooms corresponding to their gender identity. 

Next, Indiana ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of a teacher, Kayla Smiley, in regard to the state's new Education Matters Law. This lawsuit claims that the law is too vague on definitions, human sexuality. The law is a violation of the teachers' First Amendment rights, according to them. K through 12 teachers have never been able to say whatever they want in the classroom. Have they? After all, they work for us. The ACLU in Texas is hot on the trail too. They have filed a federal civil rights complaint. Just this last Thursday against a fine arts public charter school in Fort Worth and a Fort Worth area school district So remember charter schools are Chartered by the local school district So there have been complaints again against a school board policy that requires students to use restrooms gender-specific spaces that align with their biological sex and be part of activities and groups that align with their biological sex. Oh my gosh, it'll be interesting to see what the results are of that lawsuit. So just because you live in Texas doesn't mean that you're not going to be a target by the ACLU. 

When we return, Pree's Idaho State Affiliate leader, Conrad Woodall, is going to join me to discuss legislation he is drafting up with the help of Kate Hartley, the attorney for Pacific Justice Institute in Idaho. Now this is a legal defense organization with a focus on religious freedom, parental rights, and other civil liberties. And I just learned that Kate will be joining us as well. So get ready, this is gonna be an interesting discussion. 

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Now, this retired Idaho leader of parents' rights and education has a master's degree in forensic psychology. That's MAFP or masters of arts in forensic psychology. He has extensive knowledge and experience working with sexual abuse victims as a Sacramento police officer, where he served for 11 years in patrol. Conrad taught psychology and criminal justice programs at the community college level for 10 years and according to him modeling and observational learning behaviors now called gender expression are used falsely to justify gender instruction as age-appropriate. Molesters are enabled by access to more vulnerable children as an entire generation are pre-groomed by the public schools. So Conrad How does your experience affect some of the legislation that you are now helping to craft with Kate?

Conrad & Kate:

Yeah, thanks, Suzanne. It's a pleasure to be here. Well, Kate and I got connected when she first moved here. I don't know how long ago was that? Yeah, I mean, pretty much almost first day. And we've been working together ever since. So on a variety of issues, both advocacy support, things like that. But legislatively, we partnered up with one of our senators up here, Senator Ben Taves. Last year was our first year where we tried to get some legislation through. We started with a, um, a ban on sex and gender education on any grade level under the fifth grade, just we even, we ordered it that way to make sure we covered preschool just to be safe because you never know what level

Suzanne Gallgaher:

So like a good

Conrad & Kate:

going to try to push it to. 

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Yeah.

Conrad & Kate:

Uh, so we got that all the way through the Senate and we got. kind of stalled out at the end of session in the house. So we're going to bring that back. But to kind of answer your question more specifically, I just, I'm looking at that law enforcement background, victim services background, teaching background, and I'm seeing what's happening in the school systems. And it's just appalling. And then Kate brings the legal side. So, and all her vast experience. And so we're just working together to try to get some changes made.

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Terrific, terrific. So you're going to bring that back up this next session. And what is the process? Where will that specific piece of legislation go? Did you say it was passed by the Senate, but it hadn't gone to the House yet?

Conrad & Kate:

Yeah, unfortunately we started late in the session. Idaho does not allow, we don't have full year long legislation, right? Like some other states. So we have a very tight

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Okay.

Conrad & Kate:

legislative window that we have to get things through. And if you don't have it going right off the get go, it can get stalled out. And that's what happened to us.

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Okay. Well, terrific. I, you know, if I were listening from, gee, maybe Texas or, you know, another state in the East coast, I'd be thinking Idaho. Really? There's a problem in Idaho? That's hard to get through.

Conrad & Kate:

Uh, yeah.

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Why would it be?

Conrad & Kate:

Well, um, it's everywhere. I retired out of Northern California and I planned on just coming here and fishing and that was in 2017 and lo and behold, I saw that everything I was moving away from and we're hearing this from people that have moved from Oregon and Washington, everybody gets here and we think, woo, we're good. And the next thing you know, we realize we're not good. And that's when I started the fight. So, because I realized where are you going to move? Like if, if Idaho is not safe.

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Right.

Conrad & Kate:

So yeah, the listeners out there, if you, if you think you're just going to pick up and move to Idaho, yeah, you're going to be sitting next to me in about two weeks.

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Yeah, it's pretty wild. I know I set you up for that answer, but we started the Idaho group because of somebody who moved from Oregon to Idaho and told us that story, you know, in the summertime. She said, oh, I don't think we're really going to need a group there. And then school started. Everything

Conrad & Kate:

Yep,

Suzanne Gallgaher:

changed.

Conrad & Kate:

absolutely.

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Yep.

Conrad & Kate:

And Kate

Suzanne Gallgaher:

So.

Conrad & Kate:

can speak to the call she gets. I mean, yeah, thanks for having me. So yeah, a lot

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Ah!

Conrad & Kate:

of this legislation is directly in response to the calls I get from parents and students that have, are having problems in the public schools with a variety of different constitutional rights and parental rights issues. So. That's our goal. You know, that's why we have a great

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Right?

Conrad & Kate:

partnership where we have a lot of the same goals and just different strengths within that goal. So yeah, this is all in response to requests I get for legal help. So that's what we're working on.

Suzanne Gallgaher:

So awesome, awesome. So Kate, I'm anxious to hear about this right to public comment legislation that you're working on as well, because that was the issue that sparked the Parents' Rights and Education Group to form in Coeur d'Alene. They were literally shut out of a school board meeting. It was pretty dramatic. And falls right under this category of right to public comment. Tell me about that and what does the bill require?

Conrad & Kate:

Definitely. So interestingly enough, in Idaho, there is no right to public comment really at any governmental meeting. And so obviously that would cover school board meetings as well. And that now that being said, many school boards do allow public comment, but it varies greatly, you know, amongst school districts. And they can put any kind of limitations on it that they would like. And parents also do not have a specific right to put an item on a school board agenda so that a potential problem they may be having that's directly related to the functioning of the school district may not be heard at all. And so this is obviously a problem.

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Mm.

Conrad & Kate:

You know, we have elected officials that run our schools and we don't have an inherent right to address them. with the problems that parents are experiencing. So

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Mm-hmm.

Conrad & Kate:

we are working on legislation to address that, to give parents the right to give public comment at school board meetings and also to put items on the agenda.

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Okay, perfect. So, okay, you know, what's really fascinating is that since I've been following this issue for like the last 30 years, of course, I've seen a dramatic change in the issues that are coming before the boards. And it is literally pushing back on the role that they accept, that they seem to accept that they don't have any say about curriculum. I'm talking about the school board members themselves. So now parents are demanding to have a say about curriculum. And it's very, very important for these boards, even the conservative boards, to make sure that their meetings are conducted in a professional way, using Robert's rules, giving everybody equal time at the microphone. And not only that, but documenting the meetings by videotaping them so that we have an accurate record. of who said what at the meeting. So does this bill cover a lot of those details? Because I think it's so important for school boards to be conducting business in a professional legal manner.

Conrad & Kate:

It does. And it certainly, you know, doesn't take away the school board's ability to maintain some level of control over public comments. Obviously, yes,

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Certainly.

Conrad & Kate:

they can give time limits, they can give, you know, they can have methods to deal with disorderly conduct and things like that. But the need for parents to know they can address their board and even specifically the topics that are addressed is really very, very important from a parental rights issue.

Suzanne Gallgaher:

And Kate, what about, because see, we get feedback from small districts all over the country. And what we're finding is that the boards don't really follow the correct protocol when it comes to announcing the meetings and putting the agenda on their website so that the community knows what is going to be discussed. what the procedure is for submitting an agenda item, all of these kinds of, this kind of protocol has got to be adhered to by the local school board. Again, this is a nonpartisan issue. Both sides have to follow those requirements. And another thing I wanted to ask you about was, what do you think about banning parents from, you know, they're called no trespassing parents from school board meetings and, and the property. Has that been happening in Idaho at all?

Conrad & Kate:

I have not had any inquiries about that or anything. Have you gone through that? I haven't ran into that case that I can think of. Yeah, nor have I yet. Yet, yeah.

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Well, it is kind of a, it's becoming a little bit more common with some school boards where they're trying to figure out how they can keep parents from participating. And so they literally will file a complaint with the local police or,

Conrad & Kate:

well

Suzanne Gallgaher:

you know, state

Conrad & Kate:

what

Suzanne Gallgaher:

police or local police and no trespassing. individual parents from the school grounds. That was a case that took place in the state of Washington, and it was really without cause.

Conrad & Kate:

What I have seen is what I'll call just a grasp at reality TV type of episode where we get those calls in and we show up and there's this huge police presence for nothing, absolutely nothing. There's this expectation that it's going to devolve into some type of violent mob action and it never does, but they love the media.

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Right,

Conrad & Kate:

the media view

Suzanne Gallgaher:

right.

Conrad & Kate:

that puts it. So yes, I have seen that on many occasions when we're talking about controversial issues. They put these calls in and there's cops everywhere and you're like, she's the popcorn machines in the back guys like enjoy. And then it's

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Okay.

Conrad & Kate:

in the paper the next day, you know. Yeah, exactly.

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Right.

Conrad & Kate:

Look at all these cops we needed just to have a school board meeting when nothing, nothing happened. Yeah, exactly. They don't

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Nothing

Conrad & Kate:

mention.

Suzanne Gallgaher:

happened.

Conrad & Kate:

Yeah, how many arrests took place? Yeah, none. Okay. Yeah, right.

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Right,

Conrad & Kate:

Yeah.

Suzanne Gallgaher:

right. Yeah, and that was our experience, you know, in the in the Washington state situation. And actually, the board was not a it was it was a parent friendly board. And what we discovered there was that they were not running their school board meetings according to Robert's rules and you know, using the proper protocols and they were running it more like a town hall. where anybody could just pop up at any time and voice their opinion. And that was very, not very orderly at all and didn't give people equal time to speak. And the school board members were making comments that were not appropriate. And so it's really, I think this... particular law that you are submitting. We would like to have a copy of that because I think it sounds like a very good idea, especially. Let's

Conrad & Kate:

Well,

Suzanne Gallgaher:

just

Conrad & Kate:

and

Suzanne Gallgaher:

all play by the rules.

Conrad & Kate:

Yeah, absolutely. And it does cut both ways, but I'll give you just a quick synopsis of one of the other cases

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Mm-hmm.

Conrad & Kate:

that this kind of, you know, cause this action. So you got a six graders come home. They say teacher told us that if first of all, teacher gives out handout that they're not supposed to give out that has requests for pronouns on it. Then in class teacher says if your parents, if you have a name that you want, to be called that your parents don't need to know about. I will keep it secret, says it to the whole class. So complaint goes to the principal. Principal tells the parents, I don't have a policy, you need to go to the school board. And principal tells the parents, you're the first parent that's come in on this side. We've actually had parents

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Yeah.

Conrad & Kate:

coming in complaining that the teachers aren't using pronouns. Okay, so you can see it's cutting both ways. So the parent goes to the school board, starts to speak. The... the, what do you call them? Not the director, but the chair of the board. Thank you. The chair of the board stops her, cuts her off, which we even, we even have a video, cuts her off and says, um, that's not on the agenda. You can't speak to that. So then she goes, they email back and forth and she's, she says, Hey, I want to deal with this. The chair says, I've talked to the principal, teachers been disciplined. It's been handled. There's no need to address it. And she goes, no, there's still no policy in place. The principal. needs a policy for to run the school to deal with this in the future. I want to put it on the agenda and discuss it." Chair says, nope, we're not putting it on. So the parent, that was it. The parent literally had no, right? So they're using it to avoid handling these issues. And again, it cuts both ways. You could be a parent on the other side who's going, hey, I want this teacher to use this pronoun. Well, you get a chance to put it on the agenda either way.

Conrad & Kate:

Instead, they're trying to avoid

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Exactly.

Conrad & Kate:

these issues altogether.

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Right, right. Well, you guys will be happy to know that Parents' Rights and Education is creating classes or trainings and that we have on our website, they're free to anybody who wants to take them and they include, you know, how to testify, how to run for school board, and we are going to be supporting school board members, you know, because the problem is that a lot of people who are elected to school to the school board. I have very good intentions in mind, but they're really not prepared for these very sensitive situations that they get into when they're in charge of the meetings. And so, you know, I think

Conrad & Kate:

Well.

Suzanne Gallgaher:

as a community, we need to be supportive of them and encourage them to, you know, give those outlines to the community so that they understand. And they need to be fair to both sides. I think we'll get the most done that way.

Conrad & Kate:

Absolutely. And the more we do, I mean, Kate can speak to this better than I can, but compelled speech, freedom of speech, this is well litigated in

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Mm-hmm.

Conrad & Kate:

our country. And the bottom line is let's take it. Let's take it forward. Let's hash it out. And we'll see where the constitution rests on the issue because you can't,

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Absolutely.

Conrad & Kate:

you know, you

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Yeah.

Conrad & Kate:

can't compel people to speak a certain way. So let's go ahead. I don't care which side comes forward, but we need to push the issue through and get it resolved so that we can move past ultimately this issue and kind of lay it to rest.

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Absolutely.

Conrad & Kate:

So when you avoid the issue altogether, it doesn't help.

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Right. So what's the call to action guys? I mean, we talked about this a little bit before the show. How about we have people contact you Conrad through the Parents Rising Education website. You are listed as an affiliate, head of the affiliates for the state of Idaho. And they should sign up on our website, become members. They can become a free member and follow us. and participate in this legislative effort that you are making. I know that it's very helpful to have individuals emailing, calling, and supporting their representatives as bills work their way through the legislature.

Conrad & Kate:

Absolutely. And I would like to just let everybody know that Kate is here. We have, not every state has a representative from Pacific Justice Institute. So I think we can get her information attached. And if you're a parent and you're having a problem in Idaho, reach out to her, reach out to their organization. Because that's one of the things we always talk about is sometimes you have these parents that feel like, I don't want to stand up. because they don't want to face the scrutiny. So between Kate's organization and our organization, that's part of our role is to help

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Mm.

Conrad & Kate:

support those families and encourage them to stand up for their rights and their children's rights.

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Absolutely, absolutely. That's what it's all about. Because if you don't know your rights, you won't have the confidence to push back. And many of the administrators and individuals in the school system are counting on that, that parents are just ignorant. And so they'll say, well, you can't do that. Well, the parent might know better.

Conrad & Kate:

Yeah. Well,

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Correct?

Conrad & Kate:

and I'll tell you another, yeah,

Suzanne Gallgaher:

So

Conrad & Kate:

absolutely.

Suzanne Gallgaher:

we need to know what our rights are.

Conrad & Kate:

I'll tell you another thing that happens too. When Kate and I work with Ben and Ben is, is up bringing the, so Senator Ben tevas, he's upbringing legislation. What's one of the things they want? Where, where did this happen in Idaho? Where did this problem occur? What? And so one

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Exactly.

Conrad & Kate:

of the things Kate and I love to do is we love to go, here's this case, here's that case, here's this case. If you don't come forward and you don't share your stories and you don't share your cases, we, we don't have that ammunition. to then put it in front of the legislature and say, here's

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Exactly.

Conrad & Kate:

the case, here's the parent, do something about it, right?

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Right. And we have a tip line on our website. You can, there's several different portals where people can share their stories with us. Please write to us. We will forward that on. If you live in Idaho, we'll forward it on to the Idaho affiliate, Conrad Woodall. You know, put you, put you in touch with him. You can establish your own affiliate group in your local area, but you are exactly right. You guys, that's what I've been doing from day one is I want to know this, the state. the school district, the actual school, and even if there are individuals within the school district that we can name, the administrators who are creating grief for some of our families, we wanna talk about that because everybody thinks and they want this excuse, they don't wanna have to change anything right in their normal schedule. I'm talking about parents. They wanna think. Not in my school. That would never be in my school. Are you kidding? Actually, it's in your school. It's in Idaho of all states. So, you know, we're not, we're not, no, I believe no school district is immune from it because it's coming from the top, from the top down and infiltrating every school district. And that, you know, that's partially, that's a whole ‘nother show, but we can. You know, we know who's behind it, the National Education Association, you know, all kinds of organizations who would like to have access to our kids. So thank you guys so much for being here today and thank you for what you're doing. This is really worthwhile. We want to follow this effort that you're making and I hope I'll be reporting on a win in the state of Idaho that these two pieces of legislation and others that you are putting forward will be signed. by the governor and put into law. Thanks for all you do.

Conrad & Kate:

Thank you, Suzanne. Thank you for having us.