Seven out of 11 Park County School District 1 candidates attended a forum in The Commons on Thursday hosted by local men’s group Sons of Freedom.

Candidates attending were Joni Bennett, Jennifer Franks, Daniel Morrow, Zachary Opps, Dustin Paul, Rich Stearns, and Aida Polson.

Trace Paul, Lillian Brazelton, Laurie Larsen and Beau Fulton had prior arrangements and were unable to attend.

The president of Sons of Freedom, Andris Vaskis, said the group decided to hold a forum after observing interest in school related topics, particularly the issue of “sexual topics” in schools countrywide while interviewing candidates for the upcoming primary elections. 

Candidates were given one and a half minutes for introductions and two minutes to answer three questions. The first question asked whether or not the candidate believed biological males should be able to play in girl’s sports and whether or not they can use female restrooms. The second question was whether or not the candidate believed that funding dollars should go with the student to alternative schooling options and the third question asked how candidates felt about pedophilia in school library books and sexualization of children with books available in schools.

Joni Bennett

Bennett is a 13-year Park County resident who has daughters enrolled in the district. 

“The reason why I am a candidate  for the school board is because our kids are our future. And they need to get an education. And I want to be one of the ones that fight for education,” Bennett said. “But I also want to be the voice of the parents, the voice of the children, the voice of the taxpayers, because you guys are involved in these children’s lives.”

Bennett said biological males should not be allowed to participate in girls’ sports. 

She had reservations about biological males using girls’ restrooms but understood that there are members of the LGBTQ community in the school district. Bennett said she would be open to listening to viewpoints and is ultimately concerned with keeping all students safe. Bennett also said funding should go with the student, but she said there needs to be accountability, specifically with homeschools. Bennett disagreed with books that contain pedophilia and sexualize children being in the school library. She said books in the library need to be “enjoyable and age appropriate.” She also advocated for the parents’ ability to help their children identify what is and isn’t appropriate. 

Jennifer Franks

Franks has spent over 20 years working in education; she has taught first, third and fourth grade and was the director and teacher at Little Learners Preschool for 16 years. 

“The reason why I’m running is because I feel like sometimes our voice, whether it’s all departments on the staff, whether it is our community, our students, our parents, do not always have a voice in everything that we’re deciding,” Franks said. “I think that all of us play a pivotal role in it. And that’s what we should remember.”

When asked, Franks said she had reservations when it came to biological males playing girls’ sports. She acknowledged that there are LGBTQ students within the district and when it came to bathroom use a plan should be put in place. Franks suggested a plan formed by students, families and school officials that would allow the student to use a bathroom safely and comfortably, while maintaining that same comfort for the other students. Franks said under the Wyoming Constitution education money cannot go to “entities that are nor under the absolute power of our state.” She acknowledged that many organizations do not fit that definition and said that every child should be supported and given resources. 

Daniel Morrow

Morrow is a Powell resident who has three daughters in the district. Morrow and his family briefly moved to the South where he described the school district as “awful.”

“I am running with a desire to preserve a good, honorable, America-loving school,” Morrow said.

Morrow said because of safety concerns biological males should not participate in girls’ sports or  use girls’ restrooms. Morrow also said the issue needs to be handled sensitively and that the children in question should not be treated cruelly. Morrow said that money should follow the student but acknowledged the issue is complicated and the process of allowing this to happen would be slow. Morrow said he didn’t know if this issue would be a board meeting vote and called it “a little more complicated.” He said pedophilia in books is not appropriate for children and sexualizing children is an issue. Morrow said that he believes there should be more involvement when it comes to selecting and removing books for the school library. 

Zachary Opps

Opps has worked in education for the entirety of his 19-year career. He taught high school in Wisconsin for four years and has taught computer science, robotics, engineering at Powell Middle School and at the high school for 14 years.

“I really believe that effective school boards work together to explore issues from a lot of different perspectives and view them through a lot of different lenses, before then coming together, debating the merits of potential policies, then voting as individuals, each accepting the results and moving forward as a unified team,” Opps said.

On biological males being allowed in girls’ sports and in girls’ restrooms, he said despite how someone might feel morally, students are identifying in ways that are outside binary gender. Opps said as a board member he would encourage discussion with LGBTQ students and families in order to better understand the issues. He declined to comment on bathroom policy and said he was not yet well informed. Opps added that privacy and legal considerations would need to be made. He said he supports parents having the decision about where to educate their students and believes students deserve a “well rounded, rigorous, student-centred education.” Opps said funding decisions are outside the school board and did not comment on whether or not funding should follow students. When it came to inappropriate material in school library books, Opps said according to a survey students spend more time on screens than reading books. He said that the internet is harder to police than books but encouraged families to help their children be able to evaluate what they read and see.

Dustin Paul

Paul was born and raised in Powell and has five children in the school district. Paul is a martial arts instructor at Big Horn Martial Arts Academy where he works with local youth.

“I’m here to bring the fight, and to help change the community and make sure we protect it for all the kids in the community, not just my own,” Paul said.

He said he cannot agree with biological males in girls’ sports or in girls’ bathrooms. Paul said he needs to protect the kids of the community, which means protecting the majority which identify with binary genders but also help to provide resources such as counselor role models. Paul also supported the idea that funding should follow students to their choice of education. Paul said funding should be able to follow the students to wherever they will get the best education. He agreed with Opps that technology can also expose students to inappropriate material, but that schools should be safe for children. Paul said books in school should be safe and parents should filter books like they do technology. 

Rich Stearns

Stearns was raised in Powell and has two children in the district. Like Morrow, Stearns and his family briefly moved out of state and he described that school district as “truly dysfunctional.” 

“I’m running for the board, basically to give back to the community that basically raised me, and that’s this community,” Stearns said. “This community is its school, we all as a community come together. These are our children, we basically bring them up together, so the community has to be involved in our school system.”

Stearns said biological males should not play in girls’ sports or be allowed in girls’ restrooms. He acknowledged that restroom accommodations could possibly be made such as single use restrooms. Stearns also said funding should follow the student, he believes competition increases performance and money should go where the best education is. He said sexually explicit content should not be in school libraries. Stearns agreed with Paul that parents should monitor what their children view. Stearns and Morrow both noted that their daughters have self identified books they found inappropriate in the school library. Stearns said he has learned that he can’t trust books that come from school. He noted that the school does have policies for books but it may be geared more towards regulating instructional material and not what is in libraries. 

Aida Polson

Polson is originally from Columbia and has lived in Powell for six years. Polson works at Powell Valley Hospital and has children in the school district. Polson said biological males should not participate in girls’ sports or be in girls’ restrooms. She said this would potentially deny athletic opportunities to girls as well as risk their safety both in sports and in the restroom. 

“So we need to protect our girls. I think there ought to be a clear stance of what is the position of this community, and that we should not allow this,” Polson said. “And as a board member, I will investigate what avenues need to be taken to prevent our girls from being exposed and in danger.”

She said competition encourages people to perform and believes multiple education options are good for students. Polson acknowledged decisions about where funding would go would most likely happen at the state level. She also said any sexually explicit books should be removed and that sex in schools should be limited to sex education. 

Polson said that her daughter once borrowed a library book from her literature teacher and decided for herself it was not appropriate. She cautioned about exposing inappropriate materials to minds that are still maturing. 

Questions from the crowd

Attendees were also able to submit questions that were presented to the candidates. Topics included the high school tardy policy and how it can be unfair to females, whether or not teachers should be armed, critical race theory and social and emotional learning, whether or not all students should go to college and one-sided dress policies in the schools. 

Christeena Murdock, who asked about the dress policies, was asked to clarify her question by Paul. Murdock informed the candidates that last year students had come to school wearing LGBTQ shirts that altered the American flag. Murdock said her daughter and several other students wore “Let’s Go Brandon” shirts the following day. According to Murdock the students were told to change the shirts or be sent home until they had a discussion with their parents. 

After some discussion Dan Laursen, who was moderating the forum, asked that the public not debate with the candidates. All candidates agreed that students should be able to exercise freedom of expression and it is important that a policy is fair to both sides.