School Board Attacks: We Almost Lost $100,000 But Forest Hills Public Schools Now Stands to Lose Far More

Forest Hills Public Schools is among the school districts around the country currently under attack. The attacks have nothing to do with FHPS’ operation and staff but instead are rooted in a larger, extremely harmful agenda. As the disruption progresses, we’re gaining deeper insight into the motivation behind it and how we can best protect our schools. 

Support FHPS rallied the community together in effort to save $100,000 from the district’s operating budget amid a wasteful recall attempt, but there is far more funding we stand to lose as this continues. 

A Misinformation Campaign from the Start  

When the complaints about FHPS started in 2020-2021, they were centered on innocent issues, like mitigating bus route cancellations and asking for recorded Board meetings.  

The group challenging the Board openly stated they initially “landed on busing and transparency issues as the subject of a November 2020 recall petition [against multiple members of FHPS’ Board of Education] because the group felt those were the most “relatable” issues for parents across the district (MLive). In their words, “those are two issues that should be common ground, agreeable for anyone on either side of the fence on any of these other issues that might be a little bit more controversial.” 

In other words, they wanted to enter “lightly” to ease into attacks and gain unsuspecting support before quickly pivoting to those controversial misinformation topics.  

The group then attempted to gather signatures against three Board of Education candidates to advance a special election that would have cost FHPS $100,000 according to the Kent County Register of Deeds. 

Despite multiple partisan signing events and blasting constant misinformation, the petition failed and fortunately FHPS will not have a special election. We are proud that the community stood behind our elected Board of Education. 

Sadly, We Have a Huge Hill to Keep Climbing 

Now into 2022, the attacks continue, but the evolution of the threats and misinformation raised by the local group more closely resembles a larger effort to hurt our school district and our public schools. 

Increasingly, their campaigning aligns with partisan endeavors to help advance a Michigan-based for-profit education (or voucher) campaign. The campaign is called the “Student Opportunity Scholarship,” and while that sounds lovely, it’s a cleverly named attempt to encourage support – and signatures. We encourage readers to PLEASE review the facts of this legislative petition and DECLINE TO SIGN. 

The “Student Opportunity Scholarship” takes funding AWAY from Forest Hills Public Schools and other districts to fund private charter schools that give donors tax benefits. It’s no coincidence these board attacks are occurring during the same election cycle timeframe. FHPS’ petitioners held a signing event with a gubernatorial candidate whose platform supports defunding public education. 

If this sounds like a lot to digest – it is. But please read on. We feel it’s essential to present this information so that Forest Hills Public Schools residents can consider all facts as eventual Board of Education candidates are announced. 

We Need Candidates to Fight For FHPS, Not Partisan Politics 

The group challenging Forest Hills Public Schools, Lowell Public Schools and nearly every school district across West Michigan is using the same red herring fallacies to generate support and constant attention for their simultaneous ballot initiatives. 

A red herring fallacy is a tool used to divert attention from the real issue by focusing instead on an issue having only a surface relevance to the first. 

• Red Herring: FHPS is teaching CRT and overstepping its bounds on COVID-19 mitigation

• Real Issue: For-profit education (also known as vouchers, scholarships or charter programs) deserves government funding too and we are going to use timely and divisive red herring fallacies to gain unsuspecting support for this ballot initiative, take over the Board of Education and get those same voters to support bigger issues

How could our small, local group of advocate parents possibly be carrying such a large burden? They cite partisan and lobbyist groups who are encouraging them to fight for this Scholarship program while also running for their own school boards. 

Local Alignment with Partisan Ballot Measures 

As the saying goes, it’s important to “follow the money,” – or the money that’s backing the fuel, inspiration and resources for these attacks. 

During recent Board of Education meetings and on their website, FHPS attackers have praised the work on the CRT red herring by activist Christopher Rufo. Author Diana Reddy helps shed light on this connection. 

“To begin to conceptualize the recent attacks on CRT within a law and political economy framework, we just need to take a closer look at the money and the networks behind it. Many of the individuals and organizations stoking the backlash to critical race theory are those who, at least in name, are not primarily focused on race. Rather, they are “economic conservatives.” Christopher Rufo—who a recent New Yorker article named as the “inventor” of the anti-CRT panic—is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, “a leading voice of free-market ideas.” And while the Manhattan Institute currently devotes an entire section of its website to the “problem” of critical race theory, its education advocacy has long focused on privatized school choice.”

What’s more, we know there are multiple locally based organizations fighting against everything from the idea of “compulsory education” to “pushing more charter schools, more private schools and the “Student Opportunity Scholarships.” (By the way, read up on how the Charter School experiment is going in New Orleans – it’s failing badly.) 

Groups fighting to “open up Michigan” and drop all COVID-19 mitigation in schools are aligned with these same groups and hosting school board bootcamps. Media outlets from the Detroit Free Press to the New York Times are reporting on this dark money grassroots campaign and the way they’re hoping voters will follow local parent candidates to the polls to check the boxes on many partisan initiatives.  

We Cannot Afford to Lose Any Funding at Forest Hills Public Schools 

The inspiration for this blog post came during the January 2022 Board of Education meeting. Challengers requested that FHPS turn down a record $3 million dollars awarded specifically to Forest Hills Public Schools from the American Rescue Plan. How could anyone who loves FHPS and has the best interests of our students in mind turn away such rare funding for things like programs to mitigate pandemic-related learning loss, building repairs, mental health staff and math tutoring? 

Support FHPS had to act and pull back the curtain on this harmful agenda. Attacking the Board is one thing but dragging all students along on this partisan grassroots movement to cut funding is another. 

We can shout the positive attributes of FHPS from the rooftops to maintain support for our schools, but if this agenda continues, those special programs and services that set our schools apart risk going away. 

5 Ways to Help Protect Our Schools and Elect the Right Board Candidates 

Support FHPS embraces core values of Support, Safety and Success for all students. We have to protect the integrity of our school district and what it means to serve on a Board of Education. 

First, we demand transparency from challengers and hope the public continues to explore the real reasons behind these attacks.

Fact: Board members in Forest Hills run free of any partisan affiliation and there is good reason for that. Board members are elected to apply expertise, best practices, data and community input into their decision-making – not agendas. 

“It comes down to conflict. Conflict on a governing board is productive when it leads to informed debate and reasoned decision-making. Conflict is destructive when it becomes entrenched or predictable regardless of the issue being discussed. To return to the topic of masking policy, a productive debate would focus on the disagreements regarding the risk calculation of mask mandates for schools, while a destructive debate would use masking policy as just another symbol for our cultural and political divides. Compromise becomes impossible when every substantive debate devolves into an existential debate over ideological superiority.” (Governing.com) 

Second, we need to restore respect for the kids in our schools and cease these harmful and disruptive attacks.

Public schools serve all students and act as a window and a mirror to our kids. There are partisan political groups and meetings where these other tactics and conversation can take place.

Third, we need to refocus on holding FHPS and its leadership accountable for things they are truly responsible for governing.

What this means to us is we trust that our Superintendent and Board of Education are exploring best practices, conducting research, keeping up to date on industry advances, and following their duties to govern the district’s objectives and policies with the best interests of our kids in mind. We trust they have their priorities in order and follow a system of checks and balances. 

But let’s be clear, trust does not mean complacency. We enjoy opportunities to help our Board on this important mission to set our kids up for success – whether by raising ideas during Board meetings, submitting suggestions to them by phone or e-mail, or volunteering in schools. The work will never be done. Read our recent blog post on this topic. Parents absolutely have a say in how our kids are being educated and how our elected officials lead. 

We believe there are those running for school board who want to make positive change at FHPS and those who are only there to advance this agenda. Where will the candidates stand? 

Fourth, we need to use this turning point to ask who the community should support once November 2022 candidates are announced. Do FHPS challengers represent our families and kids? Or, are they more concerned with a political agenda?

What FHPS needs are devoted leaders who care specifically about keeping Forest Hills Public Schools #1 and the students who live in this district. Imagine voting in a potential candidate working in support of the above agendas or turning AWAY funding from our school district. If a candidate steps forward, are they able to condemn the fallacies? Are they most interested in gaining their own vote so long as votes are cast at the same time for these other initiatives in November? 

Candidates should not be joining a school board because they have an axe to grind on any one topic. Many topics are temporary and Board roles span a six-year term. Candidates should be able to walk in with an open mind and discuss or debate every single topic on the table without colleagues and constituents knowing exactly where their mind will land before the conversation begins. Are they making claims or promises that already show they have an agenda as their top interest?

Support FHPS will soon announce the slate of candidates who can be trusted to align with Support, Safety and Success for all. 

Lastly, we call upon our broader community to restore decorum and respect at board meetings.

No doubt, emotions are running at an all time high. But it is not fair to attack individuals by name with threats of violence. The anger is misdirected. Our board is a governing board and does not micromanage. In fact, according to the Open Meetings Act, individuals who disrupt the peace at a meeting may be prohibited from speaking or attending. 

Join Support FHPS and Protect Your Schools Today

We need help to continue fighting. Join Support FHPS in raising relevant issues and changes we would like to see in the operations of our district. You are welcome here. We share many of the same desires for change. Our only agenda is advancing Forest Hills Public Schools to create the very best experience for our kids.