If there is any doubt how much politics has crept into school boards across the country, the Hamilton County Board of Education’s actions on Thursday night served as an example.
Two members of the board voted against the body becoming current with state law in stating that the gender of students participating in middle school and high school athletics must be their sex at birth, and one member abstained. Also at the meeting, four members of the board – not a majority – signed a statement condemning remarks made about teachers by Larry Arnn, president of Hillsdale College, and Gov. Bill Lee for not defending the teachers.
Whatever one thinks about Arnn’s comments, and we have made our displeasure with them clear, the school board needn’t have weighed into this topic, especially when there was not unanimous agreement on such a statement and that Arnn has said his remarks were misinterpreted.
We believe board member Joe Wingate had the correct response about the statement at a previous meeting.
“I’m just not interested in a political moment, I’m just not,” he said. “My job here is to try to help this school system, support this school system to a level where it can add value to our county.”