As the Trump Administration consolidates its power and attacks anyone who arouses their supreme leader’s ire, more and more Americans ponder what they can do to turn the situation around. Vital services, programs and funding increasingly disappear due to DOGE short-sightedness and a paucity of vision that focuses solely on wealth and power. So many, including income-limited seniors, immigrants, people with disabilities, people of color, trans members of the LGBTQ+ community, and Mother Earth are suffering. The seriousness of the situation cannot be overstated.

Thankfully, some national and state officials, judges and educational institutions are refusing to bow down. As the battles accelerate and the Trump Administration either openly defies or callously reinterprets court orders, it remains to be seen how far they will make hash of democracy.

Two questions play on repeat in my psyche: First, will Trump continue to limit access to information by fact-based news media as he erodes the divide between truth and fiction, and second, will the Supreme Court go about business as usual or will it refuse to be played as Trump touts rulings in his favor and ignores the rest?

As if reflecting the national struggle, the Quilcene School Board continued its downward spiral last Wednesday evening, April 16. Action items included: Acceptance of the agenda, Bible curriculum discussion, public comment expectations discussion, “Biology Video regarding Gender” discussion and “Resolution of the School Board Regarding Athletic Participation in Accordance with Title IX.”

Within short order, the board postponed exploring a Bible curriculum because “the materials” that Ron Frantz had ordered had not yet arrived. They also tabled action on the “Athletic Participation” resolution until the May 21 school board meeting.

Apparently, at least one board member had forgotten that, at their last meeting, the board voted to postpone voting on a resolution that would prohibit trans students from competing in sports categories other than those aligned with their “sex at birth” until after the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) votes on two proposed amendments that address the same issue. Both amendments have been marked “ADVISORY VOTE ONLY” because acting on either violates state law. 

On April 21, five days after the meeting, results of the WIAA’s “Representative Assembly” vote by 53 middle school and high school administrators were posted on the WIAA website. With 60% approval required for passage, “ML/HS #7: Participation in girls’ sports would be limited to biological females” failed with 31 votes. “ML/HS #8: Athletic programs would be offered separately for boys, girls, and an open division for all students interested” failed with 13 votes.

To the most conservative members of the five-person Quilcene school board, the WIAA vote results may not matter. Even if not a single Quilcene trans student has asked to participate on a sports team that aligns with their gender—even if the school district risks sanctions and a costly legal fight if it passes its trans sports resolution or institutes a Bible curriculum—they will advocate for both as part of their crusade to remake the Quilcene schools.

Most public comment was from residents of Quilcene or nearby Brinnon who spoke in support of trans people and upholding state law. A young father declared that he would pull both his children from Quilcene elementary school if Bible study were instituted. Several lifelong Quilcene residents cited the constitutional separation of church and state that prohibits religious instruction in public schools. Even the Associated Student Body representative spoke against the board’s direction, which most students oppose.

Anticipating the so-called “Biology Video regarding Gender,” [https://www.prageru.com/video/sex-is-binary], Port Townsend resident Derek Firenze commented that the video is a product of PragerU. To expand on his comments, PragerU’s name is intentionally misleading. It is not an accredited educational institution; it is a conservative media non-profit whose CEO has argued that the U.S. education system is “a left-wing propaganda machine.” One of PragerU’s most notorious videos for children features an animated Christopher Columbus declaring, “Being taken as a slave is better than being killed, no? I don’t see the problem.”

Nonetheless, board member Jim Hodgson insisted on showing the video, claiming it expressed his views better than he could. When it began, many attendees walked out in protest and hung in the hallway. Firenze remained in the room, coughed loudly, apologized, said he’d take some cough syrup, and coughed again to clear his throat. One person who remained in the room believes his obstruction was obvious. After the video was stopped — those of us watching from home could only see a single frozen video frame for the next 20 or more minutes — Board Chair Shona Davis told Firenze that he needed to leave. He refused. 

By email, Firenze wrote that during an ensuing back-and-forth, he told Davis that it was she who needed to leave. Davis asked Superintendent Ron Moag to call the Sheriff. Spotting an off-duty sheriff’s deputy who attended the meeting as a concerned parent, Moag asked him to talk to Firenze. After the deputy urged Firenze to leave, Firenze reports that he asked  what would happen if he didn’t, and learned they could trespass him and ban him from the school for a year. Firenze thanked the deputy for informing him and remained seated.

Meanwhile, Moag called the sheriff. State patrol was first on the scene, but did not enter until an on-duty deputy arrived. “The deputy came in and we had a very polite conversation, which ended with him informing me that he would charge me with criminal disruption of a government meeting if I did not leave,” Firenze wrote. “That’s when I chose to go. To my knowledge, I have not been charged with any crime or trespassed from the school.”

Some board members have grown weary of public comment. In an attempt to limit input, Hodgson claimed he’d been called a child molester. After no one present could recall such an accusation during a board meeting, Hodgson confessed that he’d been called such on Facebook. After board member Viviann Kuehl noted that public comment is required whenever there is an action item on the agenda — that includes approving the agenda itself — Hodgson and others relented.

The next Quilcene school board work study meeting is May 7; the next board meeting where action is taken is May 21. With two conservative board members up for re-election in November, public attention increasingly focuses on them and the other two board members who continually push their agenda to the detriment of the students and school district. 

More in a month, after I return from 12 days covering music and audio in Berlin and Munich.

Jason Victor Serinus is a critic of culture, music, and audio. A longtime advocate for rights, equality, and freedom, he is also a professional whistler. Column tips: jvsaisi24@gmail.com