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Highland Park residents recently opened their mailboxes to find flyers slamming a school board candidate because he put a Black Lives Matter sign in his yard.

Ahead of the May 1 municipal elections, some North Texas school board races have taken on a tenor infused with huge amounts of cash, political divisiveness and dog whistles evoking national wedge issues.

For more than a year, trustees have been at the center of some of the countrys most heated debates: People have packed into meetings to decry mask mandates or to demand they remain in place. Theyve come to say schools should be reopened to 100% capacity or that they must be closed completely to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Theyve testified that teachers should never talk about Black Lives Matter or that districts must be more active in dismantling systemic racism.

These high-profile debates made board members better known to their communities and considered with a more political slant, experts say.

While technically nonpartisan bodies, school boards have long dealt with questions that come with big political implications, including desegregation, said Donald Kettl, a professor at the University of Texas Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs.

The difference now is that society has become so polarized and almost every question has become political, Kettl said.

How trustees feel about mask mandates and public health guidance becomes a reflection of their political attitudes. And local elections held so soon after the latest presidential contest give candidates the opportunity to play to those already active in both parties and mobilize voters in what are often low-turnout races.

A candidate in Keller ISD, for example, took to Facebook to fend off a claim that he was affiliated with QAnon, a group associated with unfounded conspiracy theories. In McKinney ISD, one of the candidates helped form a group devoted to unmasking children. She took legal action against the district over the matter.

Theres a base out there to be tapped into for both the left and the right and a set of dog whistles and sort of key phrases or terms that might be useful in trying to galvanize that base, Kettl said. An example is Black Lives Matter.

Perhaps because of that shift, some residents say this years trustee elections brought out the uglier sides of their communities as huge amounts of money flowed, political action committees formed and political consultants joined in campaigns.

Its yet another arena of our public life that will be relentlessly politicized and drawn into the vortex of the culture wars, said Matthew Wilson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University.

Polarizing debate

School board seats typically are not the most glamorous of elected positions.

But in their unpaid jobs, trustees are responsible for hiring the superintendent, approving the budget and setting countless other decisions involving personnel, facilities and district policy.

Many trustees interpret their roles differently and attempt to exercise greater control, former Houston ISD Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra said.

Others, and Ive experienced this over the years, really want to get involved and basically micromanage in the district, Saavedra said.

Its not a new phenomena for trustees to be minutely involved in district affairs, but it becomes more complex when they incorporate their political agendas, experts say. And recent months have created an ample opportunity for polarized debates in school boardrooms.

In both Carroll and Highland Park two wealthy, mostly white areas much of the discussion during the school board elections has been on diversity issues.

A flyer, which was circulated by a PAC linked to hotel magnate Monty Bennett, attacked Highland Park ISD candidate Doug Woodward for displaying a Black Lives Matter sign, labelling him a New Jersey liberal, although he left the state after high school. It contrasted a darkened photo of him with a smiling Kelli Macatee, describing her as a Christian Conservative Texan.

Woodward said its unfortunate that allegations about his beliefs keep coming out of left field, including falsely saying he supports unisex bathrooms.

Macatee said she was not aware of the flyer before it was circulated and would never have approved of it.

The mailer touched a raw nerve.

Near the start of the COVID-19 crisis, some Highland Park families formed a vocal group known as Park Cities Parents Unite to argue against mask mandates. It soon began weighing in on other controversial topics and blasting out its opinions in mailers and emails.

The group recently uploaded a video of Woodward, dubbing him Diversity Doug. It also mass-emailed parents last week saying Woke Politics have infiltrated the schools and circulated flyers decrying cancel culture in the classroom.

The groups president, Spencer Siino, said it formed long before the school board election, but that many residents who support its goals also support Macatee. Siino donated $5,000 to her campaign, but the nonprofit itself is not endorsing a candidate.

I imagine the temperature gets raised wherever you challenge the status quo, and thats particularly true in the Park Cities, TX, he wrote in an email.

Overall, Macatee has raised more than $42,000, initial campaign records show, far more than what any candidate raised during the last contested election in that district. She says her donations come from a wide range of people in the community. Part of her funding has gone toward paying two political consulting firms, including one with a record of riling up a school board race.

Among the central issues listed on Macatees website is: DIVERSITY We MUST NOT engage in racism for the sake of diversity.

Issues of diversity and inclusion have similarly engulfed Southlake Carroll ISD. Two sitting trustees were recently indicted on charges of violating open meetings law by discussing a proposed cultural competency plan outside an authorized setting. A judge issued a restraining order in December and temporarily halted the plan from being implemented.

The plan which would mandate the district hire a director of equity and inclusion, establish a grievance system through which students can report discrimination and require cultural competency training was cast by opponents as reverse racism. They accused the district of trying to form diversity police, even as students pleaded that it was necessary to help end the discrimination they faced at school.

As the plan sits in limbo, trustee candidates have positioned it as a debate over the future of Carroll ISD. District 5 candidate Hannah Smith described the plan as a hindrance to free speech while opponent Ed Hernandez said the community knows the plan wont be implemented and should move past the fear-mongering.

In District 4, Cameron Cam Bryan claimed the plan would cause more divisiveness in the district while Linda Warner said theres a need for an alternative to a plan rooted in a lengthy student code of conduct.

Tarrant County pastors are getting involved with the race. Two pastors from Gateway Church stopped short of endorsing candidates but reminded congregants of the members who were running for election including Bryan for school board. They went on to encourage churchgoers to vote.

Another church was forced to distance itself from the Southlake race after a woman called members identifying herself as a congregant and encouraged them to vote for Bryan and Smith, saying they must be elected because they stand against critical race theory and in support of freedom of speech and religion.

Money has also flowed into the Carroll race. Southlake Families PAC which describes itself as unapologetically rooted in Judeo-Christian values and backs Smith and Bryan raised more than $57,000 in the early months of 2021 and reported having nearly $140,000 cash on hand.

Bryan and Smith reported raising more than $50,000 each from January through late March. Meanwhile, Warner raised more than $24,000 and Hernandez reported $3,400 in political contributions over the same period.

It can be hard to tell if the notable financial support in these races is the impetus for or result of political polarization, said Kettl, the UT professor.

Its both cause and effect in a way that the most successful way of raising money is to tap into some of these deep-seated opinions and, on the other hand, the money tends to follow those who advanced those opinions, Kettl said.

Viola Garcia, president of the National School Boards Association, said its important to remember that children are listening to the rhetoric engulfing these races.

Our students are actively participating in the conversations that adults are having across our country, she said.

For example, a coalition of Southlake students dedicated to making their district more inclusive has spent months encouraging older students to register to vote and is endorsing Hernandez and Warner.

Take a moment to think about what kind of progress you would like to see in Southlake for future generations, the students wrote on their Instagram page.

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The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.

The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from The Beck Group, Bobby and Lottye Lyle, The Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, The Meadows Foundation, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University and Todd A. Williams Family Foundation. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Labs journalism.

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Mailers, money and a churchs politics: How some North Texas school board races are drawn into the vortex - The Dallas Morning News