amna: School boards have
traditionally been the domain of
nonpartisan civic service, with
volunteer community members
weighing in on curricula and
budgets.
But in the last few years,
school boards around the country
have also increasingly become
reflections of the nation's
polarized, political divisions.
Tonight, Judy woodruff reports
on one district in northwest
Pennsylvania, where policies
around library books, gender and
sports and how race and history
are taught, have divided some
community members.
It's her latest installment of
America at a crossroads.
Judy: At saegertown high school,
students stream into the
building in the waning days of
the school year.
It's one of three high schools
in a sprawling, mostly rural
district called penncrest, which
covers 400 square miles south of
Erie, Pennsylvania.
And it's a community where
resident Jeff brooks says ties
to the area run deep.
Jeff: My grandfather was
supervisor for 50 years, my mom
started the rec board here, was
involved in the church.
Judy: Brooks lives on the family
farm where he grew up.
A social worker in Erie, he's
lived in this area his entire
life, save four years in the
Navy.
Jeff: It's the same people I
grew up with.
When I'm at any place I know
people.
I know their parents, I know
their kids.
Judy: Brooks graduated from the
penncrest district himself, and
had three children go through
the district, his youngest still
in high school.
And you decided at some point
to run for the school board?
Jeff: Yes.
Judy: Why?
Jeff: Penncrest used to be a
top 50 district in the state.
And when I did a little
research we're kind of living
, off our reputation.
Judy: Brooks was elected to the
board as a Republican in 2017,
and re-elected to a four year
term in 2019.
Jeff: The way school board
should be done is a very boring,
thankless job that you don't get
paid for.
You show up at a couple of
meetings.
You hear people talk about
curriculum, and that's not what
it's been.
Judy: Like in many school
districts across the country,
penncrest has found itself
caught up in debates over
cultural values and what belongs
inside the school walls.
Brooks says the recent turmoil
began in the spring of 2021,
when a school board member
shared a Facebook post of a
photo of Joel -- lgbtq themed
books on display at a district
high school library.
The board member, David valesky,
added: Besides the point of
being totally evil, this is not
what we need to be teaching
kids.
They aren't at school to be
brainwashed into thinking
homosexuality is okay.
Valesky did not respond to
interview requests from the
newshour.
Teresa: It's a school board
member calling students in the
district evil.
And that, to me, is appalling.
Judy: Teresa Barickman is a
parent in the penncrest
district.
Her son graduated last year and
her daughter, Claire, will be a
junior at saegertown this fall.
Teresa: Some of the political
rhetoric that we've heard on the
national level has empowered
people and let them feel like
it's okay to say these not so
nice things about people.
Judy: The dust-up around the
book display didn't immediately
lead to any policy changes.
But later that summer a
resolution was introduced
against teaching critical race
theory or crt in this
overwhelmingly white district.
Jeff: I think if you ask 20
people to write down what they
thought it was, do you get 20
different definitions? It's not
being taught.
No one's giving an example of
crt being taught.
It's just a boogeyman that's out
there to scare everybody.
>> This would reassure everybody
so they don't think we're
teaching something we're not.
Judy: While the original
resolution didn't pass, the
board did affirm that the
district has multiple policies
which protect students from
indoctrination.
Luigi: Penncrest is a very
conservative district and they
care about the kids and they
want the kids educated, nothing
else.
Judy: Luigi Defrancesco is
president of the penncrest
school board.
He immigrated to the united
States from Italy as a child and
moved to this rural area of
Pennsylvania in 1977.
A retired civil engineer, he's
served on the school board off
and on for more than a decade.
How has the board changed in the
last few years? Would you say?
Luigi: The only thing that
changed is that the community
finally got involved in the past
two years got and to what's
going on with the board.
The majority, you know, wants to
make sure that they protected
the community standards and the
children get educated what is
supposed to educate for.
Judy last December, the board
: Introduced two new
controversial policy changes.
One designed to ensure students
only join athletic teams
consistent with their gender at
birth, even though no
transgender athletes have
identified themselves.
And one targeting library
materials that include visual or
visually implied depictions of
sexual acts, explicit written
depictions of sexual acts, or
visual depictions of nudity,
exempting anatomy for science or
classical works of art.
Jeff: My original reaction was
that this is wanting to limit
the world that our kids see and
to villainize our lgbtq
community.
We shouldn't be creating
division.
We should be focused on creating
the best opportunities for our
kids in school.
Judy: Teresa Barickman learned
about the proposed change from
her daughter.
Teresa: There already was a
policy in place.
If a parent disagrees with one
of the books, they can fill out
something.
The school district will look
into whether the books are
appropriate or not.
When I talked to the
superintendent, he had never had
a parent fill out this form and
send it in.
>> The following copies of our
petition have over a 180
signatures from people across
the district.
Judy: Claire Barickman and a
friend drafted a petition
opposing the policy change that
they circulated among students
and community members.
And presented it to the board in
January before the vote.
>> These books cover many
crucial topics for students and
are representative of many
groups throughout the district,
covering topics of race, sex,
gender identity, and diverse
backgrounds, which allow
students to feel safe and seen.
Judy: But just days later, the
board approved both the book and
trans athlete policies, despite
reservations raised by the
district's lawyer that the
changes could open the district
up to lawsuits.
>> It is essential that this
policy needs to get pushed
through.
It's legal and my conscience is
clear on this.
If we go to court over it, so be
it.
Because at the end of the day we
are standing up for what's right
and standing up for what god has
said is right and truth.
Judy: So those policy changes
were passed.
Jeff: The policy changes were
passed.
Judy: And what effect do you
think they've had?
Jeff: The biggest effect that
it's had is it's taken time away
from our administration to be
able to focus on classrooms.
Judy: The district
administration undertook a
review of about 150 books,
ultimately removing about 10 of
them.
Brett: There is some agreement
that some things are off limits.
My argument is, you know, this
is more about where to draw the
line and why not err on the side
of of caution?
Judy: Brett Zook is a parent of
three kids in the penncrest
district, and one who just
graduated.
After learning about the
proposed book policy from two of
his daughters, he spoke at a
penncrest board meeting in
support of the policy.
Brett: That was the, the first
time I had attended any school
board meetings.
Judy: So you felt pretty
strongly about it?
Brett: I did.
I mean, I feel like these are
things that are very important
to people.
At the same time, I wanted to be
part of a healthy discussion if
possible.
And try to have some some input
to the conversation that could
be
received by it by those who
didn't agree.
Judy: Zook contends the fact
that parents could already ask
librarians for books to be off
limits for their children was
inadequate, and that the policy,
as written, does not target any
particular group.
Students could go to the public
library, and check out these
books.
And certainly there's so much
available right now online and
social media.
How much of a difference does it
make if because some books have
been taken off the shelf?
Brett: I don't view it as a as
a war to be won.
I view it more as acknowledging
that if there's a shared space,
which a public school library
is, and there are some that that
feel this isn't appropriate,
here's the standard.
We're going to have
even with the policy in place,
parents still have the
opportunity to present whatever
they want to their children.
Teresa: You know, this is a
public school and if they want
to shelter their kids, then
homeschool them or send them to
a private school.
You know, it's not about me.
It's not about my daughter.
I can take my daughter to the
library.
I can buy her the books.
But because it is such a rural
and, you know, lower cost of
living community, there are
families that can't.
And those are the kids that I
worry about.
Judy: Board president Luigi
Defrancesco denies that the
policy discriminates against
any group, including the lgbtq
community, and insists that
change was necessary to conform
with Pennsylvania state laws
against providing explicit
material to minors.
A number of these books that
you're citing, there's real
disagreement that that's
pornography, that they'll say,
yes, there's some explicit
language in there, but it's it's
brief.
It's within the context of a
story.
These young people are learning
about different experiences.
It doesn't mean that that
they're going to become that or
do whatever they read.
Luigi: The law doesn't say that.
The law says do not provide
pornographic material.
You know, if they get
information from someplace else
or whatever, you know, I don't
want to be guilty.
Judy: What about their argument,
that they're just trying to
protect children from bad
things, bad material, bad
influences.
Jeff: I understand that.
And I think that, you know, a
school should be a safe place
for every kid but there's no way
to protect everyone from every
idea that's out there.
To me, to be protected would be
understand the world around you
and be prepared to deal with it.
Judy: Teresa's daughter Claire
says that the divisiveness of
the book controversy among
school board members has not
trickled down to students.
>> Overall, I feel like people,
for the most part in our school,
try to be kind to others.
And there are people that have
come up to us and said that they
didn't sign it only because
they just didn't want to get
involved with all the drama and
the politicalness that it had
become.
Judy: That political drama now
has a chance to be resolved at
the ballot box.
In may, residents voted in
primaries to fill seven seats on
the nine person penncrest school
board.
Luigi Defrancesco ran for a two
year term, but came in third and
isn't expected to be on the
ballot this November.
Luigi: Don't matter to me if I
win or lose.
As long as we have a board that
will protect the kids and
educate them.
Judy: Jeff brooks decided not to
run again.
Jeff: It had become very
personal attacks on me.
That I was a groomer for
children, that I supported kiddy
porn,
and I didn't feel like I could
respond in an election in a way
that would be what a school
board member should respond.
The other thing, they thought I
was a poster child as some sort
of liberal socialist.
And by me not running, then the
issues could be on the facts and
not the fiction.
Judy: With school out for the
summer and the primary passed,
things have quieted down in the
district.
But divisions in this close
community have been opened up as
everyone waits to see the makeup
and actions of the new school
board this fall.
For the pbs newshour, I'm Judy
woodruff in saegertown,
Pennsylvania.