Holding the line is one thing. Pushing back is another. Only pushing back can lead to restoration. Holding the line merely cements the status quo.
Political strategy 101
Politics is war without bloodshed, while war is politics with bloodshed - Mao Tse-Tung
In a very insightful piece Peder Zane outlines the strategy of the American hard left:
Gain power.
Use that power to further your goals, and increase your power base.
Lose power, temporarily.
Count on the right to do nothing with its power in terms of reversing course.
Once back in power, push further.
Repeat, in a long, step-by-step march to completely transform the country and ultimately take power indefinitely.
As the reader can immediately see, this strategy depends on a passive opponent who will defend what he has left, but not take back what he has lost, and will not punish the attacker. To its credit, the right has recently been somewhat turning its back on don't rock the boat type of leaders, instead elevating people who are willing to actively push back, punish the attackers and re-conquer lost ground.
Radical leftism in CUSD80 firmly entrenched - CRT and masks
CUSD80 now has a firmly entrenched critical race theory, CRT, program, complete with a director for equity and inclusion whose job it seems to be to push it. CRT is fully embedded in the curriculum and even in extra-curricular activities.
This gaslighting statement by CUSD80 claims that equity is not about equal outcomes, while at the same time stating that resources will be allocated according to need. It also says that equity is about making an intentional effort to reduce unconscious bias, bringing in the racial component of CRT. Equity and inclusion is hence critical race theory with a different name. Even more egregiously, according to CUSD80, equity is about providing opportunities for students see themselves in the teachers, staff and adults on campus, which simply means that hiring decisions are made based on race.
There is a black students union (BLU), though not of course a white students union. The latter would be racist, but the former is not. A key tenet of CRT is that whites are racist and should be prevented from organizing and holding political power. Why not teach that to kids? Black kids can organize, white kids would be racist for organizing. They should also be "encouraged" to praise black history month, affirmative action and racial/social justice. Not doing so would be racist, according to CRT.
There will shortly be an African American experience course. It will first be offered as an elective, but make no mistake, forces are already organizing behind the scenes in order to make it compulsory. Lindsay Love's would be successor has even hinted at it in public.
On the masking side, although the mandate has been removed, which is good, we estimate that at least 1/3 of students and staff at CUSD80 are still wearing masks. The masks on school traffic controllers, outside, and socially distanced, are an eerie reminder of the current state of affairs. Before the Covid lockdowns, the number of masked students and staff was 0. These are cold, hard facts, regardless of the morals associated with them. If one side pushes, and the other only holds without pushing back, then the side that pushes, step by step, changes things and eventually wins and takes over.
CUSD80 has teachers who have openly stated that they refuse to keep child sexualization out of schools, claiming that doing so would be a "violent crime" against gay students. As far as we could ascertain, there was no push back, no punishment.
Holding the line at this stage, meaning opposing more CRT and child sexualization, and opposing a new mask mandate, would ensure things don't get (much) worse, but it wouldn't turn back the tide.
Litmus test
Voters trying to decide on two candidates for the November 2022 CUSD80 board election could ask these three questions related to holding the line versus pushing back to gain lost territory:
Would the candidate, if elected, push to fire the director for equity and inclusion, Adama Sallu and eliminate the position? Would they purge CRT out of schools?
Would the candidate, if elected, work for a "don't say gay" policy in CUSD80 schools from K-12, to protect students from sexualization?
Would the candidate, if elected, work to ban masks in schools so that our children will never again be forced to wear masks on the say so of some bureaucrat?
Undoubtedly to many people such questions, and the political strategy underlying them, seem aggressive. Yet, how do you deal with political opposition that paints your own children as racist and wants to force them to be face masked and muzzled forever? Firm but polite language in a room full of supporters?