Noise

Last week, while canvassing, one of our leaders had an interesting conversation with one of our neighbors. When asked about their support for school board candidates, the parent said, “There’s just so much noise.” They aren’t wrong.

When we formed Francis Howell Forward, the FHFamilies PAC was over a year old and had already spent tens of thousands of dollars to spread a message of fear. Their campaign literature and patron comments were rife with words like financial failure, indoctrination, and grooming. They held events hosting party politicians, political leaders who told people that teachers and administrators couldn’t be trusted. And the PAC was succeeding. In Spring 2022, two of their endorsed candidates secured seats on the school board.

When we organized Francis Howell Forward in 2023, we set two goals with our messaging: build community and provide perspective. We’ve often felt concerned we would be seen as the second wing of the same bird. But we believed in public education. We believed in the powerful influence that a positive culture and climate could have on learning. 

In the two years since our formation, we’ve worked tirelessly to counter the partisan agenda playing out in our school district. We looked closely into the FHFamilies PAC activities and shared their connections, donations, and political ties with the community. We’ve offered summaries of board meetings and highlighted both the accomplishments and challenges of the district. 

We suppose these efforts did add to the noise. But then, we wonder… What if we hadn’t formed FHForward? What if we hadn’t mobilized the community to show up at the vote to sunset the Resolution Against Racism and Discrimination and brought those pink signs? What if we’d been silent about the Black History and Literature courses? What if the book policies had passed in their original form? Or if we hadn’t drawn attention to the legal risks of a bathroom policy?

Our neighbor was right. The noise is deafening. Videos and print ads are at a fever pitch, with some pieces looking more like a smear campaign than an overview of facts. Others intentionally manipulate the messages of their opponents and twist them for their own purposes. We’re all overdue for some peace. We hope you will see FHForward’s efforts as a good faith effort to explain things as they are and describe events accurately. We hope you hear us recognizing different points of view and trying to understand. We hope you see us say, “Yes, and” to our opposition and not simply rejecting their concerns. 

At the end of the day, we believe that a win for Amy Gryder and Sarah Oelke can bring the kind of quiet kids (and adults) need to learn. Come meet these candidates. Get to know them. Hear them respond to any concerns you have, and know that choosing #1 and #2 on the ballot is a choice for change. Together, we can make the school board boring again.