Letter to the Editor: Schools should be under local control, education should be nonpoliticized

This letter is in response to Tom Van Dyke’s claim of politicization of the Quincy School Board race. Advocating for freedom, local control and parental rights are not political but traditional American ideals. It is a response to the political decisions and non-decisions the current school board has wrought upon the citizens of Quincy for the past four years.  

When parents went to the school board to remedy the actual harm the governor’s political policies were causing our children, the board treated them with disdain, platitudes and outright rudeness. One of the board members even sat on her throne and drew pictures of the upset parents while they were speaking. It finally took (attorney) Tom Devore winning lawsuits statewide to end the mask tyranny, something for which I will forever be grateful.

Now the state legislature and this governor are threatening laws to use local school systems to override parental rights and decisions on even more health, safety and age-inappropriate mature subjects. Our community needs a school board that reflects our community rather than the desires of those who have demonstrated such poor management choices.

The real question is: Who runs our schools? The governor and unelected bureaucrats in Chicago and DC? Or the local leaders we elect?

By their actions, it is evident those sitting on the board have decided they are merely checkboxes to fill while spending our money and doing the bidding of their corrupt masters. Is this the kind of education we want for our children?  

Our schools should be under local control. Our children’s education should be truly nonpoliticized. I also believe in robust local oversight and accountability, so I proudly support Jeremy Allen, Tory Kaufmann and Ashley Randolph for Quincy School Board.

Johnathan R. Hamann
Quincy, Illinois