What's at stake in the 2024 election?

Oct 23, 2024

Hartland teachers have quit due to the Clean Slate school board members, and more plan to leave if Scott/Baird/Yarber win

Yarber/Baird/Scott, aka ‘Clean Slate 2.0’ are endorsed by Hartland’s ‘Clean Slate’ board members (Gogoleski/Blondeel/Keller) and are pushing the same political, partisan bias agenda. This matters because we know the chaos that Clean Slate has brought since midterms has had a major impact on our educators and eventually will affect the quality of education our kids receive- as per their own words. Read the FOIA school staff comments from the 2023/24 HCS staff survey <- by clicking this link.

We can expect teacher dissatisfaction to get worse if the Clean Slate 2.0 (Yarber/Baird/Scott) wins in November. School staff clearly do not want more of that. Just ask Hartland teachers who they are voting for:

Summary:

• Teachers state that they would be looking for employment elsewhere if the “extremists” get the majority in November (their words).

• Many respondents are concerned that the board is wasting time on non-issues while ignoring the district's actual needs.

• The recurring theme is that the ‘Clean Slate’ school board (Gogoleski, Blondeel & Keller) is making teacher’s jobs harder with concerns about quality education being compromised.

• Rampant teacher dissatisfaction with the Clean Slate: Over 50% of the survey respondents cite these school board members as the source of their dissatisfaction. Not one comment was in support of these three board members.

• School staff report that HCS has already lost quality educators and will continue to lose them due to the Clean Slate if the Clean Slate 2.0 candidates win this election.

• Teachers are struggling with not sending their own children to Hartland schools directly due to the negativity that the Clean Slate has brought upon the district.

• Numerous respondents use the words “attacking” and “harassing” when describing the Clean Slate along with citing their “personal agendas” and “politics” as serious concerns.

• Glenn Gogoleski’s response to this feedback was that these teachers are “complainers”

We can expect teacher’s dissatisfaction to get worse if the Clean Slate 2.0 (Yarber/Baird/Scott) wins in November and it is clear that school staff do not want more of that. Teachers will be voting for pro-education candidates who will actually listen to them. Staff survey is also discussed in this Livingston Daily article.

Scott/Baird/Yarber will punish students by risking funds for their education and place the district at risk for federal litigation

Clean Slate 2.0’s LIE: Hartland schools don’t have racial problems

FACT: Some HCS students are repeat racial offenders as determined by the courts, which recently brought criminal charges against four male Hartand students for various counts, including stalking and assault and battery on a female Black classmate. She, along with five other Black students in the Hartland High School, reported experiencing relentless racial harassment, intimidation, and bullying for years, including threats of being lynched. “I am speaking out so other students won't have to endure such hateful behavior because of the color of their skin.” - Tatayana Vanderlaan <- interview here.

In an October 9, 2024, Livingston Daily article, Angela Yarber falsely claimed that there are no racial issues affecting the district that would require Department of Justice oversight. This is despite the fact that the Superintendent stated at his community ‘Coffee Chat’ on 9/27/24 (video here) that there have been six *reported racial incidents in Hartland schools in just the first month of school this year. This is almost triple the reports from years past! Additionally, the ACLU recently cited white supremacy as one of the big issues that Livingston County schools are up against (more here).

Clean Slate 2.0’s LIE: The school board invited the Department of Justice (DOJ) into the district at September’s school board meeting (source- any of their social media candidacy pages).

FACT:

The Department of Justice has been monitoring the district since 2021, when they initially became involved while investigating the above incident. The DOJ has partnered with HCS out of necessity in order to preserve and protect the civil rights of ALL students in the district as a civil right guaranteed by the US Constitution. The question before the Board in September 2024 was do they enter into a cooperative agreement with the DOJ to help improve peer-to-peer racial harassment? Or do they decline it and let the DOJ come in and drop the hammer? Those were literally the only two options. The school board's vote to extend its monitoring agreement with the DOJ kept the feds from coming in and running the show. Here is a fact sheet the Hartland Consolidated School (HCS) district has created regarding the DOJ extension agreement.

Yarber acknowledges that parents can opt their children out of the DEI training, proving this is just another nonissue being used to rile up their base for votes.

Hopefully, parents who have marginalized kids will be able to opt out of being in the same classroom as those kids whose parents opt them out of DEI opportunities!

Costly litigation and defunding our schools will DECREASE HOME VALUES

The Clean Slate 2.0 (Scott/Baird/Yarber) knows that by not partnering with the DOJ, the government could withhold federal contributions such as grants and other revenue from our district. This doesnʼt matter because their end goal seems to be defunding public schools/dismantling the DOE via Project 2025/Agenda 47. See Baird’s profile entry titled ‘Tyffany Baird is excited about the Department of Education being ELIMINATED.’

Clean Slate’s Glenn Gogoleski stated at the September 2024 school board meeting, where the three Clean Slate school board members voted against the DOJ extension that they need to “let the DOJ sue . . . Just let them go to court.” This should concern even people without kids because these games will drag down home values.

A careless gamble that students and parents can’t afford!

How much federal and state funding will HCS lose if Scott/Baird/Yarber are elected if they decide to gamble with student funding to wage a pointless losing battle over federal grants for public education, which would be the end result of refusing to collaborate with the DOJ. If the Clean Slate 2.0 is elected, what happens when our HCS students with IEP or a 504 plan, these three candidates will team up with their partisan Clean Slate colleagues and decide that HCS no longer needs to follow IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act)? What about protections for our students under Title IX? The Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act? Or is your child’s information no longer being protected when Scott/Baird/Yarber decide to stop following FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act)?

A Clean Slate 2.0 supporter steals their opponents' sign, police reports filed

It’s interesting that a Scott/Baird/Yarber supporter, Michael Lewis Cain, thinks so little of his candidates that he needs to stoop to committing a crime against their opponents. Or could it be that Scott/Baird/Yarber supporters think so little of the community that they are afraid of the decision that they might make 🤔Hartland voters, is this the kind of attitude towards you and your concerns that we want leading our schools? Is this how we want anyone who disagrees with Scott/Baird/Yarber to be treated? More info here.

Speaking of signs… where is all of Clean Slate 2.0’s money coming from??

Angela, Baird, and Scott refuse to answer the public’s questions when asked who is funding and supplying resources to their campaign, but we can take a guess! Based on reviews of Clean Slate’s campaign finance reports from midterms, the Hartland Business Association, local GOP, dark money, and religious friends with deep pockets are likely contributing to their campaign. More info here.