The Daily Signal - Parental Rights Advocate Challenges 'Political Indoctrination' at Public School

Episode Date: September 17, 2024

Nicole Solas joined "The Daily Signal Podcast" to discuss "political indoctrination" at public schools and how to fight back. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm Elizabeth Mitchell, and this is the Daily Signal podcast for Tuesday, September 17th. I sat down with Nicole Solas, a parental rights advocate and mom in Rhode Island, who has been fighting the teachers' unions over gender ideology for years. Stay tuned for our conversation after this. How can we take America back? It starts with ideas, ideas we take on offense to reclaim America. That's why you should check out the Kevin Roberts Show. It's a deep dive on critical issues that play.

our nation plus conversations with high-profile guests from across the movement. It's a roadmap on how we can protect our nation from bad ideas and get it back on track. You can find the Kevin Roberts Show wherever you get your podcast or go to heritage.org slash podcasts. I'm Elizabeth Mitchell and I'm sitting down with Nicole Solis who was sued by the teachers union. Nicole, how did your story as a parental rights advocate begin? Oh, well, that started accidentally. I just enrolled my then kindergartner in school in my public school district in Rhode Island.

And I wanted to know if they were teaching any kind of political ideology or sexual or gender indoctrination. And my school district, long story short, told me to submit public records request to know why they only call children or they don't call children boys and girls, what kind of CRT they're teaching because they had told me that they were in fact teaching all of this. And long story short, I submitted hundreds of public records request and my school district then threatened to sue me. And then finally, the Teachers Union sued me for submitting those public records requests. So it's been a story over the course of three years. And here I am today still kind of fighting this battle as an accidental advocate. What's the latest on that case? So the Teachers Union lawsuit right now is in discovery.

We're scheduling depositions of Teachers Union members. they had sued me frivolously and it was really just meant to harass me. So we answered that lawsuit with anti-SLAPP litigation, which says that, you know, you sued me just to harass me. That's illegal in Rhode Island. And so really this lawsuit is now my lawsuit against them because the only thing we have yet to determine is how much they harassed me and how much damages they're going to pay me for doing that. And you've been in some other litigation. What has been going on with those? Yeah, since then, I have filed a couple lawsuits against my school district, actually a few. My school district also kept me out of public meetings where they were discussing how to change the

curriculum and school policies under the lens of anti-racism or critical race theory. And we recently had a hearing about that. The judge is going to render his decision. We discovered in depositions of this committee that the school created that they were actually excluding people. based on race. They told a guy that he couldn't come to this public meeting because he was white. They told me that I couldn't come to this public meeting because it was private, so they lied to me. So that's one lawsuit that has yet to be adjudicated. I recently won another lawsuit that I filed. It was a public records request lawsuit because the school district willfully withheld records from that same committee where they didn't let me into these racial meetings they were having. And I had found evidence through my other lawsuit,

that they actually did have meeting minutes, which is what I had asked for. So the school really should be embarrassed for doing this because this is all public information. No one should have to file lawsuits just to see what they're doing and just to go to their meetings, get their records. But at the end with that, the school had to pay $8,000 to the state of Rhode Island. They had to give me the records that I had asked for. And it's so pathetic because it was three pages of public records that they could have just given me at any time. And what's even more amazing is that they use that particular lawsuit to further

harass me in litigation. They put me in a position where they wanted me to waive all of my lawsuits against the school district or pay their costs. So this was just one part of the litigation, but it was again another example of how they were using the law illegally to harass. just parents that want to know what's going on. And of course, they, you know, again, lost this lawsuit. So that's the second one. And then finally, the third lawsuit that I have filed is against my town, my school district, and individuals that were on the school committee. This is a federal 1983 claim. And it is alleging that they use the teachers union, the school district, use the Teachers Union to follow through on that threat of a lawsuit that they had initially had three

years ago. So we discovered through other discovery documents that the school and the teachers union were working together the whole time to sue me to stop my public records request, to interfere with my free speech, my public participation, and my equal protection under the law. So that particular lawsuit is with Dillon Law. Ron Coleman and Harvey Dillon are my lawyers for that one. So I've been pretty busy, but I'm really lucky to have all of this legal help. And again, it's just such a shame that, you know, you need this many lawsuits just to see what your kids are learning in school. What do you think is being hidden in those documents that they don't want you to see? I think they're hiding political indoctrination. You know, my school district and I know school districts

across the country, they're mainly employed with staff and teachers that are leftists. And the education industrial complex in particular has a lot of radical ideologies that trickle down from our university system. And they're trained to believe that people are oppressed because of their skin color or their gender. And they are trained to believe that they must tell them. children as young as kindergarten that there's oppression all around you and we all have to be liberated from this oppression. Even my kindergarten class that I was going to enroll my daughter

in public school, they told me in an email that they embed the values of gender identity into the classroom starting in kindergarten. So, you know, over the course of the past three years, we've heard all of this propaganda of, oh, we don't teach college level theories. Well, gender theory is a college level theory and we're somehow teaching it to kindergartners. So I know that they're teaching kids' radical leftist ideologies and it's just a matter of getting my hands on the documents to see how exactly they're doing it. And you've also filed records request for the University of Rhode Island. Why did you do that? Right. So like I said earlier, all of the political indoctrination that we see in K through 12 school, it really starts at the university level where

some professor has this great idea called gender theory. And then they take these theories and they go to outside organizations, they go to the legislatures, they go to nonprofits and they say, oh, we think our, you know, our theory that sex isn't binary and that there's, you know, like 172 genders is really important to start teaching in K through 12 schools. So it starts out as this theory. in a university, and then it trickles down into policy, law, and then suddenly it's in your curriculum and your kindergartner is learning that they could be born in the wrong body. At the University of San Diego, they have a center called the Gender and Sexuality Center, and they conduct required trainings on gender identity and gender ideology for resident assistants, health counselors

at school that are paid for with my taxes. They train police at the University of Rhode Island. And they all go out into the community and everyone has to be compliant with whatever they're training these people in. So I wanted to see what the training materials were. And the University of Rhode Island told me that I couldn't see it. I couldn't have the documents. I couldn't even walk in and look at the materials that they were using. It's apparently top secret information.

But my taxes are paying for this. And every resident in Rhode Island and really anyone in the country has a right to see how people at the University of Rhode Island are being trained in gender identity. So the Goldwater Institute has filed a complaint on my behalf to say that this is public information and that the University of Rhode Island can't close their doors to the eyes of the public

because the public is paying for those doors to remain open and their lights on. The University of Rhode Island just received $110 million from the state of Rhode Island. So I'm paying for all the work that's being done there and I have a right to see how resident assistance, URI police, URI mental health counselors, and even the public are being trained in what they called safe zone training to enforce gender ideology.

Parents have the right to see information about what their kids are learning, their kids' records, that kind of thing. But that has been kind of hidden from you for years. Why do you think that this is happening? Well, I think that's happening because the schools know that all of this ideology is very controversial and that a lot of parents don't want their kids learning this ideology, especially when it's being taught to the kids as if it is some objective truth. To be clear, they're not teaching this ideology as, oh, well, this is an idea that some people have and we can either accept it or

reject it. No, they're teaching it as if this is the ultimate truth and they have kids captive minds that they can manipulate and lie to, that, you know, some ideology is the way that they should think. So I think they keep it a secret and they push against parents like me because they know that they're going to lose if this ideology becomes something that is debated openly at a school committee meeting, if it's something that we can actually vote on whether we want to teach it to our kids or not. And I think the past three years across the country, you have seen that they are losing because you now have people that are voted on to a school committee that don't want this ideology in school. they want school districts to be depoliticized, and we just want to teach our kids the basics of math,

you know, writing, arithmetic, reading, all the stuff that we all expect to send our kids to public school to learn. Have you had a lot of support from other parents who also opposed gender ideology being taught to their young kids? Yes, I have had a ton of support. Just the other day, you know, I found out that my neighbor is fully in support of me. You know, I don't talk politics all the time with everybody, but I just found out that my neighbor, who I've known for quite a while now, is like, oh, by the way, I just want to let you know, I support you. And then there are other parents that they're ready to take action and, you know, they'll go to school committee meetings themselves. They'll talk in public comment. They're trying to get other people activated.

So there is tons of support, but, you know, there is also losses. You know, I've had people that just like don't want to talk to me anymore. And that is something that no parent deserves. You shouldn't have people in your community, you know, suddenly judging you just because, you know, you know, the teachers union sued you and wanted to make you, you know, a pariah in the community. So, you know, there's, it's a double-edged sword. Are your kids still in this same public school system? God, no, no. I took my kids out of public school.

I put them in in Catholic school. There were a lot of things that happened. I saw that teachers in my public school district started harassing me online. the daughter of a public school teacher started harassing me online. The smear campaign was so expansive that I did not believe my children would be safe in public school anymore. And it ended up being a blessing in disguise because my current private school, you know, they really are committed to just teaching academic excellence.

And it's it was so easy to communicate with them. I was never attacked by, you know, my private school just for, you know, wanting to know what what my kids were learning. Do you recommend that other parents do the same? Do the same, like, take their kids out of public school? Oh, yeah. Yeah. You know, the big thing that I learned with public school is that you are the enemy. Even if you have a good relationship with people in public school, these are people that are paid to fight you if you disagree with what they're doing. And when you go to private school or when you home school or when you go to a charter school, depending on the charter school, you're working with people that they're not there to fight you.

They're there to work with you and your partners in education. Public school, because it's a government school, they are paid no matter what the outcome is. But other schools like private schools, you know, if they have parents that leave, well, they might change what they're doing and they can respond to parents' communications and parents' values. And you're just, you're never going to get that in public school. And you're especially never going to get that because the teacher's union is really the machine with endless money that runs public school. And they will never be held accountable when they always have this union with, you know, $300 million behind public school that's going to make sure that

their ideology is enforced. What is your advice to other parents who have concerns about what their kids are learning at school or teachers unions, the way their public schools are being run, but they're afraid to take a stand, like you said, and risk smears from teachers, other parents, etc? I think you need to send public records request because if you're concerned about what's going on, you're really not going to know unless you get the actual materials. Someone just telling you what their teaching isn't enough. You need to get the lesson plans. You need to get the actual lessons. You need to see the professional development trainings because that is really what the ideology is taught. That's how the ideology is taught to teachers. And then if you're if you don't like what

you're seeing and you want to try to change it, there are organizations that can help you. Moms for Liberty. You can join a Moms for Liberty chapter. Parents Defending Education is another organization that can help you. My attorneys at the Goldwater Institute have a great program called Ask Your School Now, and this is to help you send public records requests to see what you're learning. So if you just do a little bit of research, you can find support in your own community, and then you can also find national organizations that are ready to help parents as well. And then, of course, finally, the other organization that's helping me now is the Center for American Liberty. they're actually funding my lawsuit because, you know, what parent can afford hundreds,

hundreds of thousands of dollars just to, you know, sue your school district because they violated your constitutional rights. So that's another organization that you can check out, especially if you need legal help. And on another note, there was another assassination attempt against former president Trump over the weekend. How do you think that this happened? You know, I was just reading that the guy, the assassin, Ryan Ruth, that's how you say his name. You know, he was in a black rock commercial, just like the first assassin. How do we have these assassins having all of these government connections, all of these,

you know, similarities when an assassination alone is extremely rare? I, for one, am just kind of in shock that we could have this much political violence in a first world country. This is supposed to be something that happens in other countries. But now we see the media is kind of downplaying it. They, you know, I think they said that at first it was like, oh, it might be like gang violence. I mean, you can't trust the media. And now you can't run for president without having your life be at stake.

So I, for one, I'm voting for President Trump. And I think that we just need to pray that he's going to live to make it to the election. What are the biggest concerns for you and other people? parental rights advocates in this election? Well, I think number one, we need gender ideology out of school districts. It is a harmful cult ideology that is insidious. They start teaching it to kids as young as kindergarten. I know that if President Trump is elected, that he also wants it out of schools, but we need to hear more about it from him because this is an ideology that's pervasive. It's not just in school. It's in our government. It's in Title IX. It's in sports. So for me,

that's my number one issue because I think a lot of kids will be harmed spiritually, emotionally, sexually. And secondly, academic transparency is another really big issue. Parents need to see, first of all, what is actually being taught in public school so they can decide if public school is where they want to send their kids. I think we need to have public schools be required to post all of their lesson materials online. They need to post all of their professional developments online. And this is easy, right? We live in the modern age. We have the internet. We have all other documents posted online. We have, I think, what, 70 or 700 million books in the Library of Congress that you can at least see are online. So this seems like this is not that much to ask. And then finally,

I think we just need to have parents' rights and parents stop being labeled as the enemy. You know, everyone that has a child in school is a parent. And I think we can all agree that, number one, we don't want our children taught ideologies or political ideologies. And number two, we need to see what they're learning in school because this is just about open government and transparency. And that's supposed to be a bedrock of our democracy. Absolutely. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thanks so much for listening to my conversation with parental rights advocate Nicole Solos. Be sure to tune in later today where I'll be bringing you the top news of the day on the Daily Signal podcast afternoon edition. Be sure to subscribe to the Daily Signal and leave us a review about how we can better bring you the news. We enjoy hearing your feedback. And that's all for this episode of the Daily Signal podcast.

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