In Carmel Clay School District in Indiana, the fairly new superintendent pledged he would do something to address the fact that many students and parents of color had experienced racist incidents or racist assumptions. He hired a diversity, equity, and inclusion coordinator.

That prompted a backlash from a group of people, many of whom had no children in the schools and some of whom didn’t even live in the school district. People from neighboring towns flooded school board meetings, yelling and disrupting the meetings. They said Carmel had no problem with racism and complained not only about the DEI coordinator and the superintendent but about LGBTQ children and the social emotional learning program in the district.

All of this was leading up to the 2022 school board race, where groups like Moms for Liberty and Purple for Parents Indiana put up candidates for the three seats that were contested that year who claimed that Carmel Clay schools were no longer focused on academic achievement.

Residents who were concerned about the attacks on their schools started a Facebook group that quickly gained thousands of followers, but they knew that wasn’t going to be sufficient to counter the flood of outside money that paid for signs, mailers, ads, and even a banner flown by an airplane over a high school football game.

So Nicky McNally and Carmella Sparrow started a PAC—Support CCS (Carmel Clay Schools). The PAC vetted candidates and created a slate of three. McNally convinced many potential candidates to instead support the slate and avoid splitting the ticket. She says in many ways that was the “best thing” the PAC did. They developed a message with six basic pillars that most people could understand and support:

·       Academic Excellence

·       School Safety

·       Global Preparedness

·       Mental Well-Being

·       Parent Partnership

·       Supporting Teachers

They let it be known that if the other side won, they would fire the DEI coordinator and probably the superintendent, and teachers would probably start leaving.

The PAC raised $40,000 and paid for signs, mailers, T-shirts, and ads. At the suggestion of fellow activist Todd Crosby, they held dozens of “driveway parties” where hosts introduced their neighbors and friends to the school board candidates. They texted and knocked on doors. They carried endorsements by dozens of parents—and a former superintendent and principal—of the PAC’s slate. By the election, it was near impossible to be a resident and not be aware that there was a contested school board election. In what is considered a Republican stronghold, the Republican Party openly campaigned for the other side, even though school boards are non-partisan in Indiana.

The Support CCS PAC remained non-partisan.

And they won two of the three seats, losing the third very narrowly. This has meant, McNally says, that the majority are still committed to supporting public education.

Meanwhile, the same phenomenon was happening in nearby Hamilton Southeastern. A similar Facebook group had attracted even more people than in Fishers, but the same kind of effective PAC was never formed and the community didn’t mobilized to support candidates to counter extremism. The candidates supported by Moms4Liberty won the majority of the school board. Their first action was to try to reject a $5 million federal grant to address mental health issues in the schools. A public uproar and legal limitations kept them from succeeding, but they have since cancelled a student survey, costing the districts thousands of dollars. And the PAC behind them, Fishers One, has made it clear that firing the superintendent—the district’s first Black woman superintendent—is a priority. Even though many in the district are horrified, they are stuck until the next election.

The fact that they have such a cautionary tale in a neighboring district may be a spur to residents in Carmel Clay as they gear up for the next election.

To hear lot more about what folks in both Carmel Clay and Hamilton Southeastern are doing, listen to “Standing Up to Extremism in Carmel Indiana.” If you prefer to read the transcript, click here.

Below are links to news stories and web sites that help explain the story even more fully.

CARMEL-CLAY

The history of Carmel, The Carmel Historical Society

The History of Hate in Indiana: How the Ku Klux Klan took over Indiana's halls of power By Jordan Fischer, WRTV Indianapolis, October 19, 2021

1920s KKK membership records from HamCo open to public at the Indiana Historical Society, by John Tuohy, Indy Star, July 15, 2020

Carmel has a negative reputation regarding race. Here's why. By Kaitlin Lange, Indy Star, July 13, 2020

A viral high school tour underscores the haves and have-nots in America's schools, by Claretta Bellamy, NBC News, February 25, 2023

 Parents criticize Carmel Clay Schools diversity work, calling it divisive and political, by M J Slaby, Indianapolis Star, April 27, 2021

Answers and information regarding education standards required by Indiana law, Indiana Department of Education media release

Purple for Parents web site

Moms for Liberty Hamilton County web site

Parents happy with Carmel public schools help launch Support CCS PAC by Ann Marie Shambaugh, Current, November 22, 2021

The outside group trying to influence Central Indiana School Board elections - NewsBreak by Cornelius Hocker, WRTV, October 21, 2022

Anti-CRT, other PACs back school board candidates. Here's why you should care. By Caroline Beck, Indy Star, October 22, 2022

Dianne Hannah’s Twitter threads:

•  Carmel Unites Against "Unify Carmel" has the links about Unify Carmel, the group that attacked the schools
• Part I: Why CCS needed DEI and How it's Going. 
• Part II: Backlash
• Part III: Decoding the Anti-DEI rhetoric,  which links the Moms 4 Liberty slate with Unify Carmel and the anti-DEI efforts.

The stealth right-wing school board candidates flying under the radar in Carmel by Dan Grossman, Indy Correspondent, October 29, 2022

The slate of anti-CRT school board candidates running for Carmel Clay schools by Caroline Beck, Indy Star, November 1, 2022

Conservative politics drive new fight in Indiana’s suburban school board elections (wfyi.org), by Lee V. Gaines, wfyi, November 6, 2022

What’s Happening with the Carmel Clay School Board Race Should Terrify Everyone  by Mark Latta, Medium, November 6, 2022

Support CCS PAC web site

Carmel Schools Dad

Hamilton County 2022 election results

Republicans point to split conservative vote in failing to sweep Carmel school board seats , by Ann Marie Shambaugh, Current, November 9, 2022

Conservative school board candidates feared indoctrination. What’s next for Carmel? by Lee V. Gaines, by WFYY, Indianapolis, January 18, 2023

HAMILTON SOUTHEAST

HSE school board member's comments about gender identity are met with gasps and a walkout by Emma Kate Fittes, April 25, 2019

HSE students talk about incidents at school that show need for nondiscrimination policy by Emma Kate Fittes, Indy Star, May 6, 2019

Anti-CRT, pro-parental rights candidates win seats on Hamilton County school boards , by Lee V. Gaines, WFYI, November 9, 2022

Larry in Fishers website Local news in Fishers Indiana

HS EQUAL PAC