CASPER — Freedom of speech, allowing Turning Point USA Club America chapters into Natrona County high schools, and how school administrators have handled controversy surrounding the clubs stirred more than 20 people to challenge school board members Monday night.
For more than an hour, Natrona County School District 1 Board of Education members heard from a variety of views, some railing at Turning Point USA and its late founder Charlie Kirk, some defending him, others reading from the First Amendment, and still others calling on the board to exercise fairness in its dealings with student clubs.
The parade of speakers and passionate voices followed a week of news stories about Natrona County High School TPUSA Club America founder Kylie Wall and her concerns that school administrators have been too controlling.
Wall has said that Principal Aaron Wilson told her that she could not speak with reporters, even off campus on her own time, and that she could not represent the group at a meeting to celebrate the groups with the Wyoming Family Alliance, which defines itself as an advocacy group for Wyoming families.
She has said she feels her group is being treated differently than other clubs at the school.
In comments Monday to the board, Wall referred to a meeting Friday that included her parents, Wilson, Superintendent Angela Hensley, the Kelly Walsh High School Club America leader and a TPUSA representative.
Wall and her parents invited school board members to the meeting, but when they showed up, the trustees weren't allowed by Hensley to attend.
“For weeks now, my family and I have been trying to navigate confusion, mixed messages and frustration surrounding how my club has been treated,” she said. “We’ve asked questions, raised concerns and waited for answers that never seem to come.”
Wall said when her parents and herself were “strongly encouraged” to attend the meeting, they asked that two district board trustees, an advocate, and the state superintendent of public instruction be allowed to join.
She said Hensley refused to allow the trustees and advocate to attend or the state superintendent to call in.
“The meeting went forward behind closed doors and because it lacked transparency, my parents chose not to submit our written complaint,” she said. “We were told all the right things, that my club is supported, that every student is treated equally, and that the district wants our club to be successful … but in the end there were no commitments, no written steps and no accountability.”
Call For ‘Openness’
Wall said she appreciated the district’s words of support and asked whose definition of success the club was to operate under as it moves forward: “The one that measures comfort or the one that means fairness?”
She also said, “openness should be modeled by the district’s leaders.”
At the meeting, Wall and her club came in for some criticism from some students and members of the community. Many comments supported Wilson and his record at the district for being a fair administrator who follows the rules.
Natrona County High School student Viviana Deurloo said that she was speaking for many students at the high school who believe the school should remain a place for equal education, not division. She said it should be a place where students learn to “think for themselves and not parrot.”
“One of the main debates is whether politics belongs in the schools. No, they don’t,” she said. “I do think educating students about how government works should be a priority in schools. What should not be is the spreading of hate.”
Deurloo said that TPUSA was founded by Charlie Kirk who was “known for his beliefs in homophobia, racism and sexism.” She said the nonprofit associates with right-wing groups. Instead of a Club America founded by Charlie Kirk and led by Wall, she called for a “non-partisan civics and government club” that teaches how government works and “how to spot propaganda.”
Kelly Walsh TPUSA Club America President Trevor Wellborn pointed out that the district is nearly alone in the state in not offering a civics class. In a survey of about 50 students as he formed his Club America chapter, only two knew what Article One of the U.S. Constitution said or addressed.
The district tries to fulfill its state mandate to teach the U.S. Constitution and Wyoming state constitution by weaving two weeks of lessons into American History classes, he said.
“A required civics class is vital for the development of enlightened citizens,” he said.
Dialogue, Not Violence
University of Wyoming TPUSA President Gabe Saint told the board that dialogue is the solution to stopping the violence against people who have an opposing opinion and students need to communicate.
“I don’t know if you’ve seen the data, but the amount of youth who think that resorting to political violence is an OK thing is crazy,” he said. “As an educator, I don’t think I feel very good about students throwing around words like homophobe, racists, Nazi and all these things. Those are big words that have a lot of meaning.”
Saint told the board Club America allows students to debate and dig into “really hard ideas.” He encouraged the district to support the students from “every background” and allow the school to be a place where “hard ideas can be talked about.”
Kate Schneider, of Casper, told the board that in the context of Club America’s experience currently, in 2018 when a pride club tried to form, student advocates put up posters, and the administration ordered them taken down. The club was also directed that it would be renamed to the Diversity Club.
In 2021, the Diversity Club hung posters around the school to celebrate pride month, and some students and staff took down the posters around the school, Schneider said. When the posters went back up, assistant principals took them down again. She said those students felt “excluded and unheard.”
“Under the current administration at NCHS, the staff is following district policy closely to ensure that student organizations can operate according to guidelines,” she said. “Club America and Diversity Club are active with the understanding that members may not attend partisan-packed meetings while officially representing NCHS.”
Schneider said students are free to attend partisan meetings on their own time as private citizens. She said it was similar to school music groups that were not allowed to perform at venues that serve alcohol.
Media Policy
Additionally, she noted that school policy states that students cannot talk with media on school grounds while representing the school without a responsible adult or staff member in the room.
“I want to thank Mr. Wilson, NC’s principal for his continual backing of student-led groups and for following district policy, his leadership helps ensure that our students have opportunities to participate, express themselves and learn about civic engagement responsibly,” she said.
State House District 35 Rep. Tony Locke, R-Casper, told the board that it was becoming clear to him over the past few weeks with the district’s controversy over a cross-dressing janitor and now Club America that the school board and administration “lean” toward protecting administrators and employees and ignore the protection of children.
“We can talk about individual events and of a poster being torn down or not being torn down, but at the end of the day it’s clear that freedom of speech for certain types of speech was being restricted here versus the other,” he said. “I would like to propose that this board take appropriate actions to start changing this culture to where true freedom of speech exists for both sides.”
Jeanette Ward, a former Casper state representative, told the board that she understood that Wilson did not want to allow a public meeting for the Natrona County High School Club America chapter, but the Diversity Club is promoted as a place for “students, staff, and community members to discuss various topics.”
Ward also questioned why Hensley refused to allow the two school board members and the state superintendent to attend the meeting on Friday, since the trio had been invited to participate by Wall’s parents.
“The district answers to parents and board members, not the other way around,” she said.
Board members as they took their turns at the end of the meeting thanked those who turned out to speak.
Support For Wilson
School board Treasurer Kyla Alvey said that she believed some people expected the board to denounce Wilson. Instead, she voiced her support for his work and efforts “and I appreciate how he has been navigating this system and the thing that he is going through.”
“I am a little confused because we’re not deciding anything about TPUSA. They are more than welcome to exist, and I think people only want to see their success,” she said.
School board Trustee Mary Schmidt apologized to the Wall family for the difficulty Kylie Wall has had in starting the Club America chapter at Natrona County High School.
“The confusion, misunderstanding, the miscommunication, and the hostility should not have occurred. Clubs are part of everyday life that occur in our schools,” she said. “It frustrates me that this club had to encounter the confusion regarding process.”
Trustee Thea True-Wells congratulated the two TPUSA clubs for organizing and said she hopes “they harness the admirable aspects of Charlie Kirk.”
True-Wells then told the crowd that if they ask simple questions about the messenger, the message, timing of the message, and test the message for propaganda before making judgments they will be less likely to fall for propaganda and misleading information.
On the propaganda side, she said she asks herself: “Does it pull you into a tribe?”
“There are many outrage entrepreneurs out there vying for your attention and your rage,” True-Wells said.
First Amendment
Casper resident Ross Schriftman read the board the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Then he shared how after high school he ran for state representative at age 21. His former principal invited him and his opponent back to the high school to address an assembly and answer questions from students, he said.
“That’s part of civic duty. Politics should not be promoted by the district, but politics should be allowed in the district,” he said. Schriftman shared how as a student in 1968, he wore a big campaign button for his presidential candidate at the time, Hubert Humphrey, and no one said anything about it.
“We need debate, we need students to be able to dialog with each other without calling names,” he said.
Board member Michael Stedillie during board comments said he applauded the positive comments about the First Amendment at the meeting and “felt surrounded by kindred spirits.” He noted it was important to disagree agreeably and gave a shout out to Schriftman.
“Thank you for letting me know I was not the only supporter for Hubert Humphrey back in 1968,” he said. “That was very well appreciated.”
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
