Melissa Semmler

Agree

I agree unless the life of the mother is in jeapordy.

The school should provide a student with the free and appropriate education they are entitled to, but the school should not provide medical care or medical advice unless the care is approved by the student's parents, or an emergency situation is occurring.

Strongly Agree

Free enterprise allows businesses to be governed by the laws of supply and demand, which allows for the competition necessary for efficient resource allocation. This allows sellers to adjust prices in response to the market, and it allows consumers to decide where they will spend their money. Private property gives the owner of the property incentive to maximize its value, which stimulates innovation.

Kindergarten through grade twelve should be available to all American citizens. Though, at age sixteen, students should be able to focus on trades and on-the-job training over purely academic schooling, if desired. An educated population stimulates a productive economy by providing skilled workers who can efficiently carry out tasks that require literacy and critical thinking. School should teach students to develop marketable skills that will help build the economy and help the student thrive.

Strongly Disagree

Requiring teachers to refer to a student by a pronoun that doesn't align with the student's birth gender violates their first amendment right to freedom of conscience and could lead to legal repercussions for the district.

Strongly Disagree

Schools need to focus on classical education. Medical care should be strictly between a student, the student's doctor, and the student's family because parents are ultimately responsible for the health and well-being of their children.

Strongly Agree

Yes

Yes, course materials should be easily accessible, as long as the accessibility does not violate copyright or other intellectual property laws.

Strongly Agree

American students are the next generation of Americans, and they must understand the founding of our country in order to protect the future of our nation.

Strongly Disagree

Equity is not the same as equal opportunity, and it stifles the competition necessary to motivate individuals. Diversity is inherently a good thing because it promotes different perspectives and approaches. However, the contrived diversity pushed by DEI is divisive and destructive. DEI stifles intellectual and rhetorical diversity, and is exclusionary to anyone who doesn't follow is tenets. It should be abolished and replaced with a focus on ability and merit.

Agree

The US Department of Education is good in theory, but it has been advancing policies that are ineffective and harmful to education. State government is closer to the people, and since education directly effects the people, education should be controlled by states and communities.

-Language Arts, Mathematics, American History, Civics, Science, Art & Music (music is numbers in time and space), and Foreign Language are all equally important to learning in grade school and middle school. Physical Fitness is important because it is easier to learn when we move around. -Information Technology, Personal Finances, and Vocational Learning should be incorporated in high school to prepare students with job skills. -SEL, CRT, etc. are detrimental to education.

Neutral

I wish to remain neutral on this because I am running to be a trustee for a public school, and I would like to focus on making our local public school the best school it can be.

Equality of opportunities. Equity treats people unequally by giving preferential treatment to some by taking from others. We need only look to Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron to see the disastrous ways equity can play out. Equity abolishes individual rights and essentially punishes individuals for their gifts and talents. The lack of competition inherent with equity leads to the decline of nations by decimating the talents of their citizens.

A- Opt In Parents should determine whether their child is ready for sex ed.

I am a Christian, and I believe God loves the world so deeply that He sacrificed His only son for our salvation. God makes order from chaos, and His light shines in us all. Luke 6:40 says, "A student who is fully trained will be like his teacher." This is why we need people with strong morals and values in education. Our next generation will follow the role models we provide for them. Proverbs 22:6 says, "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it." Children raised with strong values will internalize those values for a lifetime. If we want to recreate greats, like our country's founders, we must provide the virtuous education that got them there.

Sex ed should be taught when a child nears puberty so the child understands the physical changes occurring in the body and what the purpose of those changes is. Ideally, parents would teach children sex ed, and parents should have the ultimate say regarding when a child is taught this subject. That being said, sexual reproduction is an integral part of biology, anatomy, and genetics. The miracle of conception and the following division of cells underlies the reproduction and diversification of a vast variety of species. In fact, the system necessary for a fertilized egg to divide into a human child requires such divine perfection that it should be studied in order to understand the complex, yet ordered, unfolding of the universe around us. It would be difficult for a student to understand various genetic, biological, and, even animal husbandry, topics without an understanding of sexual reproduction, so it should be addressed in school, at an appropriate age, with parental consent.

Sex Ed should follow the science and be free from discussion of sexual orientation, gender identity, sex acts, and the pleasures of sex. Considering there are around 8 billion people on the planet, it is safe to say that, historically, humans have figured out sex acts and the pleasures of sex without guidance from school Sex Ed programs. Students of reproductive age should be made aware of contraceptive methods and the fact that abstinence is the only sure way to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Consent should be discussed briefly because it is a relatively simple concept: If there is doubt about whether your partner consents, don't have sex with them. Physical end emotional health outcomes should be discussed because they are very real issues. Having multiple sexual partners devalues sexual and marital relationships, and it increases the risk of debilitating sexually transmitted diseases. The stages of pregnancy and fetal development are an integral, and fascinating, part of biology and should be discussed as such. Human anatomy and the reproductive system should also be taught because people should be able to identify the parts of their bodies and understand how they work. The reproductive system is regulated by hormones our brains and reproductive tissues release, and these hormones impact all systems in our bodies. The systems of the body are interwoven, and it would be difficult and nonsensical to teach human anatomy while leaving out the reproductive system. If more people understood the intricate role reproductive hormones play in all biological systems, from brain development to bone density, fewer people would be impacted by ideologies that advocate for doing harmful things, like pausing puberty.

Strongly Agree

Children should have the right to go through puberty. Robbing them of this harms brain development, bone development, and multiple systems of the body, which results in a shortened life-span, infertility, and debilitating physical conditions. Anyone who thinks otherwise has not sufficiently studied the side-effects of cross-sex hormones when used to treat other conditions. Treating pediatric body dysmorphia with permanent, debilitating medical procedures is butchery and should be outlawed.

Strongly Agree

The school library should be a place where children can read age-appropriate books, free from pervasively vulgar content and other highly sexualized material. A great example of a romance without explicit content is Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte. In the book, Eyre avoids giving into temptation, despite a troubled childhood and a longing for companionship. The book demonstrates that it is wholly possible to deliver complex topics about the struggles of humanity without using vulgar content.

Strongly Agree

Marriage is the keystone on which the family is built. A strong marriage will raise strong children, which will contribute to sustaining a civil and prosperous society.

Strongly Agree

Because parents are responsible for their children, they must make decisions about their children's education and healthcare. Parents know what is best for their own children.

Strongly Agree

Parents must be informed in order to make the best decisions for their children, so they should have access to their children's records.

Strongly Disagree

Requiring photo identification at voting will protect the integrity of the election.

Strongly Agree

Allowing biological males to compete in sports with biological females endangers the safety of female athletes.

Strongly Agree

Allowing biological males in women's spaces puts women in danger, which sacrifices women's rights to safe spaces.

No

No

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Very Conservative

My views primarily stem from a desire for limited central government and a focus on individual liberty.

Strongly Agree

Strongly Disagree

School districts should not infringe on individual liberties in order to respond to a pandemic.