Nolan4Mead

11/07/2025

For the last 3 months, Mead School District has been revising the policy on curriculum adoption and educational materials - the story below about a district in the region is why it deserves so much focus.

Educational outcomes for our the state and our district have been declining and we are committed to reversing the trend. Critical to that goal are educational materials focused on teaching core subjects and skills, not advancing social issues.

More on this to topic to come, but Mead School District will lead the way in improving educational outcomes for our students. We will do it through curriculum centered on the subject matter and learning standards, with clear mandates on transparency for parents and community members so they know what their kids are being taught.

(The Center Square) – Parents with students in the Cheney School District are raising concerns after a ninth-grade English teacher recently taught a lesson on gender identity without school board

10/21/2025

Community members often contact me on how to address issues they or their children encounter in our public school district. Whenever a community member, and especially as a parent, has concerns about an issue in the Mead School District, please consider the approach below:

1) Gather information, to include specifics on the event, date, location and who was involved, relying on direct sources whenever possible. For clarity "I heard" is generally not evidence.

2) Contact the appropriate building administration with the concern and the information from step one.

3) If others share your concern or are similarly affected, encourage them to act as well. Don't be a bystander or willingly accept others to be one either. By the way, posting on social media does not qualify as action unless done to gather additional support.

4) If the response of building leadership is unsatisfactory in your view, don't give up. You have the right to take the concern to the Superintendent and/or the school board.
Before you do so, consider doing more research on school policies, state and federal law related to the topic. There are endless sites on the internet on every topic and many of them are excellent resources. Strongly consider reading the sources they cite directly. You don't need to become a lawyer, but there is no good substitute for first-hand familiarity with source guidance.

5) At every stage of the process, create a paper trail. Email is great, but consider it for phone calls and in-person meetings too. Take notes and share them with the district representative to allow clarification or correct miscommunications. If you intend to record something, be aware that Washington is a 2-party consent state.

Other things to consider:

- People often are concerned to come forward for fear of retaliation. The concern, especially if it affects your student, is completely understandable. District leadership is particularly sensitive to that fear and has a clear stance that retaliatory action will be dealt with swiftly and unequivocally. While that is not a guarantee it cannot happen - absolutes are impossible in human interactions - Mead has highly professional staff and retaliatory actions will not be tolerated.

- While a paper trail, often through email, is strongly advised, be aware emails sent to district provided addresses are subject to the Public Records Act and can be requested by anyone. The point is to avoid surprises and provide further incentive to keep emails courteous.

- Realize that while a particular concern may be completely justified, we live in Washington State and there are many requirements placed on school districts that our community may disagree with or consider unacceptable. School-level leadership, the Superintendent and the board may not be able to resolve an issue satisfactorily because of those restrictions. If that occurs, remember district representatives are not the last recourse. Unfortunately, there are areas where state and federal guidelines conflict and outside agencies may be the only viable path to acheive a solution.
Even in instances when the district can fully address an issue, the outcome may not be something that can shared outside of information directly pertaining to your student. There are, correctly, strong protections for student privacy that limit what information can be shared. Similary, information about personnel actions, when deemed appropriate, will generally not be shared either.

Lastly, realize problems won't solve themselves and your action may be what tips the scales. Courage is contagious. District staff and the school board want to serve Mead kids well, please help us to do that.

Send a message to learn more

06/18/2025

OSPI fires employee for voting to protect girls' sports.

If you haven't head this story, it is worth a read an quite revealing on the lack of tolerance at OSPI. Darby Kaikkonen was a senior employee at OSPI and the board president for Tumwater School District. After she and her board voted in favor of a resolution supporting changes to WIAA rules to reserve girls sports for females only, she was placed on administrative leave and then terminated.

The situation appears to be a clear case of retaliation by elected officials and is absolutely vile. Link to article below with additional details.

A former director at Washington state’s schools agency alleges the state superintendent fired her after she voted as a local school board member in support of barring trans girls from competing in girls’ sports.

06/03/2025

Congratuations Lauren, you deserve the gold.

"Veronica" Garcia's 55.7 time may have been the fastest for this race, but for comparison, my son runs a 55.13 in the 400 meter. His time earned him him 2nd place in the year end regional competition for JV Boys - pretty good for a sophomore. I'm proud of my son not only for his accomplishment, but for competing with honor and integrity that Mr Garcia lacks.

The Real Winner
Lauren Matthew, the real WA state champ from West Valley HS in 2A 400 meters. (The trans athlete that won is a boy and shouldn’t qualify in a girls race.) Lauren should be the two time 400 state champion, so we celebrate her.

05/24/2025

Washington citizens haved called for Governor Ferguson's removal after he approved $9+ billion in new taxes by signing the budget. Although I'd love to see him recalled, with the high bar required to do it in Washington, we should direct that energy and enthusiam towards more effective options. Specifically, work to elect conservative candidates in and around where you live.

Candidates have filed for mayoral, city council, school, fire, water sewer and other board races. If there is a race in your area, find out who represents your values and help get them elected. Even if there aren't, consider getting involved in races such as Spokane City Council. Everyone of us is affected by the City of Spokane's terrible governance - if nothing else, you get a reminder of it with the higher sales tax paid on every purchase in the City. There are strong conservative candidates running for Spokane City Council seats this year who could tip the balance, but they will need help to win. Personally, I'm working to support conservative school board candidates across the county because Mead cannot stand alone and expect to win.

Next year, Governor Ferguson and the Democratic led legislature will take another $2,000+ in taxes from the average Washington family. Expect they'll be back for more next year. Consider spending some of that money now to support representatives who will fight back for you. Even if you can't financially, there are plently of ways to make a difference. Candidates need help reaching out to voters, placing signs and handling a wide range of tasks needed to run a campaign. Everyone one of us is needed to change the direction of government in Washington and the work for it starts in our own neighborhood.

Below is a link to the VoteWA.gov website showing candidates who have filed in Spokane County races.

https://voter.votewa.gov/CandidateList.aspx?e=893&c=32

05/21/2025

Gov Ferguson & the ironically named "Democratic" party just completed the gutting of the Parents' Bill of Rights.

HB1296 is terrible legislation. Not only does it reverse the right of parents to have access to all information about their children - guaranteed under federal guidelines - it actually flips the concept by codifying "student rights." While the specific language of the student rights seems unobjectionable, it creates a mechanism to cut parents out of the equation, by making the constitutional required provision of public education a compact between the state and the child, not the state and the family.

As usual, Julie Barrett from Conservative Ladies does a great job covering with the bill. Below is a link to her most recent video on it.

Friends, it's official — and it's urgent.

05/01/2025

Good news and bad news to share regarding efforts protect women's sports as well as sex-segregated spaces for our students.

First the good news - the Department of Education announced today it is launching an investigation into OSPI for it's efforts to force violations of Title IX, FERPA and PPRA. These are exactly the concerns I have about the model policy for Transgender Students OSPI is trying to force on our schools. Link to the full press release provided below. All I can say is good hunting.

https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/title-ix-special-investigations-team-launches-directed-investigation-washington-state-superintendents-office-0

05/01/2025

On the bad news side, OSPI did not care for the draft policy on Transgender Students presented at the March board meeting, and sent the letter below. While it will be posted to the Mead School District website along with other pertinent documents, I wanted to provide a sneak peak so community members can

Most interesting in the letter, which inaccurately portrays some sections of the draft, is how it interprets state law requiring districts to "incorporate all elements of the model transgender student policy and procedure" to mean our verison cannot "deviate or remove any of the content in the model policy and procedure." Also interesting is the letter's focus on Trump's executive orders, which are not the basis for our concerns, but utter disregard for Title IX, FERPA and PPRA both we and the Department of Education highlighted.

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Dear Superintendent Hanson,

I understand that Mead School District’s Board of Directors may be considering adopting its proposed revisions to its “Transgender Students” policy and procedure, 3211 and 3211P, at its meeting tonight. After reviewing the proposed revisions to the District’s policy and procedure as part of the OSPI Statewide Civil Rights Review, OSPI is concerned about the Board adopting them. This correspondence is an effort to provide you and the Board with context for OSPI’s concerns prior to tonight’s meeting and remind the District about Washington’s state law regarding nondiscrimination based on gender identity and gender expression.

In Washington, state laws, rules, and guidelines prohibit Washington K–12 public schools from engaging in discrimination on the basis of gender identity and gender expression. This includes Chapters 28A.640 and 28A.642 of the Revised Code of Washington (RCW), 392-190 of the Washington Administrative Code (WAC), and OSPI’s guidelines Prohibiting Discrimination in Washington Public Schools. The OSPI Equity and Civil Rights Office is responsible for ensuring that school districts in Washington comply with these laws, rules, and guidelines.

State law requires each school district to adopt the Washington State School Districts’ Association (WSSDA) model policy and procedure regarding gender-inclusive schools. Specifically, RCW 28.642.080(1)(a) directs each Washington public school district to adopt a transgender students (also referred to as a “Gender-Inclusive Schools”) policy and procedure or amend existing policies and procedures to, at a minimum, “incorporate all the elements of the model transgender student policy and procedure” developed by WSSDA. The statute does not grant school districts flexibility to deviate or remove any of the content in the model policy and procedure. This statute also requires the WSSDA model policy and procedure to incorporate OSPI’s rules and guidelines developed under RCW 28A.642.020 to eliminate discrimination in Washington public schools on the basis of gender identity and expression.

These laws comply with federal law, including Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. States are permitted to provide greater protections for students than what is required by federal minimum standards, and Washington’s laws fit squarely within the scope of what is allowed by federal law. Any federal executive orders or interpretative correspondence demanding a different approach do not have independent force of law and thus do not require a change in school policy.

The proposed revisions to the District’s Transgender Students policy and procedure do not comply with the RCW 28A.642.080 requirement to “adopt or amend if necessary policies and procedures that, at a minimum, incorporate all the elements of the model transgender student policy and procedure. . . . ” The District’s draft policy and procedure includes numerous material additions and deletions from the model policy and procedure, and as such, do not comply with RCW 28A.642.080.

Further, the draft policy and procedure do not incorporate or comply with OSPI’s rules at chapter 392-190 WAC to eliminate discrimination in Washington public schools on the basis of gender identity and gender expression or follow OSPI’s guidelines developed under RCW 28A.642.020

Specifically regarding the procedure, the following list is not exhaustive of all the revisions but include some of the most concerning revisions OSPI identified that are not consistent with OSPI rules and guidelines. The District’s draft 3211P:

- Suggests that school employees should inform a student’s parents about their gender identity or expression without the student’s consent, even absent an educational record or appropriate FERPA request by the parent.
- Discouraged staff referring to students by their pronouns.
- Requires a transgender student to seek permission before accessing the restroom and states that their right to access the space will be balanced against facilities available and the needs of other students.
- States that a transgender student’s access to locker rooms will be balanced against the facilities available and the needs of other students.
- Prohibits transgender students from participating in overnight trips in accordance with their gender identity.

For these reasons, OSPI strongly urges the District and Board to not adopt its draft 3211 and 3211P. Please feel welcome to contact me if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Sarah Albertson she/her
Managing Attorney, Equity and Civil Rights
Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI)
p: 360-725-6162 | c: 360-764-3408

This information is for informational purposes only. It does not provide legal advice or establish an attorney–client relationship. Please contact an attorney for legal advice specific to the facts and circumstances of your individual situation. All communications with OSPI are subject to public disclosure under state law (Chapter 42.56 RCW).

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04/27/2025

It was a tough week for democracy in Washington, with the Parents' Right initiative and Prop 1 gutted.

House Democrats, in a party line vote, approved Senate changes to HB 1296 that not only gutted the parents' rights initiative, but flipped the concept on it's head, creating a list of student rights along with new authorities for OSPI to undermine local control of education.

Earlier in the week, the State Supreme Court also decided Spokane's citizens don't have the right to decide whether homeless can camp next to their childrens' schools, parks and day care centers. Councilmembers Cathcart and Bingle are absolute correct in calling the decision an insult.

On the plus side, the legislative session is scheduled to end tomorrow. Let's hope that it does and we can get a reprieve from the tidal wave of bad legislation and new taxes.

Send a message to learn more

04/18/2025

Earlier this week, Department of Education filed suit in federal administrative court over OSPI violations of FERPA, PPRA and Title IX. The letter discusses the La Center School District, but is attempting to address problems school districts across the state have been highlighting for months.

Trump administration is expected to make a big announcement on the topic later today. Stay tuned, but it appears we are gaining momentum in our efforts to counter state overreach, allowing schools to return the focus to improving educational outcomes.

02/24/2025

The chart below shows the decline in performance of Washington students versus the growth of state spending per pupil over time. It is not a good story and clearly throwing money at the problem has not helped.

02/06/2025

The Executive Order will not bring an end to the fight to restore safe and fair competition to womens' sports, but I am thankful for it nonetheless. Washington State's democrat controlled legislature and governor have shifted to even more radical positions since November's election and seem bound and determined put our schools and students at risk of losing operating funds no matter what route we take.