Do Not Vote For Ray Lynch
The good doctor should never, ever sit on a school board.
Greetings friends and fellow citizens of Cherokee County (Georgia), and anyone else stopping by. If you don’t know me, I've never been one to keep my opinions to myself, but it's been a while since I've spoken up about our local school district. Then I came home recently and found a political flier hanging from my door. It bears the header The Right Choice for Cherokee County Board of Education and comes courtesy of one Ray Lynch, MD—who is running for the Cherokee County board of education here in District 6 (Cherokee High School).
Mike Chapman decided not to run again for our school board, and I for one won't miss him, which leaves us in a race with no incumbents. Unfortunately things are so bleak here in District 6 (sounds like we're living in the world of the Hunger Games, doesn’t it?) that we don't even have any Democrats for a primary next month. In other words, whoever wins the Republican nomination will sit on the board. Lynch is up against Amanda Callahan Stanley and Susan Padgett Harrison. Turning to Ballotpedia, let's take a look at this mysterious figure who showed up on my door.
So far he's a faceless person running for office. Not much help there. Perhaps the website for his campaign will be more revealing.
The Home page assaults us with a large photograph of a bunch of people’s hands held together like they're in a football huddle. The image looks somehow familiar ...
Oh. That's because this is a generic Adobe stock photo and has nothing to do with Cherokee County schools. But scrolling down we are finally rewarded with a badly-formatted letter from Dr. Lynch introducing himself. Ignoring the political talking points for the moment, he tells us he's been married for 36 years and has a son and a granddaughter who is currently in kindergarten—though he neglects to mention if that child or anyone in his family is currently or has ever been a student in Cherokee County. His professional bio looks cut and pasted as a solid wall of text no one will read but me.
Dr. Lynch offers his educational background and declares he is Board Certified in Emergency Medicine. Googling his certification provides our first warning sign: an article in the Epoch Times in which Dr. Lynch claims he "received a letter from the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) regarding a complaint made against him: someone had complained that he had violated a code of professionalism." Why? It seems that he spoke up last year at a school board meeting and made one hell of a statement:
Neither personal protective or environmental measures [a]ffect the virus transmission; The COVID-19 death rate is similar to severe seasonal influenza; Masks do not stop the spread or lower the COVID-19 cases; Masks have side effects and carbon dioxide levels are higher in younger children; Vaccines do not stop the spread or prevent infections; There is no scientific data to support mask mandates.
One might wonder why Dr. Lynch would risk his ability to practice medicine by making a public statement "contrary to prevailing medical evidence," especially when you remember that here in Cherokee County there have been zero mask or vaccine mandates in our schools at any point during the pandemic. (Let’s put a pin in that—we’ll be coming back to it later. And we don’t even have time to get into the dumpster-fire that is the Epoch Times.) And then one might decide that he was making news specifically to stoke up his candidacy—part of the "4 Can Do More" coalition of candidates who I'm sure I'll be talking about more in the future. These folks are receiving support from an out-of-state PAC (Political Action Committee) as part of a nationwide strategy the GOP has employed to take control of local school boards. There is no follow up on the status of Dr. Lynch's certification and no other news outlet reported on it other than the Epoch Times.
The rest of Dr. Lynch’s professional bio sounds very impressive and I don't have the time nor am I qualified to pick apart his resumé—though if I were to try I'd be frustrated that he mentions big organizations and projects without actually naming them. "A major health plan in Florida" and a "physician network ... in Louisiana" not to mention "obtaining a full Accreditation award from a national association." That would be like me talking about my career in game publishing and saying "I wrote and designed a top-selling book that won important industry awards" but forgetting to mention the title. One might assume he's trying to hide the fact his entire career and most of his adult life took place outside of Georgia and that he brings very little local experience or connections here in Cherokee county.
The "RayLynch MD Cherokee" Facebook page (with dozens of followers!) reveals a smiling older gentleman who likes to wear hats. Posts range from boring "Thank you" and generic humanizing statements to some real eye-opening whoppers straight from far-right media. I now have a face and a sense of this man for context as we discuss the flier on my door.
WARNING: Do not play a drinking game in which you take a shot every time you read the words "I believe" on this flier. It's only one page and the phrase appears 14 times. "I believe" that a medical professional would advise against it.
Covid and Schools
I believe in no mandates. I believe vaccine mandates ignore side-effects for children and natural immunity from previous infections. I believe parents should discuss their concerns with their physicians and make informed consent decisions regarding their children's masks and vaccines.
Folks on Dr. Lynch's side of the political spectrum love to accuse others of "virtue signaling" when someone makes a performative statement or gesture simply to let the world know where they stand. Because what else do you call it when a candidate demands No Mandates in a school system that made international headlines for being among the first in the world to re-open during the pandemic with no mask mandates or comprehensive safety measures at all? There are no Covid vaccine requirements for either students or school system employees, either.
So who exactly is Dr. Lynch talking to here? He has every right to voice his opinion and weigh in on the debate, but he’s about 20 months too late. I was there and he wasn't. I wonder if that's because he didn't live in Georgia at the time. (And to be clear, this isn’t an accusation. I honestly don’t know.)
Transparency Triad
I believe that transparency in education is important to protect our children. I believe parents are not domestic terrorist[s], and they should have a voice without retaliation in what schools are teaching their children when school boards choose to adopt concepts that conflict with their own beliefs and community standards. I believe Cherokee County needs an anonymous reporting system that will identify behaviors which are not consistent with community standards, track and trend the concerns or complaints to the School Board members, and accountability to the parents that the concerns or complaints were resolved.
Dr. Lynch opens this section by telling us that transparency is important in education. Great! He follows this up by staying parents are not "domestic terrorist[s]," something that only makes sense to people who soak up right-wing media and "news." It has been falsely claimed that the United States Justice Department under Attorney General Merrick Garland called angry parents speaking up at school board meetings domestic terrorists. What actually happened was the National School Boards Association wrote a letter to the AG last fall concerned about violent threats made against school officials "could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism." The group has since apologized for using that language in their letter, which did not appear in the Justice Department memo.
In fact, when questioned by a Senate committee, Garland said:
I want to be clear, the Justice Department supports and defends the First Amendment right of parents to complain as vociferously as they wish about the education of their children, about the curriculum taught in the schools," Garland said. "That is not what the memorandum is about at all, nor does it use the words domestic terrorism or Patriot Act. Like you, I can't imagine any circumstance in which the Patriot Act would be used in the circumstances of parents complaining about their children, nor can I imagine a circumstance where they would be labeled as domestic terrorists.
So d’uh—there is no effort by the United States government to retaliate against vocal parents under the Patriot Act.
So as part of the Transparency Triad Dr. Lynch proposes an "anonymous reporting system," a scheme in which parents can bully the school system to ban books and remove sections of the educational curriculum without being personally held to account for their efforts. This would make it easy for organized groups to wage anonymous campaigns against “the wrong kinds” of material (i.e. anything that disagrees with their personal religious beliefs or political ideology). As the proposed system is anonymous, there would be no way to even verify the complaints were from local parents of school-age children. These are the heroes of Transparency and enemies of Cancel Culture, you see.
It might be worth noting that our school district’s had an official process by which parents can speak to their school principal and issue an official challenge for material to be reviewed by a committee, a system that's been in place for two decades without concern until the GOP decided to make local school boards a political battleground and frame a war between school boards and conservative parents.
Critical Race Theory (CRT)
I believe that CRT is divisive and will indoctrinate our children against each other like Rwanda as I described in my opposition letter regarding the National Board of Education Grant. I believe that academic evaluations should be based on performance not identity. I believe National Board of Education grants push education programs to teach Cancel Culture and CRT hatred.
First of all, let's mention up top that Critical Race Theory is an academic framework for examining the legal system first created in the 1980s. It's been around in collegiate circles for decades as a way to use "history and social reality to explain how racism operates in American law and culture, toward the end of eliminating the harmful effects of racism and bringing about a just and healthy world for all," according to Hawaiian law professor Mary Matsuda. It has never been taught in grades K-12 education in the United States or in Cherokee County schools.
Another thing worth nothing: In May of last year our school district voted to ban the teaching of Critical Race Theory. The resolution had no effect since it banned something that was never taught in our schools in the first place.
But hold on a damn minute. Dr. Lynch directly compared CRT to the factors leading to the Rwandan genocide in the mid-1990s. This heavy accusation requires a closer look and another visit to the Elect Ray Lynch website for more context.
Last year the Department of Education proposed two priorities for the American History and Civics Education programs "to support the development of culturally responsive teaching and learning and the promotion of information literacy skills in grants under the American History and Civics Education programs." Incentivized by federal grants, this initiative is meant to create and bolster existing strategies for teaching American history, civics, and government—"particularly such instruction, strategies, activities, and programs that benefit low-income students and underserved populations."
The two priorities are specifically:
Projects That Incorporate Racially, Ethnically, Culturally, and Linguistically Diverse Perspectives into Teaching and Learning
Promoting Information Literacy Skills
In other words, the government is using grants to encourage the development of teaching programs that include the stories of marginalized groups and allows students to learn about the lives of diverse groups of oppressed people, and specifically "incorporate racially, ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse perspectives and perspectives on the experience of individuals with disabilities." The proposal also encourages programs that examine both historical and modern interpretations of these events to see how society has changed. The second priority is all about critical thinking, learning how to analyze information with a skeptical eye—learning about sourcing evidence, using standards of proof, and recognizing misinformation.
Not on Dr. Lynch's watch! After objecting to the proposal because it's "divisive for our country," he claims the entire proposal begins with a false pretense:
I find it insulting that the proposed priority 1 to incorporate diverse perspectives does not follow the proposed priority 2 to distinguish fact from misinformation. The proposed priority 1 Background starts with misinformation that Covid-19 ’highlighted the urgency of improving racial equity’. In the state of Georgia on May 12th the death rate by race of confirmed Covid-19 cases to date for White was 2.7% and for Black was 2.5% (https://dph.georgia.gov/covid-19-daily-status-report. Covid-19 does not select by race, but politicians have used Covid-19 as a cloak to push Critical Race Theory.
I've looked around and I just can't find any data that supports those numbers. Looking at the Georgia DPH and a bunch of other sources it consistently shows black and other ethnic minorities dying of Covid more than white populations (per capita). So he's either bad with numbers and confused by applying percentages or he's just lying.
Next Dr. Lynch declares the proposal to teach diversity and the stories of oppressed groups in the United States is exactly the same as what happened in Rwanda that led to the murder of hundreds of thousands of people and the displacement of millions. I'm no expert on Rwanda, but I can safely say that Dr. Lynch isn't either. Check out this article for a general overview, but the following is vastly oversimplified summary:
Like many other African nations, Rwanda lived under the oppressive thumb of European colonialism for many decades, their rulers from Belgium playing the two major ethnic groups in the country against each other—the Hutus and the Tutsis. A revolt by the more populous Hutus in 1959 changed the demographics and led to Rwandan independence in 1962. Decades later a group consisting mostly of displaced Tutsi refugees invaded from Uganda. The conflict led to the massacres of hundreds of resident Tutsis accused of collaborating with the invaders. In 1993 a transition government was created in Tanzania that included the displaced Rwandan Tutsis—infuriating the Rwandan leader and stoking more anger and paranoia among the Hutus. In early April of 1994 a plane carrying the Rwandan and Burundi presidents was shot down, and to this day it's hotly debated who is responsible. But hours later a combination of government-backed armed forces and local militia groups began setting up roadblocks and working on the systematic slaughter of the Tutsis and anyone who sympathized with them. Over the course of about ninety days as many as 800,000 people were dead and millions made into refugees.
Dr. Lynch tells us that the Department of Education's proposed priorities from a year ago will lead to a similar situation as in Rwanda in the 90s. Let's hear him out. (And yes, all those brackets are me correcting his spelling mistakes.)
Educators in Rwanda were involved in segregation and going as far as Eth[n]ic Roll Calls in elementary schools – our elementary schools promoting anti-privilege agendas, our Universities banning conservative speech and removing conservative educators from their faculty.
Rwanda government eliminating Tutsi birth certificates, books, documents of existence – our US cancel culture eliminating statues, books, cartoons, Mr Potato Head.
Hatred in Rwanda was fed by political leaders and the media – just like our social media ban of Trump, social media hatred towards Rus[h] Limbaugh after his death, Savannah Guthrie's comment that Republicans need to be re-programmed, BLM riots, reparation movements.
Rwanda government call to bear arms against Tutsi, to kill instead of working your fields, you have no gun then the government will provide one – our government including Maxine Waters Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer calling for public resistance to conservatives, Clinton referring to the Deplorables, Pelosi labeling millions as insurrectionists.
These hot takes are both incredibly gross and hilariously ignorant. Just think about the comparisons. Children being forced to declare their ethnic heritage during elementary school roll-call is apparently exactly the same as a conservative speaker uninvited from a college campus. In Dr. Lynch’s world, a government destroying birth certificates and documents of the existence of racial minorities is equivalent to a community tearing down the statue of a confederate general. He believes books going out of print, cartoon characters getting canceled, and Mr. Potato Head getting a slight re-brand by Hasbro are all elements leading toward genocide. People saying unkind things after Rush Limbaugh died—a man who once routinely mocked the death of AIDS victims—is the Lynchian equivalent of the Rwandan government cracking down on dissenting voices. And of course the Hutu slaughter of the Tutsi people can be directly compared to Democrats in Congress encouraging peaceful protests. (And it’s hilarious that he suggests Democrats who favor modest gun control would support arming leftist mobs against conservatives.)
Let’s stop a moment to think about the inherent racism in Dr. Lynch’s accusation. He’s saying that accurately teaching American history and allowing children to learn about systemic racism will lead to racial violence. And who would be angry in this hypothetical situation? Stoking white fears of violence by racial minorities was the same strategy that created the Ku Klux Klan and decades of racist, oppressive laws.
The comparison of Critical Race Theory to Rwanda is not only nonsense, equating conservative butt-hurt to the murder of more than three-quarters of a million people is disgusting and obscene. Dr. Lynch also strangely ignores the fact his own examples easily work against his own side of the argument. It's the "4 Can Do More" candidates who want to silence minority voices, ban books, fire "woke" teachers, and take even more oppressive actions. The "priorities" Dr. Lynch objects to so strongly are about teaching multiple perspectives and bridging the gap of understanding between different groups.
"These grants push education programs to teach Cancel Culture and Critical Race Theory hatred. Stop these grants and re-write the priorities," Dr. Lynch says in his complaint. He wants to cancel a program devoted to more diversity in historical education because it teaches Cancel Culture. Uh huh. Moving on.
Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE)
I believe that CSE normalizes inappropriate behavior and grooms our children for predators. Planned Parenthood is actively involved in curriculum development for CSE.
If I had a bingo card for the big conservative keywords in this election cycle, "grooming" would be near the middle square. In the normal, real world, grooming in means the following:
But these days conservatives have decided being a “groomer” means simply allowing a child to know that gay or trans people exist. A male teacher talking about his husband could be disciplined under Florida's Parental Rights In Education (the "Don't Say Gay") law. We had a similar piece of garbage legislation proposed last month here in Georgia. But let's look at the rest of Dr. Lynch's statement, where he implies that CSE is a thing here in Georgia and claims that Planned Parenthood is responsible.
According to the Georgia Department of Education, our public schools require:
Sex education/AIDS education – a planned program that shall include instruction relating to the handling of peer pressure, promotion of high self-esteem, local community values, and abstinence from sexual activity as an effective method of preventing acquired immune deficiency syndrome and the only sure method of preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. This instruction shall emphasize abstinence from sexual activity until marriage and fidelity in marriage as important personal goals.
In addition:
Each local board of education shall develop procedures to allow parents and legal guardians to exercise the option of excluding their child from sex education and AIDS prevention instructional programs.
Sex education and AIDS education shall be a part of a comprehensive health program.
Sex education shall also include annual age-appropriate sexual abuse and assault awareness and prevention education in kindergarten through grade 9.
Prior to the parent or legal guardian making a choice to allow his or her child or ward to take the specified unit of instruction, he or she shall be told what instruction is to be provided and have the opportunity to review all instructional materials to be used, print and nonprint. Any parent or legal guardian of a child to whom a course of study in sex education is to be taught shall have the right to elect, in writing, that such child not receive such course of study.
Each local board of education shall establish a committee to review periodically sex/AIDS education instructional materials and make recommendations concerning age/grade level use. Recommendations made by the committee shall be approved by the local board of education before implementation. The committee shall be composed primarily of nonteaching parents who have children enrolled in the local public schools and who represent the diversity of the student body augmented by others such as educators, health professionals and other community representatives.
The committee shall also include a male and female student currently attending the 11th or 12th grade in the public schools
So let's see ... the programs are intended to reflect "local community values" and emphasizes abstinence (even though it's been demonstrated that abstinence-focused sex education actually leads to more teen pregnancy and disease). The program is intended to indoctrinate children to believe that virginity followed by sexually faithful marriage is the best life strategy. The program teaches kids about how to be aware of and prevent sexual abuse in an age-appropriate fashion. And it's all reviewed by a local committee that includes parents and high school students who can weigh in.
All of the above sounds like the kind of thing that Dr. Lynch would be in favor of based on his stated positions. It's as if he's being disingenuous or something!
Oh, and I've seen no evidence that Planned Parenthood is involved in the creation of any educational curriculum in use by Georgia public schools. Conservatives hate Planned Parenthood as a provider of abortion services so it's another buzzword of anger and fear for the crowd Dr. Lynch is playing to.
Social Emotional Learning (SEL)
I believe that SEL can be harmful and result in psychological profiling and behavior tracking.
Back when we were fighting over masks and other health/safety measures in our schools, I started hearing conservative parents railing against Social Emotional Learning—declaring the same kind of uninformed nonsense that you see above and usually tying it somehow to the evils of Critical Race Theory. What's funny is that SEL has been gaining steady ground in corporate America, as helping workers with self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making turns out to be good for productivity and the bottom line. Jack Brennan, Former CEO and Advisor (Vanguard), said "The pipeline to a successful workforce depends on children of all backgrounds having academic and social-emotional skills that are vital to the economy."
That sounds way more capitalist/conservative than touchy-feely liberal. But what are some examples of how SEL is used in classrooms? Here are some examples from WeAreTeachers.com:
Start the day with a check-in (to see how the kids are doing before the work and stress of the school day intrude)
Use story time for teachable moments
Do lots of partner activities
Teach kids how to work in a group
Nurture a culture of kindness
Practice lots of role-playing
Allow for talk time
Teach students to monitor their own progress
Build community with teams
Play games to build community
Cultivate friendship
Help students manage feelings and emotions
Hold regular class meetings
Encourage expression through art
Teach them to work toward a common goal
Fear not! Elect Dr. Lynch and he'll work tirelessly to end all of the above. I’m sure he’ll stop all the teachers who are constantly writing up psych profiles on the students and tracking their behavior instead of working on lesson plans and grading papers. (Please read the previous sentence in a tone of dripping sarcasm.)
School Choice
I believe Cherokee County schools should be CRT, CSE, and SEL safe. I believe that Cherokee County should present key performance indicators (KPI) and anonymous reporting system results now, before school choice becomes available in Georgia, to show parents that a Cherokee County school is their best choice. I believe that school choice and the right to take tax dollars to a school of the parent's choice is coming soon with new state legislation.
There it is! We’ve reached the part where Dr. Lynch reveals his real belief that public education is the problem and that parents should be able to use their tax dollars to send children to private schools. If elected he intends to use his place on our local school district's board to undermine public education and remove both students and funding from our district. Dr. Lynch isn't running on a platform of fixing or improving our school system, but would rather see all the students attend a privately-run business or perhaps a religious school.
But here's the thing: There is already choice right here in Cherokee County if you don't like our public schools. While my younger children attend local elementary and middle schools, I have one nephew who attends the local charter academy and another who is home-schooled. Those options exist without any additional outrage or legislation or pulling money away from our underfunded schools.
Here in Cherokee County District 6 we have no choice but a Republican in November, as no Democrat is running. So on May 24, 2022 the Republican primary will determine who will sit on our school board. While I haven't done a deep dive on the two other candidates, I can safely say William Ray Lynch, Jr., MD is a terrible choice. He has never attended nor had a child in Cherokee County schools and seems to have spent the majority of his life living and working outside of our state. He regurgitates national GOP talking points instead of engaging with local issues, and the policies he advocates would make our schools worse for our children and their teachers.
If you're local to District 6, I urge you to vote against Ray Lynch on May 24th.
Thank you for your "rant". He scares me!