CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS — PENNCREST School Board denied a presentation at Saegertown High School on civic engagement by a transgender political candidate running for state Senate.
At their meeting Thursday, board members voted 6-3 to remove the presentation by Rianna Czech from a list of school district resources before voting to approve the rest of the list. Czech is a trans woman from Conneautville and a Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania Senate District 50. She is running unopposed in the primary and is expected to face incumbent Michele Brooks in the fall.
The presentation was recommended by the Saegertown Pride Alliance (SPA), an LGBTQ+ school club. According to the resource list, Czech’s presentation was going to be on behalf of Run for Something, an organization which, according to its website, supports “young, diverse progressives” in down-ballot, or low-profile, races.
Board member David Valesky raised his opposition to Czech’s inclusion on the list. While Valesky started out his concerns by bringing up that Czech is a currently campaigning candidate rather than an existing office holder, he also misgendered Czech during his comments.
“She’s running for office right now,” Valesky said. “It’s a transgender man who says he’s a woman that is going to speak there.”
Initially, board member Brian Lynch motioned to table the whole list. However, that was voted down by the board members after some opposed denying the entire list of resources over concerns about one entry. The list had nine entries total, made up of seven book donations and three presentations, including Czech’s.
Lynch then made a second motion to remove Czech from the list.
Board member Jeff Brooks suggested the board could ask the club to invite Czech’s opponent to speak if the concern was over political speech. However, Valesky was opposed to that, drawing a distinction between a current office holder and a candidate and saying the school should not be a “person’s pedestal.”
“No, I still don’t believe that would be fair,” Valesky said. “If it was an office holder, that would be different, but these are people running for political stances.”
Superintendent Timothy Glasspool specified that the presentation was intended to “encourage civic engagement” in general, and that the minutes from the SPA meeting showed that the students had voted to hold the presentation.
Board President Luigi DeFrancesco voiced his opposition as well, saying students should be taught civics in school and that the school district doesn’t “need somebody from outside, especially a political candidate.”
DeFrancesco also appeared to misgender Czech, calling her “this guy,” something which Brooks called out.
“I think it’s just disrespectful how we talk about this,” Brooks said. “Like I don’t understand why that needs to be the point of this, for you to make a point of saying ‘this guy’ and things like that.”
Brooks pointed out that the presentation was a student-led idea. However, DeFrancesco said he doubted “very much the kids chose this.” Things became heated between Brooks and DeFrancesco as the former demanded to know why the board president would make such an “accusation.”
“What was it based on?” Brooks asked. “Why would you say that?”
When it came time to vote, Brooks was joined by board members Timothy Brown and Theresa Croll in voting against taking Czech off the list. Brown, before he cast his vote, called the discussion “embarrassing as hell.”
Czech was in the audience during the meeting, and spoke out against the board’s decision during the public comments section at the end.
“I am appalled at how you would treat somebody who ran and is running for office,” she said. “Just to sit here and have to listen to your unkind words. You should be ashamed.”
Czech explained that her presentation was going to be about being a field organizer for a political campaign, something she said students could turn into a career, as well as explaining the process of running for office. She accused the board of turning the event into a “political issue.”
LaWrynn Edwards, a Saegertown sophomore and the secretary for SPA, also voiced opposition to the board’s decision.
“I am repulsed and disgusted by what you have said,” Edwards said.
As the secretary, Edwards had taken the tally of the SPA vote on Czech’s presentation, and said the vote was unanimous within the club.
Edwards’ mother, Catherine Edwards, also spoke out, expressing anger over the way some of the board members “blatantly misgender someone” with their comments.
“It’s hitting below the belt,” she said. “If you had an actual leg to stand on, if you had something other than pure bigotry on your mind, then you would be able to phrase it in a way that wasn’t disparaging to someone.”
Stacey Hetrick, the academic advisor to SPA, joined in with her own comments, further decrying the misgendering comments.
“I am appalled at that speech, I am appalled at this decision by the board and I am also mighty upset about the possible accusation that somehow this came from someone other than the kids,” Hetrick said. “Look at the meeting notes. You are now taking away a representative of their community from coming to talk to them.”
During the board member comments at the close of the meeting, Brown further decried the board’s decision, calling it “censorship.”
“I’m proud to admit I’m a President Trump fan, and when Twitter censored him, I was upset,” Brown said. “But what we just did is no better.”
“I’m against LGBTQ whatever it is now, but they’re still human beings and deserve our respect,” he said further.
Brown further said that he planned to make his current term on the board his last, specifically citing the conduct of some board members as a reason.
“This is not a professional board anymore, and it’s not getting any better,” he said. He further said that he thought it was “time for a lot of change in this board.”
Speaking to The Meadville Tribune after the meeting, LaWrynn Edwards said SPA had found out about Czech through YouTube videos she had put online, and that the club had around 20 to 25 members, 15 of them being regular meeting attendees.
While LaWrynn Edwards said SPA makes “almost all of the decisions” with the knowledge the school board might say no, the club was not expecting resistance to Czech’s visit.
