As a voting and tax paying resident, I write to express my strong opposition to school board candidates who have accepted endorsements from the national 1776 Project PAC. These outside endorsements pose a direct threat to local control, community trust, and the integrity of our schools. Local solutions: We need board members who will listen to parents, teachers, and local experts — not follow a national PAC’s script. Local accountability: When candidates carry endorsements from far-away organizations, it raises the question: to whom are they accountable? Our school board should answer to local voters, not a national political operation. Community cohesion matters: Our schools are one of the few institutions that bring together people across all backgrounds in our communities — different neighborhoods, socioeconomic levels, races, and beliefs. Candidates who prioritize national ideological agendas over community needs risk deepening divisions in our community. When choosing who to vote for in November 2025, check out your district’s school board candidate endorsements. Look for those who are rooted in community, who support kids, families, and teachers. Let’s keep our schools governed by our people, not a national PAC’s political playbook.
- Christine Ferens, Miamisburg
The proposed “Enact Baby Olivia Act” now before the Ohio House would require public schools to include instruction on human growth and development for grades 3-12, incorporating the “Baby Olivia” video. There are many problems with this initiative. Here are just three:
- The “Baby Olivia” video should include an acknowledgement that all images in the video were computer generated. They are not real.
- Instruction should make clear that the amazing embryonic and fetal development shown in the video parallel the development of virtually all mammals in the Animal Kingdom. This is not something uniquely human.
- A size scale would be useful for an accurate perspective. For example, when the video says that 9 weeks after fertilization Baby Olivia can “suck her thumb, swallow, touch her face, sigh, and stretch” the viewer should be aware that at this point Baby Olivia is barely one inch long.
The proposed House Bill 485 should be focused solely on education, not theology. I would strongly oppose the required insertion of any subjective ideology in the public school curriculum. However, I would welcome the accurate and dispassionate treatment of human development at appropriate grade levels.
- Timothy S. Wood, Beavercreek
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Credit: JIM NOELKER
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