Mr. Webb: 0:00

How beneficial would it be if there were some kind of training for school board members to fight for common sense and for what is best for our kids? How are legal experts and educators coming together to shape the future of public education, and what is a school board summit? And how can it help our school districts keep politics and divisive ideologies out of our classrooms? Welcome to The Conservative Classroom, where we're teaching the truth and preserving our values. I'm your host, Mr. Webb, and I'm glad you're here. This podcast is a haven for conservative educators, parents and patriots like you who believe in the importance of free speech, traditional values and education without indoctrination.

Mr. Webb: 0:53

Each week, we dive into issues that are plaguing our education system and keeping you up at night. In each episode, we offer common sense ideas to improve education in our classrooms and communities. You may feel like you're the last conservative educator or parent, but I want you to know that you are not alone. By the way, if you like what you hear today, please share this podcast with a like-minded educator, parent or patriot. Together, we can teach the truth and preserve our values. In today's episode, we're talking with a previous podcast guest, Cory Brewer, about the upcoming school board summit put on by Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty and the Noah Webster Education Foundation. Now let's get started. Today we're joined by Cory Brewer, Education Counsel at WILL, who's at the forefront of empowering families with school choice and spearheading initiatives to reform K-12 education through legal policy avenues. Cory, thank you for joining us.

Cory Brewer: 2:06

Thank you for having me. It's good to be with you again.

Mr. Webb: 2:09

Yeah, you've been on the podcast before but for folks who might have missed it, can you give us a 30-second elevator speech about who you are, what you do and what WILL is?

Cory Brewer: 2:21

Yes, certainly so. My role at WILL, or the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty for those who aren't familiar with it is education counsel. So I am one of our attorneys at Will and I focus all on K through 12 education, and it's a really interesting position because so many constitutional separation of powers issues that you would see in many other contexts are also happening in the education context. So I get to apply those types of legal and policy principles in a way that benefits students and families and teachers and, as we're going to talk about today, school board members as well. So Will is a nonprofit organization. We're probably best known for our litigation, but we do a lot of policy work as well. A lot of our work is related to education, but we've also been involved in kind of election reform efforts. Like I said, separation of powers and looking to ensure that governmental actors aren't exceeding their authority, things along those lines, advocating for parents' rights, free speech, things along those lines we're able to do.

Mr. Webb: 3:40

And I reached out to you for a totally unrelated question and through our conversation I found out that you guys were putting on a school board summit. So can you give us an overview of the upcoming school board 2024 school board summit and its main objectives? And this is with Noah Webster Education Foundation. Is that correct?

Cory Brewer: 4:08

Yes, they are co-hosting the event.

Mr. Webb: 4:11

Awesome. Tell us a little about the event.

Cory Brewer: 4:14

Yes, so this will be the first school board summit that Will has put on. We're very excited to be hosting this professional development training and really what it will consist of is a full day of training on some frequently asked questions that we get from school board members, legal and policy updates and things that we want to share, resources, information that we want to share to help them be better leaders in their local school districts and have all of the resources available to them to help them more effectively do their jobs and serve their communities. And, yes, as you mentioned, we're co-hosting this with the Noah Webster Educational Foundation. It'll be a full day training, six sessions and excited to be able to talk a little bit about what attendees can expect in terms of topics and some of the speakers.

Mr. Webb: 5:10

What inspired the collaboration between you guys and Noah Webster Educational Foundation, and who came up with this event? How did that come about?

Cory Brewer: 5:31

Yeah, so the way this was inspired or kind of the spark that led to us initiating this, is I actually spoke at Noel Webster's School Board Summit the past two years. The first year I was able to share a little bit about our model school board policies and then this past year I talked about policy review and revision and they host a really great event. Theirs is a little bit longer. It's a two-day event to provide resources to their school board members there in Virginia and I thought you know we have so many really passionate engaged school board members here in Wisconsin. It would be great to be able to host a similar event for them and bring together kind of the best and brightest legal and policy minds, both in Wisconsin and from around the country as well, to be able to just kind of equip them with more information and resources to do their jobs well at the local level.

Mr. Webb: 6:27

And is this event open to Wisconsin residents, or how does that work?

Cory Brewer: 6:35

Yes, in terms of who can attend it, we are inviting Wisconsin school board members and candidates, and really why we're doing that is because a lot of education is state-specific. So we are going to talk a little bit about Wisconsin specific law and data trends that are going on here in Wisconsin, but, as I'll talk about later, you know we're also going to talk about more national issues. There is a lot going on in K-12 education right now, as you know, and a lot of these are really hot topics. Questions we get all the time, questions that have become controversial, that maybe shouldn't be controversial, but they are. So we want to equip these members with really an alternative to what they're currently getting.

Cory Brewer: 7:26

A lot of the training that they're getting right now, whether it's from the state or elsewhere, is, unfortunately, kind of giving one side of the issue, and we want to provide an unbiased view of information.

Cory Brewer: 7:40

Best practices what is the state of the law that they should be aware of, and we didn't even talk about this yet. Best practices what is the state of the law that they should be aware of? And we didn't even talk about this yet. I didn't mention this yet, but we want to give them tools to enhance parental involvement and family engagement, because we know that kids do better when their families are involved. Increased transparency that's another one that's really kind of popular across the board right now is, wherever you land on the political spectrum, most families want to know more about what's going on with their local district and then, perhaps most importantly, prioritize student academic achievement. There's so much discussion going on that it feels like we've kind of drifted away from that. Very basic goal is just equipping students for success and achievement, and we want to kind of get back to that as the centerpiece.

Mr. Webb: 8:33

It seems like, like you said, no matter what side of the aisle you're on, it seems like those are things that you would want. Sounds like you're just wanting to get back to what's best for the students.

Cory Brewer: 8:48

That's right. Yeah, that's right. I mean, obviously, you know a lot of what we do at Will is deemed to be more on the conservative side, and I think you know we're a 501c3, we're a nonprofit organization, nonpartisan organization, but a lot of our ideals are conservative ideals. We want to conserve the rule of law and what our constitution says and just those very basic rights, and I think so much of what's going on in education this is really huge. There's so much that we can agree on. There's a lot that we can agree on and a lot of positive change that we can make. We've invited every school board member in the state to come, whether you're conservative, whether you're more left-leaning, whether you're in the middle. We want everybody to come. We want to hear from them all. We want them to hear from us and, again, just get back to the student at the center of this. And academic achievement, more transparency, more family involvement, some of those very basic things that I think can make a world of difference.

Mr. Webb: 9:54

Now a couple of hot topics right now in education all across America is parental rights and student gender identity. Do you guys plan on addressing either one of those issues?

Cory Brewer: 10:12

We will. We will have a panel on that issue. As you can imagine, it's a question that we get really almost every week from either a parent or a school board member, administrator, community member. It's an issue that is legally complex, but it's also an issue that is it's become very polarized and the media has kind of started to report on this again kind of in a one-sided way. And we want to approach it in a way so that school board members understand the vital role of parent involvement, not only from a legal perspective but also from a policy perspective and what's good for kids. We want it to be more of a partnership between families and schools. It's become a little bit adversarial, especially since the pandemic schools. It's become a little bit adversarial especially since the pandemic and when we're talking about minor students. This is a sensitive topic. But we want to provide and, as I said, it's six sessions in one day, so we're going to get a lot of information in here, but in this one in particular, just provide as much information as possible. And we're really excited about our list of speakers for this particular panel on parental rights and student gender identity. We're going to be featuring Nicole Neely, who's the president and founder of Parents Defending Education, a national group that kind of advocates for parents' rights. We're also going to be bringing in Dr Erica Anderson. Dr Anderson is a clinical psychologist who has treated children with gender dysphoria, and Dr Anderson actually is herself transgender. So I think that'll be an interesting perspective for folks to hear about and she's excited to share not only what she's seeing in her clinical practice but worldwide. She is involved worldwide, so attendees can expect to hear what's going on in other countries on this topic and what are the trends from a clinical perspective. We're also going to have Will Deputy Counsel, luke Berg. He has litigated some of these parents' rights cases on this topic and recently won really a landmark case here in Wisconsin involving parents' rights zone almost.

Cory Brewer: 12:47

But Tammy had a daughter who at the time was 12 years old, was thinking of transitioning to a boy. This was during the pandemic. She had some mental health issues and Tammy and her daughter have since spoke about this publicly. The school was going to transition Tammy's daughter over her request to just simply slow down. Her initial request was hey, we don't know a lot about this topic. We want to make sure our daughter gets the care she needs and we don't want to make any significant decisions without having all of the information, so would you please refer to our daughter as her female name and pronouns? And the school at the time essentially said no, we are going to do what your minor child wants. We at Will thought that was a violation of her right as a parent, her constitutional right as a parent to direct the upbringing and education of her child, and ultimately the court agreed with us. So Tammy will join the panel as well as a parent to talk about firsthand what she experienced.

Mr. Webb: 13:49

Wow, and all that that you just mentioned is just one topic, so that'd be like one hour of the six hours on parental rights.

Cory Brewer: 14:02

Yeah, that one will be just over an hour. Yep, that is amazing.

Mr. Webb: 14:07

Well, can we back up a little bit and maybe talk about some of the other sessions and speakers?

Cory Brewer: 14:14

Happy to. Yes, we're going to be kind of starting off the day with a presentation by Will Attorney's Policy Director, research Director. We want to. This one will be kind of we've been calling it kind of like the quick hits, quick resources version. To start the day off, I'll be presenting on school board members' duties and responsibilities under state law, just so that there's kind of a baseline. For what does the state say? Your responsibilities, your authority, your duty is. Our policy director is going to talk about how to track education legislation at the state level. Our research director is going to provide some information about how they can find data about their local district without having to rely on either the state school board association or their administration. We want to equip them to be able to find this data on their own. And then we also have our deputy counsel, lucas Weber, who will give an overview on Wisconsin open records and open meetings laws. Obviously, every state has their own laws on that topic, so we want to provide an overview of that important subject too.

Mr. Webb: 15:30

Wow, that's awesome. There's just so much so much to process that, and this episode will be released on April 3rd and all these things that Corey and I are talking about to the listeners. There is a short window between when this will be released and the cutoff for registration. Is that right, Cory?

Cory Brewer: 15:59

Yes, thank you, if folks are listening to this episode in that week and you're interested in attending. If you're a school board member, we're also welcoming former school board members to the event. Will-laworg slash will-school-board slash summit. Or just go to our homepage will-laworg and there's an events tab at the top. That'll take you right to the school board summit. There's limited space but there's still spots open.

Mr. Webb: 16:38

There is a cost, but you know attendees or potential attendees should check with their local district policy to see what their policy is on being reimbursed for professional development training, and I'll have some information on the end as well about how to access this information if you're listening after that date, but if you are listening in that first week, we urge you to go check it out, Go sign up and I'll make sure and put a link in the show notes on how to sign up and afterwards, once that date passes, when it's over with, if you want to send me a link to what you just mentioned, I'll go back and put that in the episode show notes so if someone's listening, you know, a month or two from now, they can at least go back and check that out. Let's go back to, because I'm looking at the website now and I see that equality in the classroom is one of the topics that you guys are going to discuss. Tell us a little about what that equality in the classroom, ensuring racial non-discrimination for Wisconsin students and educators.

Cory Brewer: 17:57

Yeah, our equality in the classroom panel. Again, this is something that shouldn't be controversial but unfortunately is, and this is something that is really really prevalent, not just in Wisconsin but across the country. You know DEI policies, curriculum kind of related to DEI, and you know nobody, or I should say less. People are kind of talking about CRT lately, but what this comes down to is just treating students as individuals, not treating them differently because of their race. And we think that this equality and respect for all students as individuals is a good and necessary policy, but it's also legally required. So this panel, this equality in the classroom panel, is going to be run a little bit more. For those of your listeners who are familiar, it'll be kind of like a Federalist Society panel. We want to give a legal update here. We have three attorneys on the panel two from Will, our president, rick Essenberg, and our deputy counsel, daniel Lennington, who runs our Equality Under the Law project. And we're also bringing in we're very excited to be bringing in Kimberly Herman, who is with the Southeastern Legal Foundation, and you know each of these individuals have litigated this topic in some fashion and have a lot of expertise. So we want to provide information first about.

Cory Brewer: 19:42

What kind of racial discrimination are we seeing in schools? Where can you look out for this? Because it is unfortunately happening and sometimes it's quite blatant the racial nondiscrimination orientation. Last fall in one of the school districts in Wisconsin that they had a special orientation for students of color 14 days before the rest of the students could go for their orientation. So if you were a student of color you could go.

Cory Brewer: 20:18

You know, see the school meet your teachers first and that divides students and treats them differently because of the color of their skin. You know Will wrote a letter in that instance and the district ended up saying well, we do think it's important to support our students of color. Anyone can come to this. Of course it's open to anyone and it certainly did not indicate that before we got involved, but we were glad to see it opened up and we want to give examples of where this is happening and we also want to provide a legal update on what should school board members know and what kinds of questions can they ask when they see this. Come up in their local districts so that they feel like they're equipped and have enough information to talk about this issue.

Mr. Webb: 21:12

And you mentioned that the panel are legal counsel and you mentioned the legality. So, excuse me, I interpret that as and you tell me if I'm way off base here. So, excuse me, I interpret that as and you tell me if I'm way off base here it's not going to be necessarily a debate about whether DEI is good or not, but it's going to be about the legality of DEI. Is that accurate?

Cory Brewer: 21:36

Yeah, yeah, this originates from the Equal Protection Clause in the 14th Amendment and just treating all individuals equally DEI diversity, equity and inclusion. I think recently it's kind of become more and more known that DEI isn't what most people think it is. It sounds good. You want diversity, equity, you want to be inclusive. That sounds good, but in practice, unfortunately, what it is is treating students differently because of their race, and that's where there's a really significant issue.

Mr. Webb: 22:18

Right Equity and equality are two different things. That's interesting to me because when I think of and when I have conversations about DEI, I'm talking about the merits of it and why it's bad. But I think that would be a whole podcast episode just the legality of it and looking at it from. And I think I saw on the website about this event. Yeah, compelled speech. Presenters will examine concerns about compelled speech. I think that's a really important aspect of it as well.

Cory Brewer: 23:02

Yeah, yeah, absolutely important aspect of it as well. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. The First Amendment compelled speech issue and the racial non-discrimination issue can be hand in hand in a lot of ways. So the presenters will give information on that as well. And I might as well say right now you know, with this topic in particular, it applies in any state We'll be recording all of these. It won't be live streamed, but we'll be recording all of these and we're ironing out the details right now about how exactly they'll be made available, but they will be recorded and if folks are listening and they're interested in hearing, like you said, this DEI topic could almost be its own episode. So we'll have this recorded for a later date as well.

Mr. Webb: 23:50

That's great. Excuse me, are there any other topics that you want to talk about?

Cory Brewer: 23:59

There are three more and you know, frankly, these might be thought of as the quote boring topics, but they might be the most important. You know, they're kind of these good governance topics where if you don't have these in place, then no matter how good the rest of your policies are, you're going to run into problems. So the only other three topics I wanted to talk about are related to school district finance, board superintendent relationships and connecting policy to practice. How do you know that your policies are actually making a positive impact in the classroom? So with regard to that first one, finance, we're thrilled to be bringing in Dr Marguerite Rosa.

Cory Brewer: 24:49

Dr Rosa actually has a whole series that she'll be offering on this topic, but she's going to distill it down to an hour for the attendees at the summit and equip them with information about school district finance, how to ensure that you're making the most out of the funds that are available and specifically talking about these federal relief funds that are winding down, declines in enrollment, labor costs rising, how should school board members navigate these kind of financial pressures? Hers will be an interactive session and she'll be providing a lot of that information with. You know, it's a huge issue. The budget is arguably one of the most important things that school board members do, so she's going to try to talk about this in a way that will give them practical skills and something that they can take back to their local district.

Mr. Webb: 25:50

One that you mentioned connecting policy to practice. Yeah, that sounds very interesting too, and extremely important.

Cory Brewer: 26:04

Yes, we're very excited about this one. I know I keep saying that, but we're bringing in for this panel.

Mr. Webb: 26:10

Well, it's true.

Cory Brewer: 26:12

We're bringing in Robert Pondisio from the American Enterprise Institute and Daniel Buck, who is with the Fordham Institute. Both of these individuals are pretty well known on a national level in this education space and they both were teachers. They have been in the classroom and they want to talk about how school boards they do have an influence over classroom dynamics and they need to know that they're not just a rubber stamp for the administration. They don't have to go along with the status quo. They can actually shape these educational outcomes. So they're going to be talking about their role and how you can translate these policies into classroom practices that are effective. Translate these policies into classroom practices that are effective.

Mr. Webb: 27:04

I think it's awesome that you're having Daniel Buck come as a speaker. I read his book, "hat is Wrong with Our Schools and I've got parts highlighted, you know, cover to cover. It's an amazing, important book and I had him on the podcast and he's just, absolutely you know, smart, great guy and I would say just getting to hear him would be worth whatever the cost is for the day.

Cory Brewer: 27:39

Oh yeah, he'll be great. He'll be a great speaker. I have the pleasure of moderating that panel, so I'll get to be up there with Robert and Daniel. They're kind of the finale of the day, so they'll hopefully kind of tie it all back together board members to hear from individuals who are teachers and you know, you mentioned Daniel Buck. We're very lucky to have him in the Milwaukee area, even though he's nationally known, as you mentioned.

Mr. Webb: 28:14

Yes, that's awesome. What was the third session?

Cory Brewer: 28:19

Yes, the last session is related to board and superintendent relationships and this one will feature superintendents and board members to hear directly from them. And again, we've talked about parental rights, student gender identity, DEI. Okay, what if board members and superintendents disagree on these things? And a lot of board members will run on these topics and they want to go zero to a hundred and get something done right away. What then?

Cory Brewer: 28:59

We want to talk about the roles of each. Each and, even if they have diverse perspectives, how can they be effective? How can they bring the community along? Um, talk about the best interests of students and families and how can you have long-term success? Um, dr Bill Hughes is is going to be moderating this panel. He was also a superintendent for over 10 years, so he has on-the-ground experience as well. We'll have an attorney from Von Briesen on this panel to answer any legal questions, but I don't know about other states so much as this one on this topic, but here in Wisconsin this is something we hear about. A lot is boards kind of butting heads with their superintendent. So we want to be able to give real examples of how they can work together in a way that ultimately benefits students, teachers, families, the community, etc.

Mr. Webb: 30:01

Teachers, families the community, etc. I'm kind of jealous that there's not a summit like this near me in Kentucky, and I'm sure there's lots of folks out there that are listening, thinking the same thing, like wow, this is great.

Cory Brewer: 30:23

I wonder if my state has something like this. I think that it is relatively unique. As I mentioned earlier, noah Webster has hosted one in Virginia. This is our first one in Wisconsin. The Leadership Institute is actually going to be hosting one in Nashville April 19th and 20th, so there's a quick plug for that one as well. I'll be speaking in Nashville there and, like I said, we're recording these so that they're available online. We want to get them into as many districts as possible, but I think it's relatively unique and hopefully something that we see to start to pick up a little bit more momentum, because there are a lot of great resources out there and there's a lot of school board members that want to know about them and want to learn as much as they can, so that you know there's a variety of resources at school board members' fingertips so that they can be fully equipped, have all the information and really effectively advocate and serve their communities.

Mr. Webb: 31:38

All right, you've given us some awesome information today. What's the one thing you want the listener to remember, if they don't remember anything else about this episode?

Cory Brewer: 31:48

Listeners should remember, or should know, that there are quality organizations out there. WILL School Boards for Academic Excellence is another one that want to put the focus back on students and they want to put the focus on student achievement and kind of cut out some of the distraction. There's so much going on right now in K-12 education. A lot of it's controversial, some of it rightly so, some of it, unfortunately, has become very, very politicized. But there are really good organizations out there that want to be a resource and provide information, connect school board members to similar organizations, to put the focus back on students and their success. There's certainly a lot of work to be done, but I'm hopeful. I'm hopeful that we can see some positive change, not only in Wisconsin but across the country.

Mr. Webb: 32:57

And I appreciate you coming on the podcast sharing this information with us. And this is your time, Corey, to plug or promote anything that you want to promote, and I'll make sure and include links. Share your social media, how folks can connect with you there or your organization. This is your time.

Cory Brewer: 33:19

Yes, thank you. I just wanted to reiterate that this summit is on April 12th. I know folks will be hearing this on or after April 3rd, so you know. If you're in the window, please go sign up. If not, we'll try to get this information ready for you as soon as possible to access.

Cory Brewer: 33:39

The one other thing that I will mention is that WILL has model school board policies that are available. I spoke about that on a previous episode with you, which I'm very grateful for, but I'll mention here that our third round will be coming out around the same time as the summit. These are publicly available on our website and you know this third round will include things like cell phones in schools, how can parents observe their child's classroom and what should a clear procedure for that look like. We're looking at things like political and controversial displays in the classroom, again cutting out that distraction and getting back to student academic achievement. You know how can school boards do that in a way that avoids the legal vulnerability, things along those lines. So we'll be launching that soon as well, just trying to get as many model policies again, an alternative resource to what's out there, something that promotes transparency, involves parents, et cetera. I feel like I'm saying the same few keywords here, but we'll be launching that soon as well.

Mr. Webb: 35:02

Well, I appreciate so much you coming on the podcast and I'll make sure and include links to everything I possibly can, and I also appreciate we had something scheduled and then there was a little conflict and we had to juggle things around and you were willing to do that and I certainly appreciate that. Thank you so much for joining us today, cory. It's been a total pleasure having you on the conservative classroom and I know our listeners will appreciate what you've shared with us on this school board summit and if they miss this one, maybe we've given them enough information that they can look is there something similar in their area? And if they're in Wisconsin and they happen to miss this one, maybe they could catch it next year.

Cory Brewer: 35:53

Yes, yes, we're excited to see how this goes and, if it goes well, definitely want to keep going, keep the momentum and keep providing more resources. So thank you very much.

Mr. Webb: 36:05

Thank you, Cory. That's it for today's episode of The Conservative Classroom. Thank you for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed it and learned something. If you liked what you heard, please don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Most importantly, share this podcast with a like-minded educator, parent or patriot. You can also connect with us on social media and share your thoughts on today's topic. Give feedback on the podcast or suggest a topic by sending me Th eConservativeClassroom@gmail. com. We'd love to hear from you.

Mr. Webb: 36:49

If you feel that education without indoctrination and teaching the truth is important to preserve traditional values, then support my efforts to keep the conservative classroom running. I'm a full-time teacher and dad and part-time podcaster. I invest a lot of hours and my own hard-earned money each week to bring you quality content, but I need your help. Check out the links in the show notes and on the website to support the podcast with one-time or recurring monthly donations. Every little bit helps.

Mr. Webb: 37:23

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