Fairfield Residents Call Out Shipley For Using Students For Political Gain

State Rep. Jeff Shipley tried to create controversy at the Fairfield School Board meeting on Monday and faced strong resistance and pushback from the Fairfield community for using the school and its students for his own politics.

Shipley was at the school board meeting to once again baselessly accuse teachers of sexually grooming students and to speak out against Linn-Mar School District’s recently passed policy for transgender students, which was based on Iowa Department of Education guidance. He urged Fairfield not to adopt a similar policy.

Fairfield Community School District has not advanced a policy like Linn-Mar’s and there was no mention of a policy for transgender students on the board’s May 16 agenda.

“A lot of parents have commented, probably correctly so, that students not old enough to consent to having sex, should similarly not be old enough to consent to changing their sex,” Shipley said at the meeting.

After noting that “the rhetoric has gotten very charged,” Shipley doubled-down on his accusations that teachers involved in such policies were sexually grooming children.

School Board President Christi Welsh confirmed in an email that Fairfield isn’t considering any policy changes.

“We continue to be aware of both state and federal law and its application to our students and staff,” she said. “We are proud of the work of the Fairfield Community School District and applaud the efforts of our administrators, staff, and students in continuing to be an inclusive and supportive environment fostering the education of the next generation.”

In April, Linn-Mar School District passed a policy supporting transgender students which allows students to use their preferred name and pronouns, and the facilities which match their gender identity. They also included a provision that the school would not out students’ identity to their parents, from seventh grade and up, making that optional for the student. Such measures can protect students who live in families openly hostile to the LGBTQ community.

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About a dozen Fairfield parents and community members pushed back against Shipley’s statements about grooming and about LGBTQ children being mentally ill, something he accused children of on the Iowa House floor back in February.

“Let’s be clear about why Shipley’s here tonight. I think it’s pretty transparent that he’s here to use anti-trans rights as part of his reelection campaign,” said Lynk Bella Hues. “Publicity is what he seeks. Free publicity with anti-trans propaganda to induce fear in right-wing and centrist workers, managers, and owners to try to motivate them to vote for Shipley. So he’s fearmongering to try to win an election and it needs to stop.”

After redistricting, Shipley is in a primary race against fellow Republican State Rep. Joe Mitchell.

During that campaign, Shipley has directly attacked the entire LGBTQ community, not just transgender Iowans, in mailers targeting Mitchell.

A Jeff Shipley campaign mailer

Most of the Fairfield residents who spoke out said they wanted students to be safe at school and for politicians to stop using them for politics.

“I’ve been noticing that there is a certain politician that keeps coming into our schools to talk to our children. He’s here tonight, his name is Jeff Shipley. And I do agree with the earlier statement that politicians should stay away from our children,” parent Ayla Sypersma, said.

“My concern is essentially, let’s not fearmonger over our children,” they continued.

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Sypersma also pointed out how the fearmongering is what leads to students not feeling safe in schools or their communities and how schools have a chance to fix it by supporting those students.

Many speakers brought up studies emphasizing how important it is for children, especially LGBTQ children, to feel supported and safe in their environments. In many cases, having just one place or person where students feel safe and accepted can make a difference in their school performance, overall mental health, and lifelong wellbeing.

The majority said students should be the priority in school policy, not politics.

Another speaker, Jacob Bethune, who used to be a social worker and a paraeducator, said he had serious problems with the way Shipley characterized Linn-Marr’s policy.

“I find the insinuation that Mr. Shipley came up here and said about grooming behavior in our schools, from a gender plan, to be incredibly disingenuous,” he said. “I do not know a single social worker worth their salt that would call that grooming behavior. I also find his contortion of the word grooming to be disingenuous as well.”

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Speaking as a former social worker, Bethune said LGBTQ children often face abuse or criticism at home, which is why policies allowing them to freely be themselves at school are more than acceptable.

“It would be very nice for children to have the capacity to be the same person at school and at home. However, as an ex-social worker, unfortunately, life does not operate that way,” he said. “More often than not kids are ostracized, criticized, or abused by those that are closest to them. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have social workers.”

Nikoel Hytrek
5/17/22

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