Anti-Mask and Extremist Groups Attack Whitefish School Board - Reject Their Petition
The extremist blog the Montana Daily Gazette recently announced that it will continue its attacks against public schools by promoting a petition to recall all of the current Whitefish Public Schools board of trustees. Yes, that’s correct. They hope to recall all Whitefish school board members.
Their reason: the Whitefish School Board’s decision to require masks for students who are too young to be vaccinated.
An article published on October 13 states that “Legal Approval by the Flathead County Board of Elections [sic] to recall the ENTIRE Whitefish School Board” has been granted. A Facebook group called Take Back Whitefish has posted the same information.
What’s really going on?
According to the Flathead County Election Office, they approved a request from Whitefish parent Jenny Paatalo to start a petition to remove all seven school board members. Paatalo is claiming that the process that Whitefish school board members used to make their decision about the mask mandate for young students violates parents’ constitutional rights (see petition language below).
If extremist groups collect 2,391 signatures of registered voters in the Whitefish school district by December 29, then an election for new school board members can be scheduled. The first attempt to collect signatures is October 20 and will take place near Whitefish Middle School.
This is an attempt to overturn free and fair elections and official decisions. As anti-mask parents and extremist groups organize to gather signatures, it’s likely that they will spread misinformation about how the decision on masks was made and how local government works.
It is frustrating to see community members try to use the system to bully and remove school board members because they disagree with a single decision that the school board made. The claim that parents’ constitutional rights were violated is aggressive and inaccurate but very much in line with anti-government, pro-militia narratives coming from groups like the Montana Daily Gazette.
Contrary to the claims of this petition, parents and community members had plenty of time and opportunity to make comments to the school board. Instead of having constructive discussions with school board members, some used that time to take a page out of Ammon Bundy’s playbook by making threats, shouting at parents and students on the first days of school, and publishing the home addresses of school board members.
As people in Bozeman know, doxing school board members could have easily led to physical harm toward school board members. Ammon Bundy supporters camped out in front of the Gallatin County health officer’s home last year to intimidate him and his neighbors because they didn’t like his decision on mask mandates.
What can we do?
Refuse to sign this petition
Personally contact friends and tell them to reject this petition
Send a note of encouragement to school board trustees at trustees@whitefishschools.org.
Write letters to the editor in support of the school board trustees and the Whitefish Public Schools.
The best thing we can do right now is offer support to school board members. They are hardworking, caring community members who are volunteering to do a difficult job, and they will likely receive a lot of nasty messages. Plan to reach out to them frequently this school year.
The good news is that community support for schools is very high, so it’s unlikely that anti-mask agitators will get enough signatures for the petition. However, we need to take these attacks seriously.
Please take the time to reach out personally to at least 5 people you know to tell them to reject this petition. Send an email, make a phone call, or send texts.
Sample text: “Anti-mask activists started a petition to remove the caring people we elected to the Whitefish school board. Refuse to sign the petition, tell your friends, and send a quick note of support to the school board members here. trustees@whitefishschools.org. “
If you have time to write a letter to the editor, please do that, too. The anti-mask people are very motivated to use the time between now and December 29 to smear the public schools and spread conspiracy theories about masks and COVID-19. We cannot stand by and let them control the discussion.
Who’s behind the petition?
Official information from the Flathead County Elections Office shows that Jenny Paatalo filed the petition request. Since the Montana Daily Gazette published a blog post about it, it’s likely that the anti-government, pro-militia group Flathead Liberty Coalition is involved as well. The Montana Daily Gazette article quotes Dr. Melissa Lee from Whitefish as a medical authority, but there’s no one with a medical license in Montana by that name.
We should not allow the Montana Daily Gazette, which is based almost 500 miles away in Sidney, to try manipulate people in Whitefish and incite anti-government, pro-militia groups to disrupt our schools.
As the Montana Daily Gazette, Flathead Liberty Coalition, and radical Facebook group supporters try to roll out this campaign, we expect to see waves of misinformation, calls to attack the public schools, and attempts to disregard the school board’s decisions. The school year is going smoothly, and we should support school officials who are trying to provide a safe, excellent education in Whitefish.
More information
It’s tempting to spend a lot of time monitoring the people who are behind these attacks. PLEASE spend your time supporting and encouraging the Whitefish school board members instead. This kind of hostility is exhausting, and it will discourage good people from running for school board in the future. Let the school board know that you care about them.
Anti-mask parents and anti-government, pro-militia groups are going to try to get lots of free advertising for their petition in the media. Reporters, please see the Montana Human Rights Network’s media guide for tips on covering this issue.
This petition is definitely connected to extremist activity that we’re seeing across the county and the country. Please see this complete report from the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights about extremist groups using Facebook to spread COVID-19 conspiracy theories and attack local officials.
Petition text
