They Said The Records Didn't Exist | Carol Beth Litkouhi

Carol Beth Litkouhi is a Rochester Community Schools board trustee who asked a simple question: what are kids actually learning in the new ethnic and gender studies class? After filing an FOIA request, she was told no records existed. She appealed but they stayed silent… Now she's in the middle of a First Amendment lawsuit. We got into: → Why parents were are pulling their kids from Rochester schools → The FOIA loophole that let a district claim curriculum didn't exist → What "the board speaks with one voice" costs voters → How a bylaw about confidential information got used to punish public speech Carol Beth, thank you for making the time to come on and walk through all of this! *Chapters* 00:00 Introduction 01:00 Who Carol Beth Is and What Set This Off 05:00 Running for School Board in 2022 09:20 What the Campaign Was Actually Like 12:00 Why Enrollment Was Declining 16:00 The Ethnic and Gender Studies Class and the FOIA Fight 19:00 Taking It to Court With the Mackinac Center 21:30 The Loophole in the Statute 32:00 The Academic Freedom Clause and What It Signals 35:00 The Tax Proposal and the Censure 41:00 What the Board Did Next 49:00 The Role of a Trustee and Who They're Accountable To 56:00 The First Amendment Lawsuit  ~~~ This episode is brought to you by Fausone & Grysko, PLC https://www.thefgfirm.law/