As we’ve been telling you the whole time, DEI will be hidden, renamed, and will rear its ugly head again. However, this was a victory against a horrible discriminatory policy.
Unfortunately, some people just couldn’t accept this and continue, to this day, to deny the DEI officer position is perpetually vacant. It wasn’t ‘eliminated’ they say. It was just left vacant indefinitely and funding for it ceased with no plans to ever revive the position or its funding.
Totally not the same thing folks.
Today is back-to-school for PHM, and they do not have a DEI officer for the district.
On June 26, 2024, Real News Michiana published an article about Doug Chaffee. Doug Chaffee is the former Principal of Penn High School and is currently running for PHM school board. Doug Chaffee is also the father of current PHM school board member Matt Chaffee. RNM recently published an article about Matt Chaffee as well.
In the article about Doug Chaffee, RNM claimed that Doug Chaffee engaged in a “terrifying attack” against Matt Chaffee’s girlfriend at the time.
Doug Chaffee reached out to me asking if I’d be willing to publish his response. He expressed that he felt I was the only media outlet that would be fair to him and publish his response without taking sides.
Here’s Doug Chaffee’s statement on the Real News Michiana article about him:
Clifton French of RNM has taken our conversation from September of 2023 out of context. He has not provided the full text messages between us, and he has completely twisted my words to him to create a “hit piece” on myself and my son. I am guessing Mr. French has not released the full audio recording he claims to have due to threats he made about killing his ex-wife and others on that same call. My son and I are no longer going to entertain these defamatory articles as our focus is serving the PHM community and its constituents. Thank you to everyone who supported and continues to support the Chaffee family in our endeavors to better our community.
– Doug Chaffee
I can not verify the claims made by Doug Chaffee, but I’m told his attorneys approved the release to me. I’m also told there’s more to come in future releases.
Biden, springing off a George Floyd reference, asks Morehouse grads, "What is democracy if black men are being killed in the street?"https://t.co/y9w7eHtWaR
— Vince Coglianese (@VinceCoglianese) May 20, 2024
There's time to change their mind but my sources say that would be a deviation from the current plan.https://t.co/cqycvEQZHv
— Casey Hendrickson 🎙 Syndicated Radio Host (@caseythehost) April 16, 2024
Since the school board had not yet voted to officially eliminate the position, a few people took issue with my story. Some said I was wrong, some said I was lying and spreading “fake news.” Ultimately, as I said in the original story, they were arguing semantics. My sources were clear … the current DEI officer was being moved to a new job and there were no plans to ever fund or fill that position again in the district. It was eliminated. Arguing over whether the position was permanently vacant or if a vote officially eliminated it was silly and petty. The DEI position at PHM was no more.
The PHM board’s dislike of me is well-known. This led to one of my sources saying that they’d probably keep the DEI officer position around just to make me look bad after the story was published. I also joked about this on social media.
Then the proposed changes to PHM student handbooks came out.
DEI was being stripped from the student handbooks in PHM. If PHM wasn’t eliminating the DEI officer position, this would be an odd development. Instead, the changes to the handbooks further confirmed my exclusive story was correct.
Then today:
On May 20, 2024, Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Jerry Thacker confirmed my story was correct by saying: “We have no intention of filling that position.”
Dr. Thacker’s response was to Board of Trustees member Matt Chaffee’s direct question about that position being eliminated.
This was true in April, but every doubt has now been eliminated … just like the DEI officer position. The board voted to remove DEI from the student handbooks later that evening.
This does not mean the principles of DEI are going away. They will always be around but DEI is on the retreat … at least in an official capacity. This is something that would have been celebrated by nearly everyone just a few short months ago.
This is a very big deal and I can’t wait to see the local media coverage of it. Especially since the media has recently taken a newfound interest in PHM school board issues. So much so, that the board set seats aside for local media to attend the meetings.
Too bad no media showed up to the meeting today.
I wonder why the media didn't show up to the PHM school board meeting tonight. pic.twitter.com/9ZSONZ1EBn
— Casey Hendrickson 🎙 Syndicated Radio Host (@caseythehost) May 21, 2024
Disney: Tink you’re too skinny and women who hate themselves have decided it’s problematic. Come back when you’ve gained a few pounds. Also we’re making Peter Pan black.
