Penn-Harris Madison school board member, Matt Chaffee, has responded to last night’s special session vote demanding he step down from the school board with an exclusive press release to me.
In an exclusive press release to me, Matt responds to the vote and hints at what’s to come regarding the allegations against him.
Last month, Real News Michiana published a story accusing Matt Chaffee of hypocrisy in demanding PHM board members resign in the wake of numerous violations by their members. The claim is that Matt was himself engaging in activity that warranted his resignation.
Most local media outlets showed up to last night’s vote to call for Chaffee’s resignation. The media was disinterested in previous press releases they received highlighting several examples of the board president, Chris Riley, and his actions, and the subsequent calls by Matt Chaffee for Chris Riley to resign as a result.
These previous issues included, but are not limited to:
The board losing an illegal SAC complaint with the state.
A parent winning a Civil Rights complaint against the board.
The harassing of parents critical of the board. Including police and employer harassment.
Board President Chris Riley committing several policy violations.
And refusal to punish PHM faculty caught violating policies.
None of those well-documented issues have caught the attention of local media. This angle, however, did.
The same goes for the teacher’s union representatives who circulated an email recruiting people to be at last night’s meeting. They were never interested in showing up to address proven issues with the PHM school board previously.
I wanted to point out that the media has been completely disinterested in corruption and abuse on the PHM board, but the moment a conservative member faced criticism, they showed up.
Here’s Matt Chaffee’s response to what happened last night and the allegations against him:
JUST IN: One of Alvin Bragg’s paralegals, Jaden Jarmel-Schneider, admitted on the stand that the prosecutors deleted call records between Michael Cohen and Keith Davidson.
The prosecution submitted the records into evidence, but didn’t mention that they deleted some records.… pic.twitter.com/xjBcXfAWol
This is the PHM high school student handbook proposed changes for next year. The school board will have first reading of these proposed revisions publicly this coming Monday. On May 20, the board will vote to approve potential changes.
Page 18 might be of particular interest. Notice the red ink?
You can read the full proposed student handbook here.
A recent district-wide email went out to PHM employees notifying them that current DEI officer, Derrick White, will leave that post and take over as Director of Alternative Education and Special Projects starting on July 1. This leaves the PHM DEI officer position open and vacant. I wrote about this change recently.
In my previous article, I wrote that PHM is eliminating the DEI officer position. People took issue with my using the word ‘eliminate’ because the board hasn’t voted to officially eliminate it yet, and may not vote to do so. This was a fair criticism. However, numerous sources inside PHM tell me there are no plans to fill the DEI officer position in PHM. This would effectively leave the position open indefinitely and it would only remain in derelict status. Given that DEI is being rolled back all over the country right now due to political pressure, I can see this position remaining vacant and effectively being eliminated. Arguing over semantics about whether a perpetually vacant position is actually ‘eliminated’ seems like a waste of time and energy. My sources say the position won’t be filled. If that changes, I’ll tell you.
In 2023, DEI jobs fell 5%, and so far they are down 8% in 2024. 30 states have introduced legislation to ban DEI in public education at all levels. Many have succeeded and DEI is being rolled back in many states. In last years Indiana legislative session, HB 1338 would have effectively banned DEI in Indiana education. It didn’t pass, but SB 202 did pass in the 2024 session. DEI has become politically toxic and is in retreat in the corporate world as well as public education.
Now, that doesn’t mean the battle is won. As I’ve highlighted on the show for many years, DEI, CRT, etc. are hidden within other programs like SEL. Just because PHM appears to be leaving the DEI officer post vacant and striking DEI language from the high school student handbook doesn’t mean the tenets of DEI are going away. A point highlighted by Accuracy In Media’s deep-dive investigation into Indiana public schools hiding DEI and CRT from not only parents and the public, but from school boards as well.
Alternative media, activists, and parent groups pushing back against DEI are effectively driving it underground but the fight is long from over.
Penn-Harris-Madison has eliminated its controversial and ineffective DEI officer position.
It has been confirmed PHM school’s first ever diversity, equity and inclusion officer, Derrick White, will be moved to Pennway Alternative Day School, the Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation’s alternative high school.
Strengthen Our Schools-PHM District, an active parental group, has had the elimination of the DEI position as a top priority since it was created in 2020. Their efforts have proven successful.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is a doctrine that promotes racial division and stokes animosity among racially diverse groups using false premises such as current American society being institutionally structured to benefit Whites at the expense of non-Whites.
Update:
Eliminating the DEI position appears to be a combination of fulfilling a need at Pennway and not filling the DEI officer position after it was vacated. Sorry if it looked like Strengthen Our Schools facilitated the end of the DEI position with a recent action. I was in the parking lot buying a chainsaw when I broke the news. Cut me some slack.
As of the evening of April 15, sources inside PHM confirm no plans to fill the DEI post.
Rumors about possibly merging it with another position are out there but my sources say that would be a deviation from the current plan with one jokingly positing if the rumors are true, it’s because I wrote about it.
Breaking: conservative radio host directly responsible for appointment of new PHM DEI officer … is a traitor to the cause. News at 11. 😂
Update 2:
Some have taken issue with my using the word ‘eliminated’ since the PHM board hasn’t voted yet. That’s fair. Technically, the position hasn’t been ‘eliminated’ yet. PHM sources say there are no plans to replace Derrick White in that position, leaving it vacant, not eliminated. I regret the confusion.
