FAQs

Who are all the candidates for the ZCS Board of Trustees?

Eagle Township:

  • Michael Berg (Incumbent)

  • Tim Hardt (PFAS Endorsed Candidate)

Union Township:

  • Michael Coussens (Incumbent)

  • Marcus Such (PFAS Endorsed Candidate)

  • Jennifer Valentine

At-Large:

  • Matt Keefer

  • Sarah Sampson (PFAS Endorsed Candidate)

  • Christy Wessel-Powell

 

What School Board seats will I be able to vote for?

Every voter who lives in the ZCS district will be able to vote for ALL 3 positions during the November 8 general election.

 

When do we vote for School Board?

Voting is during the general election on November 8, 2022 and will appear on your ballot if you live within the school district.

 

Why have you formed a political action committee if your desire is to create an apolitical learning environment for ZCS students?

“Politics” is the process by which we select those who represent us. In this sense, PFAS is a grateful participant in the right so many fellow Americans have sacrificed to protect. We believe students can learn to respectfully participate in this great American tradition from teachers serving as unbiased classroom moderators – presenting age-appropriate examinations of multiple worldviews, social issues, and policies.  Anything pointing to an educator’s personal bias will hinder this important goal of creating well-rounded young citizens. PFAS is not affiliated with any political party.


What is your position on ZCS’s adoption of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum?

SEL was created to help students who have experienced trauma but is now applied broadly to all students district wide. The goals of SEL – conflict resolution, understanding various perspectives, developing empathy and healthy relationships – are laudable. PFAS believes that parents are best equipped to impart these critical life skills. Core curriculum must be the classroom focus if educational excellence is the goal.  PFAS believes in continuous evaluation into the best use of limited discretionary class time. A targeted approach will also ensure adequate resources are available for students who have experienced trauma or need additional help in these areas. 


What is your position on controversial curriculum items like Critical Race Theory?

We believe it is the responsibility of ZCS to condemn racism and discrimination of any kind while acknowledging how far forward we have come as a nation on these matters and how we can ALL unite on the ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These are the core American values – broadly shared – that enabled our nation to overcome past mistakes, fight a civil war to end a great evil, liberate a continent in WWII and elect a minority as President. Few if any other countries can make these claims and no other nation enjoys the level of racial and cultural diversity as we do in the United States. We believe these traditional values should be taught alongside a robust discussion on continuous improvement. Any curriculum that uses race as a catalyst for defeatism, separatism or fatalism should not be welcome in Zionsville Community Schools. Teaching a student that their race, gender, or disability will limit them and forever define how others treat them is as demonstratively false as it is divisive. Elements of such teaching, under any title or banner, should never be a part of a ZCS curriculum – formal or otherwise.


Is your group opposed to the mask mandates in Zionsville Community Schools?

We believe parents should have the right to choose whether or not to mask their child. The negative impacts from masking young children are certainly of concern to many parents, physicians, and educators in our community. PFAS believes several board members did not take these concerns - shared by national experts like Dr. Makary of John’s Hopkins - under serious consideration when voting to mask very young children just days before the start of the 2021-22 academic year. The board then further expanded this mandate to cover all students and personnel, regardless of vaccination status, on August 31.  This decision to institute an open-ended mask mandate was made at a hastily called meeting with minimal public notice.

We believe that school board members are charged with representing the electorate. The mask mandate highlighted our overarching concern that the community did not have a voice with the school board. As the polarizing mask mandate was being reviewed in our community, the school board did not engage formally with the community to understand the will of the electorate before decisions were made. No town halls, question and answer sessions with subject matter experts, or other forums were held.  The result was a series of board meetings that were each a powder keg of emotion filled with distrusting parents.  Ultimately, the failure to seek parental input led to this divisive conclusion.

More concerning to PFAS than any one policy is the deficient governance of the board and lack of due diligence exhibited by certain board members. One example occurred during the August 31 meeting as two board members requested the body reevaluate the mask mandate – in respect for constantly emerging data – at their next meeting. The board voted 3-2 to deny this well intended motion, choosing instead an open-ended mandate at the discretion of the superintendent and with no commitment to address it in the future. PFAS believes such actions are counter to the spirit of science, good governance, and accountability.