Before I share what I witnessed at Bridgman Public Schools, I want to make clear that the majority of teachers and staff were decent people and they are not a part of my situation or involved in my allegations.
I knew on my very first day at Bridgman Public Schools that I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. From the very start of my employment, I witnessed BPS violating the Equal Protection Clause with its arbitrary and capricious policy on mask mandates. Teachers and Staff were given the option to wear masks while Students were required to wear masks or face discipline. Most staff members chose not to wear masks while all the Teachers wore the masks in solidarity with the Teachers Union who supported the mask mandate and the closing of schools well beyond reason. The mask mandate was especially harmful to the Autistic student I was shadowing because of his heightened sensitivity and his confusion as to why he had to wear a mask and I didn't.
After school, the mask mandate would become arbitrary. I once rode the bus with the BPS Girls Swim Team to South Haven where everyone on the bus (except me) was required to wear masks. Once we arrived at South Haven HS, no one was required to wear a mask as Van Buren County had lifted all COVID mandates prior to the start of the 2021-2022 school year. The only individual from BPS who wore a mask the entire time was the Diving Coach who allegedly allowed for the biological male to compete and share spaces with females the previous school year.
What was most egregious about the mask mandate decision was how the Board of Education for Bridgman Public Schools voted to subrogate all decision making regarding COVID mandates to BPS Superintendent Shane Peters. And it wasn't Peters who made the mandate decisions, it was the Teachers Union who controls Peters. By eliminating the involvement of an elected School Board, Parents were denied their own due-process to air their grievances as many Parents were livid about the mandates and the harm being done to their children.
Violation of the Establishment Clause
I knew when I took the job at BPS that I would be confronted with a certain amount of ‘Leftism’ (I'm from Cook County Illinois where I ran as a TEA Party Candidate for State Rep in the hometown of Jan Schakowsky so I've seen it all). I already had conversations with Sam Stine and Gerald Heath about politics and their disdain for Conservatives (especially President Trump) however I never thought that BPS would be so radical - especially in a predominately conservative community.
From day one at BPS, I was stunned by the degree of Leftism being taught with no effort by some Teachers in suppressing their political biases. In addition, some Teachers were openly hostile to students who were not on a college track as many were placed in “Special-Ed” and disregarded. These are students who were going to be working for the family business or join the Military after graduation. There was constant anti-American rhetoric, a rewriting of history in their textbooks, elements of anti-Semitism, highly inappropriate conversations regarding sexual identity (that confused the heck out of the Autistic student), and a Social Worker who interacted with every BPS student while having an 8645 sticker on her laptop. The sticker was eventually removed when I brought it to the attention of Superintendent Peters. What was most egregious about the Social Worker was how she indoctrinated students regarding gender identity and advised students to access the Out Center in Benton Harbor and Planned Parenthood in Niles without Parental Notification or consent.
Going further, I was denied access to the 8th Grade Science curriculum and around this same time period, an IT employee (1 of 2) resigned from BPS alleging the school had become ‘too political’ . My assumption is that the 8th Grade Science curriculum had something to do with the New Green Energy Deal, but I can only surmise since I was denied access. Many months after my departure from BPS, I would learn that the Cook Plant protested their property taxes and had them reduced that effected BPS significantly. I wonder if that decision had something to do with BPS teaching anti-nuclear power rhetoric as part of their "green energy" agenda.
On Veterans Day 2021 (which is a sacred day for me as a Veteran), I received the following information in an email regarding Critical Race Theory along with DEI and I became outraged. I was one of the first White kids bussed to an all-Black community during desegregation and I’ve spent my life fighting racism and trying to level the playing field. The CRT curriculum undermines all that has been accomplished and only further divides our Nation for political purposes while DEI dumbs down society in my opinion.
I received this email just a week after BPS Superintendent Shane Peters told Parents that DEI and CRT was not being taught at BPS. I printed the email and posted it on a private FB page for concerned parents. Three weeks later, I would be placed on Administrative Leave pending an investigation of professional misconduct and eventually fired without any form of due-process. During this same week, Superintendent Peters would post my job position [AttD].
One final point on Bridgman Public Schools violating the Establishment Clause –
My indignation towards BPS wasn't so much about the Leftist curriculum being taught to students. My outrage was about a curriculum being taught along with life changing decisions being indoctrinated to students WITHOUT PARENTAL NOTIFICATION OR CONSENT.
I once walked in on an LGBTQ+ gathering before school that I am certain parents were not aware of or would approve of.