Grundy Reporter

With school board races across the state generating widespread attention, Gov. J.B. Pritzker recently donated $500,000 to the Democratic Party of Illinois in an effort that critics charge seeks to boost a liberal extremist agenda that promotes inappropriate sexual education curriculum and divisive concepts that stand to make race relations even more volatile, Illinois Review reported.

“So long as I’m governor, our state will be a bulwark of progress, equity, and justice," Pritzker recently wrote on Twitter, the story said.  "We’re in a battle between an extremist GOP and a Democratic party that offers a future of strong leadership and possibility."

Many school districts are now also teaching such subjects as critical race theory, which teaches about race superiority and that the United States is fundamentally a racist country, among other shortcomings, according to the Review. Often, it is titled “culturally, responsive teaching,” “social/restorative justice,” “equity/gender support plans” and “social-emotional learning.”

Brian Pohlman, candidate for Minooka School District 20, said Pritzker's involvement in such local races was all wrong for Illinois.

"They only continue to create a wider, divisive gap within the social fabric of the community," Pohlman said. "It simply pits adults against one another while the children are caught right in the middle. Dems want to keep or install the same type of thinking across the school board seats in order to continue pushing their agenda. There is no tolerance for diversity of thoughts, ideas, or views. Division, intolerance, and exclusion is the name of the game."

Illinois school board candidates in 2021 who challenged the orthodoxy of the teacher's unions are increasingly facing personal attacks, which Pohlman says he has also faced.

"Thick skin is required," he said. "The focus will continue to be on the best possible education for the students. No need to get caught up in the emotional rhetoric."

Regardless of the outcome of the election, Pohlman said he will continue pushing for better education for the students.

"We'll continue to raise awareness and call for better communication and transparency," he said. "We're unsure of what that looks like, we have some ideas to move forward but need to get through April 4th first."

During a recent press conference, Pritzker went on the attack, labeling Illinois-based conservative grassroots organizations that recruit and support local school board candidates’ “racists” and “anti-LGBTQ,” with local mom and conservative grassroots activist Shannon Adcock directly being on the receiving end of some of his most disparaging comments, the Review reported.