A recent Cherry Creek School District board meeting was one of the latest stops for TPUSA Faith, an initiative of Turning Point USA, which joined forces with the Colorado Parent Advocacy Network.
Turning Point USA is a nonprofit that aims to build the most “powerful conservative grassroots activist network on high school and college campuses across the country,” according to its website.
The Colorado Parent Advocacy Network said on its website that it wants to “restore a rigorous, non-political, safe and fulfilling educational experience for all students.”
The groups’ collaboration comes as activists accused the school district of providing “pornographic books” to children — accusations that spurred a threat against several district schools.
Representatives of the groups gathered in the parking lot of Prairie Middle School in Aurora before the school board meeting. People had signs such as “Freed by Christ,” and “Fear God Not Gov.”
In a Facebook post shared before the meeting, the Colorado Parent Advocacy Network said that parents would “join hands with Turning Point USA to restore the parent’s voice in education.”
On Oct. 6, TPUSA Faith said via Facebook that Pastor John Amanchukwu would attend the Cherry Creek school board meeting — a recent stop in a national tour he is doing in partnership with TPUSA Faith.
In an Aug. 21 video posted on TPUSA Faith’s Instagram account, Amanchukwu said he is known as the “book-banning pastor.”
“I’m coming to a school board near you. I’m partnering with TPUSA Faith to tackle school boards around the country and go to some of the wokest school boards in the nation,” he said in the video.
TPUSA Faith has a request form people can submit to get Amanchukwu to speak at a school board meeting. He has attended meetings throughout the country, such as in North Carolina, Florida and Nevada.
However, he was not permitted to give public comment at the Cherry Creek school board meeting.
Abbe Smith, a spokesperson for the school district, said via email that he was not permitted to give a comment because he has no connection to the school district.
“Per our board policy, those wanting to speak during public comment at a board meeting must be residents of the Cherry Creek School District, parents/guardians of a student enrolled in CCSD, a student, or staff member,” Smith wrote. “Pastor Amanchukwu is not a resident of the Cherry Creek School District and is not connected to the district in any way.”
In response to not being able to speak, Amanchukwu and TPUSA Faith posted an edited video on Instagram.
In the video, Amanchukwu, whose Facebook account says he lives in North Carolina, said he has been a resident of Colorado since Oct. 5.
“I’m a resident of this state because I have a roommate agreement,” he said. “And they still don’t want to allow me to speak.”
“I’m labeled now as the book-banning pastor who’s harassing school boards around the country,” he said. “We’ll continue to speak the truth, share the truth, and expose these clowns because they’re filthy.”
Superintendent said false claims led to threat against Cherry Creek Schools
Libs of TikTok, a social media platform that has about 2.5 million followers on X (formerly known as Twitter), said on Sept. 21 that a parent notified the platform of “sexually explicit books” in Cherry Creek Schools, prompting the platform to investigate.
Libs of TikTok — whose founder, Chaya Raichik, recently became a contributor for Turning Point USA — said the Cherry Creek School District reportedly “blocked any incoming email from the Libsoftiktok.com domain district wide.”
“They want to provide pornographic books and groom children of all ages, while blocking staff and board members from communicating with us,” the platform said.
Later in the message, Libs of TikTok said, “This is where you come in! You can email the superintendent, the district leadership team, and the school board asking them why they provide pornographic books to children and why they blocked Libs of TikTok from communicating with them.”
In response, the Colorado Parent Advocacy Network, or CPAN, said on social media that the school district is “hiding a lot more than porn from families.”
“Superintendent Chris Smith & Board of Education — why are you allowing our children to read porn??” CPAN said in a Facebook post.
On Sept. 26, Superintendent Christopher Smith sent a letter to families saying that false claims about staff and library books led to a threat being made against five buildings.
Smith said the school district received hundreds of emails, calls and social media comments “making false claims about books in our libraries and actions of our teachers, staff, and district administration.”
The majority of these claims came from outside of Colorado, he said.
“This misinformation campaign led to an anonymous email making a threat against three of our elementary schools and two administration buildings,” Smith wrote.
Many of the books being targeted are books that address the LGBTQ+ experience, bullying and homophobia, Smith said.
“None of the books in question are offered in CCSD elementary schools,” Smith wrote. “We maintain libraries with age-appropriate materials available for students to see themselves represented or learn about the experiences of others who are different from them.”
Vice News reported on Oct. 4 that at least 11 schools or school districts that were targeted by Libs of TikTok “over anti-LGBTQ grooming conspiracies last month received bomb threats just days later,” including Cherry Creek and Denver Public Schools.
School district says books “Gender Queer” and “All Boys Aren’t Blue” were never available to elementary students
Libs of TikTok claimed the books “Gender Queer” and “All Boys Aren’t Blue” were available to Cherry Creek Schools elementary students — which is not true, the school district says.
Libs of TikTok said “Gender Queer” was available for elementary students to digitally download and “All Boys Aren’t Blue” was available as an audio book in an elementary school.
During the Oct. 9 school board meeting, Lori Gimelshteyn, the executive director of Colorado Parent Advocacy Network, said Smith “lied to the public.”
“On (Sept. 28), I have a recording of ‘All Boys Aren’t Blue’ available in four elementary schools,” Gimelshteyn said.
However, Abbe Smith, a Cherry Creek Schools spokesperson, said via email that these books were never accessible to elementary students.
“The book ‘All Boys Aren’t Blue’ is not available in any of our elementary schools. It is not available on the shelves of the library and it is not available as an e-book to elementary students,” Smith wrote.
Smith said that previously, when members of the public accessed the library page from any elementary school website, it connected them with the district library homepage.
Catalog searches on this page would turn up any book available in the school district’s online e-book system, including “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” she said.
However, elementary students are not able to borrow that e-book, as it is only available for high school students, she said.
“We have since removed the e-book search function from elementary library pages so it now only shows what is available on elementary library shelves,” she wrote.
Elementary students can still check out e-books both at the library and through logging in at home, Smith said.
The book, “Gender Queer,” is available in some of the Cherry Creek high school libraries, she said. However, it is not available to elementary and middle school students.
“It is important that students have access to a wide range of age-appropriate materials that explore different perspectives and different lived experiences,” Smith wrote.
“Gender Queer and All Boys Aren’t Blue are NOT available to elementary school students,” she wrote. “Even before we removed the e-book search function on the public site, they were not accessible to elementary students.
“Elementary students are not, nor were they ever, able to access or check out these two books,” Smith wrote.
Superintendent: ‘I will not back down to hate’
At the Oct. 9 school board meeting, Smith recounted the messages the school district received.
He said that a little over a week ago, he was “flooded with hate” via email, social media and voice messages that called teachers “despicable things.”
“Teachers who protect our students, no matter who they love, no matter what race they are, no matter what religion, because this is public education and each child matters. And each staff member matters,” Smith said.
“I want you to know that I stand with you, I will stand alongside of you, and I will not back down to hate,” he continued, prompting applause from the crowd.
Some of the attendees carried signs such as, “Representation matters,” “I will defend queer kids,” and “Just one accepting adult can save a queer person’s life.”
Members of the Parasol Patrol, a group that uses umbrellas to help shield people from protesters at LGBTQ+ events, attended the school board meeting, holding umbrellas near the entrance of the school.
Cherry Creek Education Association President Kasey Ellis spoke during public comment, saying she is proud to represent more than 2,700 members.
“I want to thank the board for their continued support of students and educators in this district even during a time where anti-public education forces have threatened our schools and made ridiculous claims about books that are not in our elementary schools in an effort to stir up more hate from extremist groups,” Ellis said.
“I also want to appreciate Superintendent Smith’s remarks that we will not tolerate harassments or attacks against our LGBTQ+ community,” she continued.
Lori Gimelshteyn, the executive director of Colorado Parent Advocacy Network, said the organization is not anti-LGBTQ+.
“The Cherry Creek and Colorado Parent Advocacy Network have never, not once … done anything anti-LGBTQIA+. We support every person,” she said.
“I want to know, right now, why it is hateful to our kids that identify as LGBT to protect them from porn?” Gimelshteyn said.
Those interested in listening to an audio recording of the full meeting can visit bit.ly/cc100923.