Long-time education writer Karin Chenoweth talks with people around the country who are running for school board, serving on a school board, and working on school board campaigns about the issues they are facing and the problems they are solving. The first three episodes, produced in 2023, document the way three communities faced down extremism. In 2024, the podcast pivots to an interview format with some of the most inspiring folks around.
Democracy and Education
Claim This Podcastby Karin Chenoweth
5.0(4 reviews)
12 episodes
Updated Weekly
Accepts GuestsHas SponsorsLocation 🇺🇸
27
Podcast Authority
BetaPoorBased on show quality, social media presence, reviews, charts, and more
Quality30
Social0
YouTube0
Engagement60
Podcast Overview
Long-time education writer Karin Chenoweth talks with people around the country who are running for school board, serving on a school board, and working on school board campaigns about the issues they are facing and the problems they are solving. The first three episodes, produced in 2023, document the way three communities faced down extremism. In 2024, the podcast pivots to an interview format with some of the most inspiring folks around.
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
2/26/2023
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27
Podcast Authority
BetaPoorBased on show quality, social media presence, reviews, charts, and more
Quality30
Social0
YouTube0
Engagement60
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Episode Length
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Recent Episodes
June 9, 2025
Confronting Extremism in Florida
Karin Chenoweth interviews Stephanie Vanos, Liz Barker, and Rebecca Thompson, newly elected Florida school board members, about their successful strategies for defeating extremist candidates and championing public education.
May 19, 2025
Episode 11: Extremism on the Ground
In this episode of Democracy and Education, Bobby Omari (https://www.facebook.com/bobby4cvusd/), who lost his bid for a school board seat in California’s Chino Valley United School District, shares the lessons he learned and the lessons he thinks others can learned from his campaign.Among other things, he thinks he underestimated the political sway a Christian Nationalist mega-church has in local politics, including in “harvesting” thousands of votes of its parishioners—that is, gathering mail-in votes and delivering them to the election board.Although Omari and his volunteers knocked thousands of doors, he also thinks he didn’t reach out enough to Independents and Republicans.Since the election he has worked with others to expand an existing group into the Concerned Parents and Citizens of CVUSD (https://cpccvusd.weebly.com/) which has been reporting on what the school board has been doing. He’s not sure he’ll run again but he will be very involved and help other candidates and they will take the lessons from 2024 into the 2026 elections.
April 7, 2025
Episode 10: Extremism: The Big Picture
When education researcher and parent Jamie Martin first heard NBC’s podcast about the Southlake Families, the group that had taken the majority of the school board in the Carroll School District in Texas proclaiming their allegiance to “parental rights,” she noticed that their web site looked remarkably like that of Francis Howell Families in her Missouri district. It had the same branding and the same language attacking critical race theory, transgender children, and teachers.That started her down the path of researching the influence of national organizations on local school board races.And what she found was that there is a network of well-established groups like the Heritage Foundation and the Manhattan Institute that are working with newer groups like Moms for Liberty and Parents Defending Education to sow distrust in local public schools and undermine support for public education.In this podcast episode, Jamie talks with host Karin Chenoweth about her research as well as her work with a counter group, Francis Howell Forward, that is working to regain the majority of the school board through its practice of what she calls “bold civility.”Some of the things mentioned during the episode include:· Jamie Martin’s group, Francis Howell Forward (https://www.francishowellforward.org/).· The Francis Howell Families web site (https://francishowellfamilies.org/). (The Southlake Families website seems to be inactive, but see here for a side-by-side comparison (https://www.francishowellforward.org/post/two-home-pages-francis-howell-connection).)· NBC’s podcast about the Carroll School District in Southlake Texas (https://www.nbcnews.com/southlake-podcast).· Christopher Rufo’s speech to Hillsdale College (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8Hh0GqoJcE) where he said that the path to universal school choice is through universal school distrust.· An interview with Christopher Rufo (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/07/opinion/chris-rufo-trump-anti-dei-education.html) where he talks about using critical race theory for political purposes.· An article by Benjamin Foster-Welles in The New Yorker about how Christopher Rufo “invented” the conflict over critical race theory (https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-inquiry/how-a-conservative-activist-invented-the-conflict-over-critical-race-theory).· The Texas Observer’s map of organizations backing and funding (https://www.texasobserver.org/school-board-pacs-consultants-right-wing/) the effort to take over school boards.· Demographics of Francis Howell district, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics (https://nces.ed.gov/Programs/Edge/ACSDashboard/2928950), is 86 percent White, 4 percent Black, 3 percent Hispanic, and 3 percent Asian/Pacific Islander.· James Davidson Hunter’s book, Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America (https://www.amazon.com/Culture-Wars-Struggle-Define-America/dp/0465015336)
12 total episodes available
Recent guests on Democracy and Education
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Stephanie Vanos
Guest
Liz Barker
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Rebecca Thompson
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Frequently asked questions
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- What is Democracy and Education?
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This podcast updates weekly.
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This podcast is available on 7 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
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Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.
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