Tumwater School Board’s Violent Intimidation Against Students Protesting an Illegal Resolution to Ban Trans Kids in Sports
The Tumwater School Board passed an illegal resolution that bars and segregates transgender athletes from girls athletics within the Tumwater School Distrist. The district has been contacted by OSPI, stating that enforcement of this resolution will result in corrective action, as it violates Washington state non-discrimination law. The Washington Intercollegiate Athletic Association [governing body for high school athletics in the state] also voted against an advisory ban on transgender athletes, which the board was relying on.
In response to the protest, public comments and outcry from students, staff and the community, the board has installed repressive measures rather than listen to their community and halting their attack on queer students. With the aid of the police, local Littlerock armed right-wingers from the Northwest Chapter of UMF of America [a self-described “men’s social club” that was formed to advocate for the abolition of women’s voting rights], and SecurUs private security paid for by the 7 million dollar budget deficit, the board has used false police reports, threats of violence and physical force to deter students and the community from advocating for the rights of queer youth in the TSD.
After the passage of the illegal resolution, the board stated that they moved the board meetings from their district office to Littlerock Elementary due to “continued disruptions to meetings at the district office.” Notably, this explanation does not acknowledge that an easier option exists rather than moving the board meeting nearly 10 miles away: repealing the policy and listening to the demands of the students who the board has tried with all its strength to suppress. No problem means no protest.
This type of self-victimizing and malignant narcissism is apparent in every action and statement the board makes. Instead of acknowledging the public comments given to them for months on end by hundreds in favor of trans rights, the board moved the meetings to the most rural school in the district due to it being within the jurisdiction of the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO), who the board coordinated with to guard them from protestors.
Casey Taylor, the vice president of the board, wanted peaceful student demonstrators to be gone by any means necessary, whether it meant they get arrested for not following the board’s decorum inside the meeting or were intimidated by Littlerock bigots from the NW UMF armed with guns across the street, yelling slurs and threatening the lives of students online. Students were left locked out with them, as the board implemented a new policy requiring ID’s and no COVID-19 masks to enter. The board had knowledge of the fact that the NW UMF were armed with guns, as they warned students during the first Littlerock board meetings of their presence across the street. TCSO who were guarding the meeting drove across the street and spoke with them in full view of the crowd.
There is no doubt that the board is fully aware of the continuous presence of the armed NW UMF bigots at Littlerock board meetings, yet the board continues to hold meetings there in order to not have to face their constituents in their district office, which is accessible to the broader community.
After the first Littlerock board meeting, TCSO rightfully decided it was a waste of resources to send out 6+ squad cars and Sheriff Sanders himself to attend a school board meeting because of antsy public servants who make bad decisions, and now only surveil the exterior while driving by. To compensate, the board hired more security guards from SecurUs Asset Protections, a private security company based at 14909 Martinson Rd SE, Yelm WA.
At the May 21st board meeting, a SecurUs guard randomly stepped between a student conversing with another SecurUs guard about the conditions of entering the meeting and assaulted them. The same guard featured in the video was later overheard by a student talking about desiring more physical force against the peaceful crowd of student demonstrators, including middle school aged youth.
It must be reiterated that this danger to youth protesting has been brought on by the board’s ideologically motivated neglect to protect and nurture their own students. This repression and violence does not only pertain to students desiring queer rights but also to the middle school students who have stood alongside us protesting the lack of action by the district regarding sexual assault, alongside other students who have had their programs like percussion, FRESH, and teachers cut due to the board’s mismanagement that has resulted in a 7 million dollar deficit and over 35 school level staff positions cut. These student issues are inseparably intertwined, the district is only stoking this culture war nonsense on trans youth in order to distract from the grievous damage they have done to the quality, security and safety of students education within the TSD.
The TSD has also decided to target staff and community members who give the board comments. Ty Kuehl recently filed a police report against a local coach for “threats” and “harassment”. Read his ridiculous reasoning:
Obviously something so cry wolf was quickly blown off by the Tumwater police.
This fiasco begs the question: how far will the board push us around in an attempt to weaponize and undermine both the law and district policy against its students and community? They have shown they have no qualms with stepping on the rights and liberties of anyone who dares speak against them, using both the police and armed bigots as methods of dissuasion against literal children and mothers.
On May 21st, the board decided they will now be selecting public comment based on the subject matter in order to be able to deny the input of the community on their illegal resolution. Therefore, the more important question is how far we will allow the board to tread on us? How far will we push back To stand against the board, we need all hands on deck! We need loud and disruptive students. We need disciplined and soft-spoken parents. We need organized and caring teachers. We need enraged and down-to-struggle community members. We need a diversity of tactics that represents the diversity of the community that the board is trying to deny the existence of! No matter who you are, join the students and support the struggle for our education and queer rights!
The students demands are: 1. Repeal the illegal and discriminatory resolution 09-24-25. 2. Board members Darby Kaikkonen, Ty Kuehl, Jill Adams, and especially Casey Taylor must resign. 3. Place the school board under student-teacher control 4. Board members issue an apology to the trans students they have failed. 5. Pass a resolution to explicit prohibit exclusion from school activities based on identity.
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?
Phone zap, google review, and contact SecurUs Asset Protection to stop assaulting peaceful students and stop providing security for the TSD, who has been mishandling middle school sexual assault cases and committing violence on protesting students!
(360) 602-6767 14909 Martinson Rd SE, Yelm
We need numbers at the meetings urgently! Trans youth have been frontlining this struggle. Attend the June 12th TSD board meeting, details can be found on the district website (Or keep track of Abolish OSD and Oly4Rev’s flyers)
Get the word out, share flyers, and get your friends to come support!
submitted anonymously –
Tumwater School Board’s Violent Intimidation Against Students Protesting an Illegal Resolution to Ban Trans Kids in Sports
The Tumwater School Board passed an illegal resolution that bars and segregates transgender athletes from girls athletics within the Tumwater School Distrist. The district has been contacted by OSPI, stating that enforcement of this resolution will result in corrective action, as it violates Washington state non-discrimination law. The Washington Intercollegiate Athletic Association [governing body for high school athletics in the state] also voted against an advisory ban on transgender athletes, which the board was relying on.
In response to the protest, public comments and outcry from students, staff and the community, the board has installed repressive measures rather than listen to their community and halting their attack on queer students. With the aid of the police, local Littlerock armed right-wingers from the Northwest Chapter of UMF of America [a self-described “men’s social club” that was formed to advocate for the abolition of women’s voting rights], and SecurUs private security paid for by the 7 million dollar budget deficit, the board has used false police reports, threats of violence and physical force to deter students and the community from advocating for the rights of queer youth in the TSD.
After the passage of the illegal resolution, the board stated that they moved the board meetings from their district office to Littlerock Elementary due to “continued disruptions to meetings at the district office.” Notably, this explanation does not acknowledge that an easier option exists rather than moving the board meeting nearly 10 miles away: repealing the policy and listening to the demands of the students who the board has tried with all its strength to suppress. No problem means no protest.
This type of self-victimizing and malignant narcissism is apparent in every action and statement the board makes. Instead of acknowledging the public comments given to them for months on end by hundreds in favor of trans rights, the board moved the meetings to the most rural school in the district due to it being within the jurisdiction of the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO), who the board coordinated with to guard them from protestors.
Casey Taylor, the vice president of the board, wanted peaceful student demonstrators to be gone by any means necessary, whether it meant they get arrested for not following the board’s decorum inside the meeting or were intimidated by Littlerock bigots from the NW UMF armed with guns across the street, yelling slurs and threatening the lives of students online. Students were left locked out with them, as the board implemented a new policy requiring ID’s and no COVID-19 masks to enter. The board had knowledge of the fact that the NW UMF were armed with guns, as they warned students during the first Littlerock board meetings of their presence across the street. TCSO who were guarding the meeting drove across the street and spoke with them in full view of the crowd.
There is no doubt that the board is fully aware of the continuous presence of the armed NW UMF bigots at Littlerock board meetings, yet the board continues to hold meetings there in order to not have to face their constituents in their district office, which is accessible to the broader community.
After the first Littlerock board meeting, TCSO rightfully decided it was a waste of resources to send out 6+ squad cars and Sheriff Sanders himself to attend a school board meeting because of antsy public servants who make bad decisions, and now only surveil the exterior while driving by. To compensate, the board hired more security guards from SecurUs Asset Protections, a private security company based at 14909 Martinson Rd SE, Yelm WA.
At the May 21st board meeting, a SecurUs guard randomly stepped between a student conversing with another SecurUs guard about the conditions of entering the meeting and assaulted them. The same guard featured in the video was later overheard by a student talking about desiring more physical force against the peaceful crowd of student demonstrators, including middle school aged youth.
It must be reiterated that this danger to youth protesting has been brought on by the board’s ideologically motivated neglect to protect and nurture their own students. This repression and violence does not only pertain to students desiring queer rights but also to the middle school students who have stood alongside us protesting the lack of action by the district regarding sexual assault, alongside other students who have had their programs like percussion, FRESH, and teachers cut due to the board’s mismanagement that has resulted in a 7 million dollar deficit and over 35 school level staff positions cut. These student issues are inseparably intertwined, the district is only stoking this culture war nonsense on trans youth in order to distract from the grievous damage they have done to the quality, security and safety of students education within the TSD.
The TSD has also decided to target staff and community members who give the board comments. Ty Kuehl recently filed a police report against a local coach for “threats” and “harassment”. Read his ridiculous reasoning:
Obviously something so cry wolf was quickly blown off by the Tumwater police.
This fiasco begs the question: how far will the board push us around in an attempt to weaponize and undermine both the law and district policy against its students and community? They have shown they have no qualms with stepping on the rights and liberties of anyone who dares speak against them, using both the police and armed bigots as methods of dissuasion against literal children and mothers.
On May 21st, the board decided they will now be selecting public comment based on the subject matter in order to be able to deny the input of the community on their illegal resolution. Therefore, the more important question is how far we will allow the board to tread on us? How far will we push back To stand against the board, we need all hands on deck! We need loud and disruptive students. We need disciplined and soft-spoken parents. We need organized and caring teachers. We need enraged and down-to-struggle community members. We need a diversity of tactics that represents the diversity of the community that the board is trying to deny the existence of! No matter who you are, join the students and support the struggle for our education and queer rights!
The students demands are:
1. Repeal the illegal and discriminatory resolution 09-24-25.
2. Board members Darby Kaikkonen, Ty Kuehl, Jill Adams, and especially Casey Taylor must resign.
3. Place the school board under student-teacher control
4. Board members issue an apology to the trans students they have failed.
5. Pass a resolution to explicit prohibit exclusion from school activities based on identity.
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?
Phone zap, google review, and contact SecurUs Asset Protection to stop assaulting peaceful students and stop providing security for the TSD, who has been mishandling middle school sexual assault cases and committing violence on protesting students!
(360) 602-6767
14909 Martinson Rd SE, Yelm
We need numbers at the meetings urgently! Trans youth have been frontlining this struggle. Attend the June 12th TSD board meeting, details can be found on the district website (Or keep track of Abolish OSD and Oly4Rev’s flyers)
Get the word out, share flyers, and get your friends to come support!