New Ulm School Board candidate Germaine Rysdahl said people have asked her where she has encountered issues concerning critical race theory and LGBT issues in the New Ulm schools.

The first time she said she “felt God nudging me to run for the school board” was when she dropped off her daughter at the high school. A huge bulletin board was facing her as she walked through the front door. In rainbow colors it said, “All are welcome here.”

“I did not feel welcome, because it was in rainbow colors,” she said.

Bullying is wrong, she said.

“If I am elected to the school board, I will have no tolerance for bullying of any kind, and I will promote an academic education focusing on the rewards of hard work, the value of collaboration, and traditional basic subjects including reading, writing, and arithmetic,” she said.

“We need to provide a safe place for all students, and this is harder to do when students flaunt their sexuality. School should

be about academics, not sexual ideology.”

Rysdahl said someone asked her about where her children

attended school in New Ulm.

“I homeschooled our three boys through the sixth grade, and then they all graduated from Cathedral High School,” she said.

Her daughter was homeschooled through her junior year and

graduated from New Ulm High School. Another daughter has attended Jefferson, Washington, Riverbend and

is presently enrolled at St. Paul’s Lutheran.

Another questioner wanted to know Rysdahl’s position on how to make sure all students are welcomed, supported and taught.

I think the best way to welcome, support, and adequately teach children is to expect their very best, capitalize on their

talents, and teach them the Golden Rule,” she said.

As a board member, she said she will “personally investigate CRT issues and publicly comment on what I find.”

Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual or gender identity is not appropriate in kindergarten through at least third grade, she said, and any such instruction should be eliminated from those classrooms as soon as

possible

“It is not the school’s job to teach sexuality to children younger than fourth grade,” she said, “except to teach them the basic foundation regarding sex, that humans are created male and female.”

There are anomalies, she said, but for the most part, a child is identified at birth either male or female.

All candidates for public office in The Journal’s circulation region who are on the ballot for the Nov. 8 election are encouraged to send weekly updates, positions on issues and other campaign news to The Journal at news@nujournal.com. Please provide mobile phone number where you can be contacted for verification of the information and your home street address.