Gigi Rysdahl

Gigi Rysdahl

Why are you running for election to this position?

All people are important, and all viewpoints need to be respected. This includes straight and gay, Christian and atheist, and Conservative and Progressive. Half of the country believes the opposite of what the other half believes. How can we all live together? I believe I can help people understand their opponent’s positions and find a solution everyone can live with. The schools should be a place where opinions can be declared without judgment. Bullying should never be tolerated, and punitive action for bullying should be severe. We all need to treat each other the way we want to be treated.

What is the top issue facing Independent School District 88?

While a main goal of school is educating our children in basic academics, we must also teach students how to think – not what to think, but how to think. Teachers have been given too much responsibility over the minds of our children.

Since parents are the primary educators of their children, we must reintroduce their input into the matters at school. Parents and teachers can work together making the well-being of the children their main objective. We must encourage students to gather information from many perspectives, so that they can decide for themselves what is good, honorable, just, and beautiful. Too much of our culture focuses on the ugly; we need to start seeing the good in people and in our world.

What is your primary goal if elected to the school board?

The most harmful decision in our nation’s public school system is its refusal to teach students alternate explanations for the origins of life (and non-life) in the universe. The James-Webb Telescope and the transmission electron microscope leave us without an excuse to consider a Creator. Aristotle referred to this entity as “the unmovable Mover.” The schools don’t have to call this entity “God,” but they must refer to an uncreated creator, because there’s nothing irrational about an eternal being. There is something irrational about something popping into existence from nothing, because that violates causality.

Space is too immense, the orbits in our galaxy are too precise, and cellular biology is too complex to have happened by chance. My primary goal if elected to the school board is to work for ISD88 to be the first of all the public school systems in the state of Minnesota to offer our students an alternative for the origin of life to that of descending from monkeys. The public school kids shouldn’t be left out of this important discussion.

Do you support the operating levy renewal referendum?

I absolutely support the operating levy renewal referendum, and I will learn how the money is being used to benefit ISD88 students.

Why or why not should the board be providing information in the schools on U.S. history of race relations?

I would like the board to provide information on U.S. history without making race the foundational criteria! I was educated by the public schools in Wisconsin, and I learned the evil calamity and emotional heartbreak of slavery. I also learned about people of very dark skin who were champions, such as Booker T. Washington, George Washington Carver, and Jesse Owens. I listened to the music of Charlie Pride and Louis Armstrong. I was moved to action by the inspirational words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., especially his dream that the people of the United States would judge individuals by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. Let the history curriculum tell the story of our country without an agenda! Clarence Burgess Owens is a congressional representative in Utah. I quote his statements, because they reflect my own: “America’s 240-year progress in terms of race, creed, and color is evident for any truth-seeking eye. There has been no country in the history of mankind that can match each generation’s ability to view others from inside out, not outside in. Critical race theory, however, is divisive, racist, destructive, and anti-American. It violates equal protection under the law, fundamentally diminishes the accomplishments of the Civil Rights movement, and perpetuates policies of discrimination based on race. It seeks to portray our country not as a beacon of freedom and opportunity but as a nation of victimized groups based on sex, race, ethnicity, and national origin. And in our classrooms, it teaches our youngest learners to view American history through a lens of hatred and oppression.” Condoleezza Rice, Dr. Ben Carson, Larry Elder, Bruce LeVell, and Candace Owens agree with Representative Owens. These people, among many others, don’t want to be known by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character and are working hard to help all people, no matter their shade of brown, to be the best people they can be.

Why or why not should the board be providing information in the schools on gender/sexual identity?

People disagree on what is proper. Some believe it is proper to teach sexual ideology to children. Others believe presenting numerous sexual options to children harms them and destroys their innocence. David Hicks in his book, Norms and Nobility: A Treatise on Education, says we have lost the “ought” in our schools. I believe the school board ought not to provide information in the schools on gender/sexual identity. Rather the public schools ought to be concerned with the soul of the child and teach justice, goodness, and truth. Because public educators have taught our students that they are merely products of chance, our society has degraded to where its focus is on personal pleasure and not on helping others. Thankfully New Ulm hasn’t hired drag queens to read to our preschool children, but this is happening across our nation. If elected to the school board, I will prevent bullying by promoting the Golden Rule, and I will work to bring nobility back into the school system by helping kids help others.

What else would you like to address regarding this election and the position?

If elected to the school board, I will work hard to serve the people of the ISD88 educational community.