Cynthia Richardson - High Priestess of Woke Religious Cult Inside Salem-Keizer Public Schools
She may not be ENTIRELY to blame for the rise of Wokeness in Salem-Keizer, but this deacon of Salem's People's Church doubles as an advocate for very anti-Christian ideas
Before I start — BREAKING NEWS: Allegations of dereliction of duty against Zone 2 School Board Director candidate Cynthia Richardson after failing to protect an 8-year-old who was sexually assaulted multiple times. This is being reported by The Oregon Catalyst in an article written by the little girl’s own father - “MY 8-YEAR-OLD WAS SEXUALLY ASSAULTED. CYNTHIA RICHARDSON REFUSED TO HELP.”
Back to the regularly scheduled programming…
While neither candidates for the Zone 2 school board director position are incumbents, one has had a high-level and high-visibility position inside the Salem-Keizer Public Schools system: Cynthia Richardson.
Cynthia Downplaying her Current Role at SKPS
When you look at her campaign website, you won’t find any mention of her current position at the district. Describing herself currently as “an educator” as well as a former teacher and principal, someone just casually looking may think she’s still a teacher of some kind. Richardson is being a bit disingenuous as she is currently the director of the SKPS Office of Student Equity, Access, and Advancement (OSEAA).
Richardson and her work through the OSEAA, among many other things, is responsible for “District Equity Work” which is defined as (emphasis mine):
Equity in the Salem Keizer School District will not be confused with equality where all students are treated the same. Equity will be attained when the achievements of our historically underserved, underrepresented, and marginalized students match the outcomes of students in the dominant culture; when underserved groups increase in capacity and power; and when barriers to student success have been mitigated or eliminated.
In the regular SIA Advisory Committee meetings (which Richardson has a hand in leading), each meeting is largely just as boring as you’d expect. Lots of data, lots of buzzwords, and educational jingoism. But on at least two occasions when Cynthia and her LGBTQ+ Program Associate Bailey Anderson get on the agenda, things really kick into high gear.
Richardson and Anderson’s presentation turn the SIA Advisory Committee meetings into a struggle session.
Richardson Using Her Authority to Proselytize Woke Sanctification
In June ‘22, participants had to go through an exercise called an “Identity Map” which served to produce a list of intersectional identities that the person then had to detail which is “most important” to them, and which are “most validated by society.”
The presentation is peppered throughout with pre-made infographics from GLSEN and resources are called out from many other companies, including The Trevor Project, which was also featured in a previous article called OR Dept of Education Refers Children to Secretive Chats Supporting Polyamorous Relationships, Activism and More, where kids as young as 13 are pushed to connect with LGBTQ+ adults without their parent’s knowledge.
Also in this presentation from June, is a special section calling out the controversial “Transgender, Non-binary, and Gender Non-Conforming Student Equity Policy” that was put out by Richardson last February for SKPS. For a refresher, you can check out the write-ups from the Statesman Journal or the Salem Reporter.
Richardson’s office was responsible for that unilateral sidestepping of community and/or parent involvement in developing and implementing that contentious piece of work that drives a stake in the heart of parents’ rights and the dignity of safe and private spaces for vulnerable youth.
In February ‘23, in a presentation about the “Sense of Belonging for Transgender and Nonbinary Students”, Richardson and Anderson call out many things, including that all local high schools, six of the 11 local middle schools, and two of the three alternative schools have GSA clubs. GSA used to be an acronym for Gay-Straight Alliance, but that wasn’t inclusive enough. Now it stands for Gender and Sexuality Alliance.
And in the presentation from June of ‘22, Anderson and Richardson made sure to note that 3 elementary schools had begun the process of starting a “rainbow club”, “an elementary school version of a GSA club.” The presentation in Feb ‘23 makes no mention of a “rainbow club” or anything related to an elementary school.
In both cases, the presentations are signed off with a slide listing the names, information, and contact details for both Bailey Anderson and Cynthia Richardson.
I’ll also point you toward a previous article that details how Richardson was responsible for a school counselor re-education camp on student gender affirmation plans that exclude parents.
Richardson Victim Blames 8-Year-Old Sexual Assault Victim
Linked at the start of this article, as alleged by the father of the sexual assault victim — an 8-year-old that he says was assaulted multiple times in one day — when he reached out to Richardson to help his bi-racial daughter, “she did nothing.”
“Instead, the first thing she asked was why my daughter didn’t scream. As if it was my 8-year-old’s fault that nothing was done to protect her!”
Richardson, despite her rank as high-priestess of Woke ideology, must have missed a couple of memos that the long-understood instinct of “fight or flight” had been amended to be known as “fight, flight, or freeze,” and more recently amended again to be “fight, flight, freeze, or fawn.”
More specifically, asking why the victim didn’t scream to notify others of her assault shows a grievous lack of compassion and professionalism from the Director of the Office of Student Equity, Access, and Advancement. “Beyond the implied misogyny and victim blaming, these questions [‘Why didn’t she scream?’] reveal a fundamental misunderstanding of how our body responds to trauma.”1
Essentially, some people can’t scream in traumatic situations. “Instead of protecting ourselves, we freeze. We shut down and essentially play dead hoping the threat will pass us by without doing too much harm.”
Help Restore Sanity - Elect Casity Troutt
Richardson’s opponent is Casity Troutt. Casity is running to return safety to our campuses, reinstate academic rigor, restore trust with parents, and reach for more of what works.2
Richardson coming from the administrative apparatus of such a dysfunctional district will be more interested in helping her former colleagues and overpaid administrative cronies. Parents aren’t mentioned once on her campaign website. The closest is “the community” which is a thinly-veiled reference to community activist groups that are behind her candidacy and routinely present at any school board function.
As a parent of kids currently in Salem-Keizer schools, and regularly volunteering in them, Casity’s desire to do what’s best for kids isn’t just a slogan — she has a vested interest in making sure kids have what they need to succeed.
Parents have so little voice in the education of their children, and it’s shrinking every day, due in large part to the efforts and activities of Richardson. Parents need an advocate that will represent their views and wishes on the school board.
In another article coming out soon, I will be making the case that this election is another opportunity for Salem to pick between concerned parents and community members or partisan, ideological, politicking power-seekers. Those margins were SO close. Let’s not let the opportunity pass us by to tell these people we don’t want kids being used as pawns in your political games.
Elect Casity Troutt and Krissy Hudson, and re-elect Satya Chandragiri.