Opinion by the staff at The Current

According to multiple sources, at least three significant change-oriented items were to be motioned, discussed, voted upon, and presumably passed by the 7-5 conservative/Republican majority on the school committee of the regional Chariho school district.

After all, didn’t those conservatives run on a platform of bringing about change?

Yet, at the March 11, 2025 Chariho School Committee meeting not one of those items were passed, with some not even brought up with a motion. The lack of courage to stand up for their principles against the backdrop of the whining mob in attendance was stunning.

Such weakness and inaction is a microcosm of a broader political struggle in our state – one that pits bold identity politics and big-government activists against passive patriots who only know how to speak about defending their ideals of equality and free expression. All talk, no action.

The agenda item that best exemplifies this struggle – and that drew an unusually large crowd – was discussion about school district policies concerning transgender and gender non-conforming students. Because of its related policies, the Chariho school district had just been named in a complaint letter to the US Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights … much is at stake.

What unfolded over two and a half hours of public discussion happened under the watchful eyes of a significant police presence. But yet again, the vocal outcries from Leftist activists –  who tried to intimidate anyone who dared to express, or vote on, a position that does not stand in lockstep with their world view – succeeded in utterly silencing their conservative opposition on the school committee.

While this not a new phenomenon in Rhode Island, as Republicans in the minority have historically caved with disappointing regularity … what is surprising and highly concerning … is that the Left’s intimidation worked so completely on the conservative majority on the Chariho School Committee, who were once thought to be committed to bringing about change and serving as a vanguard to other conservatives across the state.

But no longer. After the public debacle at this meeting, this group of school committee conservatives obviously cannot be trusted with the majority – and authority – they were elected to exercise.

Here’s what happened. The room buzzed with voices, most of them raised in support of the current policy which favors boys undressing in front of girls in the locker room and the invasion of their privacy in the bathroom. Advocates from across the state poured in, filling seats, anxious to express their views.

The testimonies from the pro-transgender crowd were raw, emotional, and deeply personal, and the school committee and audience listened respectfully. It was a display of public civil discourse .. and it felt like democracy in action.

But then came Bob Chiaradio, one of the few dissenters willing to stand for the privacy of girls, and whose name is familiar to school committees across the state. Stepping to the microphone, he began his testimony by stating that the current school district policy conflicts with recent federal executive orders, is unfair to girls, increases the risks of injury in sports, and is tantamount to harassment of young girls in private spaces.

His words barely landed before the adult leftists in the crowd erupted like petulant children. Jeers, boos, and shouts continually interrupted Chiaradio as he attempted to make his case to the committee. The same group that moments earlier had basked in its own compassion turned hostile, unwilling to extend the courtesy of listening to an opposing perspective. So much for civil discourse.

The irony was stark: a crowd priding itself on tolerance revealed its intolerance for non-conforming views.

This moment wasn’t just a lapse in decorum; it was a symptom of a deeper tension. Silencing disagreement doesn’t resolve conflict; it festers it. If a special interest group can’t withstand a single voice questioning its orthodoxy without descending into chaos, then its claims to moral superiority ring hollow. But in Rhode Island, this tactic almost always wins, because conservatives and Republicans can be counted on to back down and, ultimately, cave.

The gender-identity issue is not isolated to Chariho. Across the country, school boards are grappling with similar flashpoints, caught between state laws, federal guidelines, and community pressures. Chariho’s policy, whatever its specifics, exists in this legal gray area. Bob Chiaradio’s dissent wasn’t baseless: New federal mandates could indeed force a rewrite. Yet the crowd’s reaction suggests that facts and process matter less than allegiance to a cause.

This is where a respectable school committee must take a stand. Leadership and governance isn’t about riding the wave of public sentiment; it’s about making tough calls based on evidence, law, principle, and the best interests of students. After hours of testimony, the majority betrayed their original plans and took no action … punting the issue to the courts and federal investigators. This is not just an alarming cop-out, but it may also put the school district at serious risk of loss of funding, federal civil rights investigations, and discrimination lawsuits.

Committee members need to stand firmly for their personal principles and their campaign promises, pick a side on the issue, and take action. Indecision wastes time and erodes trust – not just from the public, but from the many conservatives from across our state, who were watching … and who were let down.

Further, students, parents and educators deserve clarity, not a spectacle of shouting matches and police oversight.

A threat? As if this display of childish opposition and intolerance by the political left wasn’t bad enough, one committee member stated with little regard for right or wrong, “Hey folks, listen. I know it is not comfortable for some of you. It is not for me, but let the man at least just speak. You can disagree with him all you want. You can follow him out the door and disagree with him.” A statement that could be interpreted to mean “take it out to the parking lot and duke it out,” might suggest violence as an acceptable response to an opposing viewpoint: It is not!

The stakes here go beyond one policy or one meeting. Schools are where the next generation learns not just math and reading, but how to navigate a pluralistic world. If those entrusted with over-seeing a school district cannot stand firm against unhinged cries from the mob, what chance do kids have?

Chariho’s leaders have a duty to rise above the noise and to govern with backbone rather than bowing to the loudest voices. And the rest of us – supporters and dissenters alike -might consider a humbling truth: true leadership isn’t proven until it can stand up to challenges by those who hold views they oppose.

Let us remember this the next time we go to the ballot box. Why elect conservatives who are pledged to implement change … if they don’t have the courage to actually vote for those changes?

As the Chariho school district has now put itself in the legal cross-hairs of the courts, its trans-gender policies will find its resolution – but not because of the pro-active actions of the elected conservatives on its school committee.

But a larger question lingers: will conservative politicians in our state ever exhibit true leadership and stand for what they know is right? Sadly, the answer this week in Chariho, felt like a resounding “no”.

There was hope that the rare conservative majority on Chariho school committee would lead the way and show why more conservatives should be elected. That hope has now been dashed.