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Doug Truax: Welcome to the First Right podcast. The weekly conservative news show brought to you by Restoration PAC. I'm Doug Truax, Founder, and President of Restoration PAC. Today we are blessed to have one of the most courageous parents. We know Nicole Solas of Rhode Island. All she wanted was information about our kindergarteners curriculum. The school hit her with a $74,000 bill and the largest teachers union in America sued her but she's not backing down. She symbolizes moms and dads all over the United States who are rooting out harmful leftist ideology being fed to our kids. Well, hi, Nicole. Thanks so much for coming on today.

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Nicole Solas: I thanks for having me.

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Doug Truax: All right. So very interesting story. I know our viewers are going to want to hear more and more about this, but first, just tell our audience a little bit more about yourself and you know, what you were doing before all this happened and, and,  , and what you're doing here lately.

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Nicole Solas: Well, I'm a stay at home mom from Rhode Island, and I asked my school if they were teaching critical race theory and gender theory. When I enrolled my daughter in kindergarten, just a stay at home, mom, I stayed home to take care of my kids. And, I've never been involved in politics before. I'm not some political operative, I'm just a mom. And when I asked my school this question, they told me that they don't call children, boys and girls. They refrain from using gender terminology in the classroom, and they embed the values of gender identity into the classroom in every grade at an age appropriate level, um, which was kind of shocking to me. And then for history lessons, they ask kindergartners what could have been done differently on the first Thanksgiving? Um, it's a ridiculous question. It's confusing - adults can't answer it.

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It's obviously meant to shame them for their American heritage. So when I learned this, my school then told me to submit public records requests for all of my other questions that I had about critical race theory and gender theory being taught in my school district. When I did my school district turned around, threatened to sue me in a public school committee meeting. And then after they decided not to sue me after harassing me for five hours in a school board meeting, the teacher's union, the largest teacher's union in America then did sue me for submitting these public records requests. So here I am, you know, I just wanted to know what was being taught and my public school districts attacked me and then the teacher's union attacked me and I'm here because I'm fighting back and I don't think parents should be bullied by their government or a special interest groups just because they want to know what their kids are learning in school.

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Doug Truax: Yeah, absolutely. It seems like a no-brainer, but here you are. And again I, as I mentioned in the intro, you're one of the most courageous parents that I've ever heard of. So kudos to you for that. It's really wonderful. So if you go back to the very beginning and you, and you think about when you did request that, did you have any, , mean, what kind of led to it? Was there any inkling that you had as far as like, okay, I've heard some rumors about what they're doing and then you, you looked online or was there anything before that moment or, or is this, you said I'm going to figure out what's going on here?

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Nicole Solas: Well, my first red flag was when George Floyd died, my school district sent out a message of solidarity to the community. That's what they called it. It was an email or a posting on their website where they pledged allegiance to black lives matter. They declared that the school was systemically racist, that they stood with Breonna Taylor and George Floyd that they use like very highly politicized, radical language. Like we must have radical empathy. We must take action now so that happened before I enrolled my daughter in school, she was a little too young and, it wasn't until I enrolled her that I said, I wanted to see if they followed through on all of these promises to be this politicized, radical school district and sure enough, they did. And they're attacking me for wanting to learn more about it.

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Doug Truax: Wow, so you stood up and so the, the side of this I'm always interested in too. So what's it been like amongst, you know, the other moms in the neighborhood and your social circle and all that stuff. What's been the reaction, especially after you've got this moment where you're like, you said, five hours in front of the school board and all that stuff, when it really gets out there, what, what's it been like?

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Nicole Solas: I have had an outpouring of support. I'd only lived in my town for about five years. I didn't really know anybody in town. And now I know everyone who is on my side in my town. You know, they say that when you're retaliated against for, you know, adding up to your government that, you know, you'll be, ostracized will be opposite happened for me. I have more friends and allies than I've ever had in my life. And this is just not in my town. This is across my state and across the country. So I really encourage parents to ask questions and stand up to their school boards that they think that they're indoctrinating their children with racialized propaganda, because people are going to find you and they're going to want to work with you. And just don't be scared if you're retaliated against, because that's the beginning that isn't the end.

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Doug Truax: That's right. It comes a little bit with the territory, but I would make a quick commentary on something you said there that, that you kinda, I'm sure it was a moment where you're like, well, I'm a little nervous about this, but I'm going to do it anyway. And so you have the courage to do it. And then on the other side of it, you find out that there's all these people that were thinking like you're thinking, and they basically are saying, well, I really appreciate you doing this. And that's been universally my experience from going from I'm an entrepreneur business world, some corporate America stuff. And then you kind of like, okay, well I feel this way. I have to say something about it makes me a little nervous to begin with, but on the other side of it, same deal. Everybody says, oh, I'm so glad you said something about that. Been driving me crazy. Somebody somebody's got to do something! Right. And so that's what they all start to call us around. So, and I've, I've heard that repeatedly from people that, you know, basically it's conservatives now, because the lefties are trying to beat us down all the time, but it's the same thing with you. You jump in and suddenly there's a lot of folks, just even in your, I'm sure in the very beginning, right around you, right. That were just like, oh, I'm glad somebody is finally saying something.

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Nicole Solas: Yes. Um, and you know, I was lucky because, you know, I didn't plan on getting sued. I didn't land on my school district attacking me. I was just trying to do my due diligence. So what I did and I recommend that other parents do this is I started a private Facebook group where I was posting evidence about what I was finding in my school district. And then I let people in, if I believe that they were there in good faith, you certainly don't want to let in any saboteurs who were going to try to, you know, destroy your Facebook group. But I was lucky in that I had already had a support group rallied around me before I was attacked. So when it came time to go to that, you know, show trial, school, board meeting, I already had people who, who knew what this was really about. And, that was just sheer luck that that happened.

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Doug Truax: Yeah, that's great. And, and you know, what it always is too. I found in, in this time we're living in is when you start to get into some transparency and you start to take some things that like, Hey, you know what, let's share this with everybody. And somebody says, whoa, don't do that. That's always problem number one. Or you know, evidence, piece number one, that there's a problem here. So let's just get this out,  , more and more. And that's what this has been, right. It's just like, they didn't want anybody calling them out on what they were doing. And they just live in their little bubble of like, you know, we're going, gonna do next. We're going to do this pledge and we're gonna do this and then push this stuff at the kids. And they think they get it in their minds that, oh, everybody wants this. And everybody loves this. And no, they don't. It just takes somebody to say, let's be transparent about this. Right?

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Nicole Solas: Right. And you know, I, I think they knew that everybody didn't want it. And I think that that's why they are not being transparent about it when people are acting like they have something to hide, they usually do have something to hide. And the push for transparency, I think, has really highlighted that there really is something to hide if they don't want to be transparent about what our kids are learning in school. Let's remember that what our kids are learning in school, this is not CIA classified information. It shouldn't be a government secret. So there's no reason why the government should want to keep it a secret.

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Doug Truax: That's right. Well, we live in a highly politicized time and a lot of people in the education system, don't think it's education, it's indoctrination, and they're trying to get your kid over to where they are. And boy, we see a lot of terrible stories nowadays, and it's gotta be more and more people like you standing up against it. And so, total frivolous lawsuit, all this stuff. So what's the, what's the current state of play with the school board, elections. I mean, especially relative to, you know, all this, all these, kind of followers you have now, and supporters is there now, you know, it's like, Hey, well, here's what we gotta do. We have to find the elected officials and get the bad ones out and get the good ones in, who can then, you know, start making the changes. Top-down that need to happen inside the actual organization. Where's all that.

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Nicole Solas: Well, we certainly need people to run for school board. We need conservatives or just really just level-headed people to run for school board. But the key to a successful campaign is raising money. And the reason why leftists have infiltrated our local elections is because they have special interest groups like the teacher's union, giving them money for their campaigns. You need all that money to get the message out about you. And you know, what you believe in and who you are. And if all that money is being funneled to people that are supported by the teacher's union, that then sort of have these unspoken promises that they're just going to do the bidding of the teacher's union. When they get into office, then that's, that's a really, you know, big hurdle to overcome, but you can overcome it if you start campaigning now and you start planning now. So you know, we need to get over the fear of running and we need to know that our local school district is, is really where the power is at because they're holding our kids hostage and we need to take our kids back.

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Doug Truax: Well that's right. And then somebody steps out just like what we're talking about before has the courage to do it. And then it's you, your friends, or maybe it is you, but so are your friends or whatever else say I'm with you. And then you say, Hey, spread the word and give me some money. And you know, that, that point you brought up about the teachers' unions so we have a real problem in our country. I don't have any problem with unions in the private sector, commercial unions, you know, they have an adversarial relationship with management. They want certain things, management wants another, they have to fight it out. Maybe they get them. Maybe they don't, maybe the company goes out of business. You know, there's all these it's, the incentives are there for them to work it out, but you have government employees. And now we're talking about teacher unions, but, and that's the most pervasive side of this, but it does across, it happens universally now about around government employees, where they basically have said, well, let's just recycle some union dues that are basically taxpayer dollars, go to give them their comp.

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They take a portion of that. Like you just said, they elect the people. They want who to are largely Democrats, and then they just do what they want. And so now we're in a place where that beast is eating us, just like what you just said. And we have got to put a stop to that. We have got to start saying government employee unions are a really bad idea.

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Nicole Solas: Yes you know, the teachers union, especially that they're really just a pac. They use, dues so they can further political agendas and lobby their political agendas and then campaign for, candidates that are going to further their political agendas. Now unions, they, they have a right to bargain for fair or fair pay. You know, that's originally why unions, came to be. But now we have teachers unions that are creating curriculum for schools that is far out of the scope of what a union is meant for when it comes to public school employees. And that's something that we really have to start looking at either legally or politically by saying, we don't want teacher unions in our school. Um, in my town, it was particularly corrupt because we had a teacher union organizer on our school board. And then in other parts of Rhode Island, the teacher's union has infiltrated all parts of government they're in our municipalities. They have, teacher union organizers in the Rhode Island department of education. So it's literally like they've planted their spies in all levels of our society. And they continue to push their agenda, at all costs. Really?

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Doug Truax: Yeah! Yeah, that's right. But they, they didn't, they didn't think through one thing. And that is this, you start messing with the kids, you're going to have to deal with the parents and that's, what's happening now, the parents, this is the time of the parents. Right. And, you know, so be it let them suffer. They need to, because what they've been doing to the kids and now to you suing you and all this stuff, I mean, it's just crazy. It's just crazy. So back to the curriculum piece. So what's your estimation right now on how widespread this is across the country.

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Nicole Solas: Um, I mean, I know it's widespread. I don't know one state that, that isn't dealing with curriculum problems in their school. I'm, I'm talking to parents all over the country on social media. I've made really good friends with, with other parents that are fighting this and we're sharing our ideas on how to fight this. So, you know, this is not limited to your local school board, you don't feel alone if you think this radical school board of yours is trying to isolate you. That's just their tactic to make sure that you don't gain political power yourself to fight them. But you know, this really does all come down to the teacher's union because they're the ones that are pushing out this critical race theory curriculum. We saw all summer that first, they were saying they weren't teaching critical race theory.

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And then they were teaching it. They actually have black lives matter curriculum on their website. Um, they have money set aside to silence their debaters about critical race theory. So this is a full sledged political machine that is fighting little parents like me. You know, I don't have institutional power, but this teacher's union that has, you know, over $300 million. And that's just one teacher's union, the NEA, they're trying to say that just me, a mom at home is some sort of aggressor or someone who, who actually has the means to, to fight them. And you know, it's really a shame that so many people have fallen for that trick. So...

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Doug Truax: So that's right. How dare you, how dare you stand up to them is what this is coming down to. It's like we were in charge, get outta here. That's how, that's their approach to this? Well, on that front of far as the school board elections and stuff, I definitely keep us posted. We're pretty sizeable political organization. Now we do, you know, bigger races and states and things like that. We are, we talked around here a lot about school board, especially after Loudon County in Virginia. I mean, this is like, it's the time now where we've got to really start saying, who's, who's going to be running these school boards and we need to do what you just said to who's on there. Now have all these school board people, has anybody ever voted for a Republican ever, you know, and then, then it's like, well, what do they do for a living?

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And, you know, I think we just have been, you know, I know my kids are grown now, but even at the time going through, I was kind of like, well, school boards, you know, but it's a total, total different deal now. And we have, we have to be all over it. So keep us posted on that. But so the last question I had for you is, so what's your advice then now that you've gone through all of this and advice to other parents who are out there thinking, oh, I gotta, I gotta figure out what's going on. What were, what, what should they do? And, now that you've learned some lessons, how would you do it differently? That kind of thing?

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Nicole Solas: Well, now that we know that they don't like getting public records requests, you should definitely submit public records request. This is the, this is the only way that you're going to know what is going on in school of public records requests, is it public records law are in many states, most of them. And it's a way for you to legally compel your school, to answer your questions in Rhode Island. They have 10 days to get back to me with an estimate for information, or they can just give me the information for free if they have any integrity and professionalism, but usually they'll charge you. But this is a way that you can peek into what they're doing until we have what we really want, which is academic transparency. Academic transparency legislation is something that all parents should be pushing for. There comes a point where you have to stop fighting with your school district and you have to then go to your legislature and say, look, the public records, law doesn't work. Parents. Aren't getting their information. School is wasting money, giving us estimates that we can't afford, and we need sunshine on what's happening in school. Now this would require schools to post all of their curriculum, materials and activities online. So that way parents don't have to submit these public records requests. You can just go on the computer and see what your school is doing.

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I'm actually testifying in Arizona on February 1st to tell the legislators my story of what happened when I simply asked questions, then how the public records request process was a barrier to me and not a window. And I'm hoping that that will get the ball rolling in many other states to push for academic transparency. So that way parents can finally know what their kids are teaching and then make an informed decision on whether they want to enroll them in that school district or some other educational option, whether it be homeschooling charter school or private school.

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Doug Truax: Yeah for sure. And that transparency, you know, sunlight's the best disinfectant. You got to get it out there and see what's going on. We're doing a lot of work with the voter rolls around the country, and it's not easy, that's public information, but they don't want to give it up and they're going to charge you. But to your point, that's exactly right. They know once they get the idea that these people are never going to go away, they'll just put it up because they're not going to want to mess with it anymore, but we gotta, we gotta cross that line and it takes people like you. And we're going to this out to our audience obviously, and encourage our, our folks to go out and do exactly what you've been doing. But Hey, really great stuff. I really appreciate your courage, Nicole, and good luck out there in Arizona. And we're going to, you know, seek to have you back on and give us updates about how it's going. Okay,

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Speaker 3: Great. Thank you so much.

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Doug Truax: All right. That's our show for today. Thank you so much for tuning in and for supporting conservative media. Don't forget by working together and staying diligent, we conservatives can bring our country back to true greatness until next week. Let's all keep praying that God will continue to bless America

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