‘It sets a dangerous precedent,’: School officials defend Bow superintendent as legislation moves to remove her
Published: 02-03-2025 5:01 PM |
Marcy Kelley, superintendent of Bow and Dunbarton’s school district, is standing up to a legislative effort calling for her removal over allegations that she suppressed parents’ free speech during a girls’ soccer game last fall.
At the State House on Monday, Kelley called the resolution to oust her as a “serious threat” to the local control principle governing New Hampshire’s education systems.
“(The resolution) undermines the tradition by allowing political interference to replace the thoughtful, localized decision-making that best serves our students and communities,” said Kelley. “Leadership decisions within our schools must remain the responsibility of locally elected school boards who are directly accountable to their constituents, not dictated by political pressures at the state level.”
The resolution, sponsored by Mike Belcher, a Wakefield Republican stems from an incident at a September girls’ soccer match between Bow and Plymouth Regional High School that led to a lawsuit against the school.
During the game, some parents wore pink armbands emblazoned with “XX,” a reference to the sex chromosomes typically associated with biological females, while a transgender student was playing on Plymouth’s team. School officials paused the game and told parents to remove the armbands. One parent who refused was escorted off the field by a police officer.
In response, Kelley sent no-trespass orders to Anthony Foote and Kyle Fellers, two Bow parents saying they “participated and led the protest, which was designed to and had the effect of, intimidating, threatening, harassing, and discouraging.”
Belcher said it is important for him to stand up for free speech, even in places where he has no direct ties, like Bow or its school district.
“We cannot sit by as representative at the state level of government while the rights of citizens anywhere in the state are trampled by local government,” said Belcher. “Under no circumstances can text on an article of clothing that is not obscene or vulgar can be barred under time, place and manner restrictions.”
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He further criticized the school district’s application of rules intended for students during school hours to adult citizens at an after school event, calling it an overreach.
While lawmakers debated whether the legislature had the authority to remove an official from a local school district, Clement Madden, chairperson of the Dunbarton school board, called the attempt to oust Kelley as superintendent “ridiculous.”
Madden said that such decisions should be left to the school district itself.
This issue is also part of an ongoing federal lawsuit filed by parents who wore pink armbands. The lawsuit alleges that their First Amendment rights to free speech and expression were stifled.
“I think this bill attempts to engage in an issue that is currently before a judge in federal court, specifically in a manner that has no meaningful impact on the process and appears to only be meant to grab headlines or otherwise try to lift up some sort of political rhetoric,” said Madden. “Superintendent Kelley should be commended for her action and not subject to some clickbait resolution like this.”
As the discussion on the resolution progressed, it became clear that Kelley had overwhelming support from current and former school staff from Bow and Dunbarton, who stepped up to defend her. Not a single voice in the room spoke in favor of removing her from the superintendent position.
Bryce Larrabee, chair of the Bow School Board, defended Kelley’s actions, stating she followed school policies and had nothing to do with transgender rights. He said that’s the same decision the school would have taken to prevent harassment, whether it be over a student’s name, appearance or what they wore.
“We applaud what Ms. Kelley and what the administration did,” said Larrabee. “If we’re wrong on how we approached that, we don’t want to be right.”
Online, however, it was a different story. Of the 55 people who supported removing Kelley, only one was from Bow, and most had little information about the district.
Jennifer Mercer, a Loudon resident, accused Kelley of “weaponizing the law” and described the level of power the superintendent wielded to bar the parents as “abhorrent.”
Mercer wrote it wasn’t against the law or any school code to wear pink armbands.
The majority of online testimony — more than 300 submissions — however, opposed the bill and supported Kelley.