Why We Oppose Ralph Tate

Ralph Tate was captured on PLCS Central Office video surveillance accosting a PLCS mom and her young daughter without provocation after a school board meeting over differing views. A police officer had to intervene and stop Ralph so the mom and her daughter could safely leave the building. This encounter resulted in a cease and desist demand filed against Ralph Tate for his threatening and aggressive actions.

An except from Ralph Tate’s campaign website reads, “There are those who do not agree with me on these issues, and I respect their right to voice their perspective,” but don’t let him fool you. Ralph has already demonstrated his inability to keep his temper under control, even in the presence of young minors in school buildings. We need to set good examples for our children, not immediately lose all self-control the second a community member we don’t even know says something we disagree with.

The Nebraska State Education Association (NSEA) is, as described on their website, “a member-directed professional association representing 26,000 PreK-12 public school teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, and aspiring educators.” When asked about positions on the NSEA in a political survey, Ralph Tate answered, “I believe the NSEA should have no input to educational standards. They are a political body whose objective is to defend the public educational bureaucracy.” If Ralph isn’t willing to consider teachers’ input when it comes to public education, whose interests is he really representing?

Ralph added, “Teachers should be free from having to be in the NSEA to prevent promoting political candidates,” implying that it’s currently a problem, but that’s already the law. It has been illegal to require membership to a labor organization as a condition of employment for quite some time. Furthermore, the Nebraska Political Accountability and Disclosure Act requires that only voluntary contributions may be used for the type of political activity Ralph is referring to, and they also face additional restrictions on disbursements.

Ralph Tate claimed the district tolerates pedophiles during the September 11, 2023 PLCS Board of Education meeting. It was his response after a book review committee disagreed with Ralph’s opinion about a book found in a high school library, a memoir written by an LGBTQIA+ author. Ralph later admitted to not even reading the book himself in a later interview.

Ralph then uses language from a debunked myth to further push the lie that the district is tolerating pedophiles. “Words also have the power to deceive,” indeed.

Several of the books Ralph has protested address some difficult topics and situations that readers may find themselves in, often times actually helping readers protect themselves and recognize abuse.

Not everyone will agree about the appropriateness of every book, and that’s OK. However, it’s NOT OK to handle those disagreements by baselessly accusing others of being pedophiles or tolerating pedophiles. It is not a school board member’s duty to throw these accusations around, either. Our district needs school board members who understand it’s not OK to make such vile accusations about others over disagreements.

Ralph Tate regularly denigrates teachers by labeling them as being nothing more than mere “bureaucrats”. One of those times was during the June 26, 2023 PLCS Board of Education meeting.

He then voices support in favor of DEFUNDING our public schools. If Ralph Tate wishes to defund our public schools, why does he want to be on our public school board?

Ralph Tate is endorsed by Moms for Liberty and has attended local chapter meetings and other events alongside Weniger. Moms for Liberty is recognized by the SPLC as an extremist group, and for good reason. An example from the SPLC’s entry on Moms for Liberty reads, “Melissa ‘Missy’ Bosch (Lonoke County, AR Chapter) was indicted for terroristic threatening towards the faculty and staff of Cabot School district. She was recorded musing about gunning down a school librarian.”

We believe we can have discussions about books without making threats or accusing those we disagree with of being pedophiles or tolerating pedophiles, something Tate has claimed about our district and other community members who disagree with Tate’s opinions.

The district has healthy policies in place about contested books which includes providing parents/guardians the tools to monitor their childrens’ reading materials and opt their children out of anything they object to. That is what parental control looks like, and that is what we have.

However, Ralph wants to make decisions on behalf of ALL PARENTS according to his own preferences and personal standards. Ralph does not even have children currently in the district, but he still thinks it’s HIS right to take away our rights as parents to make decisions for our own children.