This opinion piece was written and submitted by Green River residents Justin and Rachel Conder.

The following opinion piece is a community submission and doesn’t reflect the opinion of TRN Media, which encompasses SweetwaterNOW and The Radio Network. 

Dear Green River community, 

I do not take sending this letter to Sweetwaternow, lightly. In fact, this is extremely uncomfortable for me. But after speaking with many other friends/local residents about my conversations and experience with Marlene Brady, I realized that I needed to share my experience with the rest of the community. 

I have spoken with Marlene Brady three different times, including having her over to my house. The first time that I spoke with her, it was clear how little she understood the public school system, especially our local community schools. I wanted to share my positive experiences with her, and help her understand. I learned that Mrs. Brady, homeschooled her kids, and her kids, now homeschool their own kids. From what it sounds like, that has been a very successful choice/process for their family. 

In my opinion, it doesn’t matter if I am republican or democrat or libertarian, etc. because at the end of the day, an elected official makes decisions for ALL of us. From the most liberal to most conservative, from the miners to the gas station attendants- we are ALL represented in this community. So my goal in having these conversations with Marlene Brady was to try to help her learn or share my perspective with our local, Green River school district.

I shared with Mrs. Brady that she has not been clear about her end goal when it comes to public education, and that might be something she might need to consider. All she could tell me is that she is “for parents’ rights.” But she couldn’t tell me which rights, as a parent, I was missing or the rights that she is supposed to be “fighting” for. I showed Mrs. Brady on my phone through Infinite Campus all of the data that I could get on my own child. I explained that at any time, I could call my child’s school and ask for any information that pertained to my child. I also sent her copies of parental rights documents that are (legally) offered to parents at the beginning of IEP meetings. I told her about a FREE organization that services parents around the state called PIC, Parent Information Center, whose entire mission is to help parents understand their rights and ensure they are followed. I told Mrs. Brady that there are so many resources out there for parents, but most do not know these resources exist. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with not knowing, Mrs. Brady had no interest in learning about those rights that are already in place for parents. It is extremely frustrating but honestly, very ignorant, Mrs. Brady to lead parents into believing that she will be supporting their parental rights. How will she be supporting parental rights, when she has not read or learned about them? The question I keep finding myself asking is, if Marlene Brady has no interest in reading current policies/laws, is she going to spend the time to read bills/laws that will directly impact our everyday lives? As a taxpayer and constituent, that is a terrifying question that I shouldn’t be left to wonder. 

Marlene Brady spoke a lot about the concern for “taxpayers” and that is extremely valid. In fact, I would believe that most people share concerns about where their taxes go. But what was disturbing to my husband and I, was that Marlene Brady only wants to protect certain taxpayers interests, only the ones that she agrees with. 

As people who also pay taxes, what about our rights? Do they not matter? What about my neighbors’ rights? Do they not matter? I understand and agree that unfortunately, you cannot make every person happy. One of the things Marlene Brady and I both agreed on, is that our elected officials are REPRESENTATIVES of their constituents, and should not follow their own beliefs. While she agreed with me on that, her actions do not show an interest in representing our entire community. But not only that, if she wins this election- OUR taxes are going towards paying her, to make extremely uninformed decisions that directly affect MY family’s life, and our community. That is a HUGE concern for me and my husband. 

I completely respect someone when they say that they want to learn. In my opinion, Brady has no interest in actually learning, by going into our SW2 classrooms to speak with teachers and administrators- to see the reality. I told Mrs.Brady many times to go talk with the staff, as people. Go observe. Ask questions. Marlene Brady appeared to be scared to actually go into a classroom in person. She said she instead wants to spend taxpayer money to put cameras in each of the classrooms, “because kids act differently in front of adults” so she can hide behind a wall and make her opinions. I explained to her in-depth that  when I was teaching I had nothing to hide, I invited Senator Tom James to come in and observe my class. Unfortunately, between COVID and his work schedules- we weren’t able to make it work. I respected him SO much because he was real about learning. He asked questions, with good intentions for our community. Marlene Brady wants to fight for parents’ rights? What about parents who don’t want their child recorded on camera? What about the children who have disabilities, who have the right to privacy? What about those parents/children? But do those parents’ rights not matter? I’m starting to be confused on which parents’ rights Mrs. Brady supports. Which one of us would have to give up our parental rights in order to support Marlene’s beliefs? 

So in my opinion, it is very disingenuous for Marlene Brady to run on the basis of “parent rights”. Is Mrs. Brady fighting for change because she wants to put her grandchildren in public school? Like what is her point? I understand she claims to be fighting for parents’ rights. What about it? The fact that she doesn’t even understand her own position, is exactly the concern. What about the child? Who is fighting for them? The teachers. That’s who teachers and administrators are always focused on, the children. Are there things that could be improved? Absolutely. Just like in any other job. But I also firmly believe that the SW2 administration, is always trying to find ways to improve for their staff, students, and community. In my experience, SW2 wants parents involved in their children’s education. Our administration works tirelessly to follow mandates and regulations, to ensure that our teachers and students have a safe place to work and learn. 

Marlene Brady went to a SW2 school board meeting and publicly accused our community, elected official board members of doing something “shady” based on misinformation and lack of understanding of the system, when in reality… they were doing their jobs. I cannot help but ask myself, was she trying to get our community all upset over nothing? Or was it not the “gotcha” moment that she was hoping for? Was that the best use of her campaign time? Instead of asking questions, or researching? I would bet that if she would’ve asked our SW2 board members questions, with the intentions of understanding, they would have been more than willing to help Mrs. Brady. If she is elected, she represents Green River, that is a terrifying prospect. I would much rather have someone who is actually going to research, and ask questions to represent us, regardless of political party. 

Marlene Brady kept saying over and over that she is not associated with Moms for Liberty even though she brought their handbook into my home. Mrs. Brady claimed to be “for the teachers” while showing me and my 3 year old daughter who was sitting at the table, color copies of a graphic novel that had pictures of two gay men having sex, while accusing our local public school teachers of “grooming” (the exact word that Marlene Brady used) our Green River children. It’s abhorrent and absolutely sickening to accuse our community of this. These are horrid accusations and for Marlene Brady to accuse our local public school teachers of this, is beyond pathetic and shameful. Our local educators and administrators give their EVERYTHING, to ensure that our children have the best learning experience possible. So to attack these public servants, and accuse them of this… I simply have no words for her. Green River deserves better than Marlene Brady. 

In our opinion, this is not about Republicans vs Democrats. This is about not voting for someone who is attacking our community- our local teachers and schools, with no real intention of stopping. Marlene Brady has demonstrated no understanding or willingness to learn the policies and procedures that are already in place. That is absolutely terrifying. We need a representative who understands that there is always room for improvement, but supports our community by asking questions with positive intentions. We need someone who believes that Green River is a great place to raise our children, with incredible job opportunities/resources that surround us, while knowing there is always room to better ourselves. For those reasons, we will NOT be voting for Marlene Brady for our state representative, and will be voting FOR Carmen Whitehead. 

Thank you,

Justin and Rachel Conder