LTHS Conservatives Still Fighting Administration: Grad

LA GRANGE, IL – The Lyons Township High School student who unsuccessfully fought for two years to get the administration to approve a conservative group is not letting up.

Leslie Mendoza, who graduated in the spring, spoke to the school board Monday about giving club status to a Turning Point USA chapter on campus.

During her junior and senior years, Mendoza, the local group's former president, appealed to administrators to approve the club.

Turning Point has chapters at campuses around the country. The group says it teaches students about the benefits of the free market, limited government and freedom.

"It kind of feels like you guys have done everything to keep conservatives off campus, but then we go and have a Black Lives Matter mural in the basement and spend all this money to promote other ideas," Mendoza told the board.

The school's emphasis on equity and inclusion, she said, does not apply to conservatives. She said students are still trying to get the chapter approved.

"They are taking over my position and are trying to continue the fight with the administrators and the stipend committee," Mendoza said.

The students have secured meetings with the school's director of equity, she said.

"I hope to see in the future that there is more of an effort to create a space in a district where all students can feel included," Mendoza said.

She noted three board seats are up in the April election.

"I feel like that should be concerning for a few of you," Mendoza said. "Parents, get out there for your kids. Make this district what it used to be. Fix it up."

The board did not respond to Mendoza's comments.

Because Turning Point lacks official status, it must pay the school to rent a room to meet.

The school has said Turning Point is a partisan group and thus not allowed for official status. But Mendoza and others note the IRS designates Turning Point as a nonprofit, meaning it cannot be partisan.