A Spanish teacher at Charles W. Baker High School in Baldwinsville, New York, was placed on paid administrative leave in late January after she agreed to help students establish a Club America chapter, the conservative civics organization affiliated with Turning Point USA.
Jennifer Fasulo's offense, as far as anyone can tell, was saying yes to her students.
The Baldwinsville Central School District, a suburb outside of Syracuse, confirmed the leave in a February 10 letter to parents and staff but offered almost nothing in the way of explanation. The district's statement was a masterclass in bureaucratic non-answers:
"The District can confirm that a staff member has been placed on paid administrative leave while a matter is under review."
"We are following established administrative and legal procedures, and we are unable to comment further or share additional details at this time."
No specifics. No allegations. No transparency. Just a teacher removed from her classroom and a district hiding behind boilerplate.
According to Breitbart, the most important detail in this story is one the district clearly hopes people will overlook: the students initiated this. They wanted to start a Club America chapter. They went looking for a faculty adviser, which is standard procedure for any school club. Fasulo agreed to help.
Republican State Senate candidate Caleb Slater, who met Fasulo through his church community, made the point plainly:
"These are students who asked for this organization to be founded, not parents or teachers."
Slater said the teacher is being used as a sacrificial lamb to dissuade conservatives from starting clubs at their schools. That framing is hard to argue with when the district won't provide any other explanation for why a teacher who helped students exercise their right to organize is now sitting at home on paid leave, pending what a petition supporting her describes as termination.
Club America President Jerry Dygert spoke at a February 9 board meeting and didn't mince words about what was happening:
"Our club exists to promote political understanding through civil discourse, removing the one teacher who best embodies those values puts that mission in serious jeopardy."
Dygert also said Fasulo "is being targeted not because of her performance, but for her political beliefs." The district has done nothing to contradict that conclusion.
Here is where the district's own language becomes its most damning evidence. From that same February 10 letter:
"The District is firmly committed to providing a safe, welcoming, and inclusive environment for every individual."
"Our policies, practices, and values reflect our belief that all members of our school community deserve to be treated with dignity and respect."
Every individual. All members. Dignity and respect.
Unless, apparently, you're a teacher who helps students start a conservative club. Then you get placed on leave, your name dragged into public view, and your career put in jeopardy while administrators mumble about "established procedures" and refuse to say what you actually did wrong.
This is the pattern in American public education. The word "inclusive" has been hollowed out and repurposed. It now means a specific political orientation is welcome. Deviate from it, and the machinery of administrative review activates. No one will tell you the charge. No one will say your politics are the problem. They don't have to. The process is the punishment.
To their credit, parents and community members aren't letting this slide. A petition supporting Fasulo had collected more than 2,300 signatures as of Sunday. That's a significant number for a suburban school district, and it signals that the silent majority in places like Baldwinsville is getting less silent.
Community members spoke at the board meeting alongside Dygert. The message was consistent: this looks like ideological targeting, and the district's refusal to explain itself only reinforces that impression.
Think about what this teaches every other teacher in the Baldwinsville Central School District. Think about what it teaches every other teacher in New York State. A colleague agreed to sponsor a student club with a conservative orientation, and it cost her the classroom. The specifics of the "review" don't matter for the purposes of the message being sent. The message is: don't.
Don't help those students. Don't associate with that organization. Don't make yourself a target. Keep your head down, run the approved clubs, and nobody gets hurt.
Schools across the country host chapters of every imaginable political and social identity organization. Progressive activism clubs operate freely. But a Club America chapter, focused on civic discourse? That triggers an administrative investigation and a paid leave that sure looks like a prelude to firing.
Conservatives have argued for years that public schools operate as ideological gatekeepers. Districts like Baldwinsville keep proving them right, then issuing statements about "dignity and respect" without a trace of self-awareness.
Jennifer Fasulo said yes to her students. That's all it took.
