Lisa McClain rebukes Michigan school board for targeting deployed member

House GOP Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain, R-Mich., scolded a school board in Richmond, Mich., after some of its members tried to oust a conservative colleague for missing meetings while on military duty to the Middle East.

Ray Steir, who received an American flag and a copy of the Congressional Record from McClain as a tribute to his work Thursday, was on duty, attending board meetings remotely but eventually lost virtual access.

That’s when the board called for his removal, citing the “disservice” resulting from his absence.

“The family of one of the board members was using social media, posting false information about me and my wife and things that were not actually true, and eventually demanding my resignation and encouraging others to reach out to the district and demand that I be recalled,” Steir recounted.

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The moment is the latest clash between Republicans and school boards over policies that they say protect schools against diversity of thought and accountability.

“I think education is extremely important and vital,” McClain told Fox News Digital.

“And educators and administrators need to teach children how to think, not what to think. It’s time for administrators to start being held accountable for their actions. Good actions and bad actions.”

McClain’s meeting with Steir came on the heels of a congressional hearing last week in which he grilled a Virginia superintendent about student privacy policies and investigated whether those policies were applied unequally in favor of transgender students.

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Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., leaves the House Republican Conference meeting at the Capitol Hill Club on Feb. 28, 2023. (CQ Polling via Tom Williams/Getty Images)

“The victims received a 10-day suspension and the biological female who did the shooting also received a one-day suspension,” McClain said, referring to an incident at Stone Bridge High School in Loudoun County where students were reprimanded for filming in the locker room. he said.

“How does this make sense?”

In the Steir case, McClain questioned whether the board targeted Steir simply because of his overseas assignment. Steir clashed with the board after learning that some of the district’s bathroom policies allowed fourth-graders to use the same bathroom as transgender men in eighth grade.

“The seat was open for two months before we filled it,” McClain said. So this logical argument doesn’t make much sense to me; “It doesn’t actually hold much water.”

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House GOP Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain, R-Mich., left, pictured with Richmond, Michigan school board member Ray Steir, right. (Lisa McClain’s Office)

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Steir, for his part, believes his case will refocus attention on the importance of school boards and membership.

“My goal is to continue to be an advocate for the community. One of the good things that came out of this was that this got so much attention that some community members were unaware of the dynamics that were not brought to light,” Steir said.