Natrona School Board Interviews: Porambo and Studer

This is the third article in a series of interviews about the 15 candidates running for Natrona School District board.

Joseph Porambo, who has been a restaurant manager for several decades and is the grandfather of two children who recently entered public school, said he worries about the safety of the students and the curriculum being taught.

On the safety side of things, Porambo said he believes every teacher who wants to should be armed to better protect students.

“In terms of safety, I would work more closely with the sheriff’s department and the police department, who I’ve already met with the sheriff several times to talk about safety issues…I have some specific concerns of a, school safety.” , Porambo said. “I think the Legislature has given the districts the power to whatever teachers they want, to arm our teachers who they want.” I know there are a lot of obstacles to that, and that was part of my conversation with the sheriff. But I believe that every obstacle that exists is surmountable. Without going into the details of the plan I have because that may take some time, but I definitely have a plan that will not only keep our students safe but our teachers and administrators in the school building safe…teachers want , we will not make a teacher carry a gun. But a teacher who wants to would have to go through a gun safety and use class similar to what our police department and our sheriff’s department go through.”

As for the curriculum, Porambo said he has issues with the way the district approaches the curriculum and wishes there were more opportunities for students who want to learn trade skills.

“As for the curriculum, we need to involve the general public and teachers more in the design of the curriculum instead of relying strictly on the curriculum handed to us by the Ministry of Education and other federal entities,” Porambo said. “I think we need to look a little bit more into our commercial high schools. Many students are not good with the book but are great with their hands or have very strong mechanical abilities. I think we should start by looking at this for those kids who don’t have the book but have that mechanical ability.”

Porambo said he is against the concept of critical race theory because it divides society, although he has not read any books about critical race theory, but has done research online looking at curricula that he believes are built around it.

“I see this board looking to introduce it, but not to introduce it fully. My research on CRT, I think it’s a bad thing for Wyoming schools, for Natrona schools,” Porambo said. “And I think that’s something we should avoid, not try to change it to something that’s palatable.” I think the level of our commitment to our students is not just to make it taste… I think it basically paints a picture of society if you’re a different skin color or a different faith or a different religion than those who are in power, you are the problem, they are not the problem. It is not Anglo-Saxon Americans, those of white descent that are the problem. I think we’ve come so far over the years, not the race issue and treating everyone fairly. Do we still have a way? Yes, we always will. But I think we’ve come so far, to bring that back and blame one group of people for all the problems we have in the United States is wrong… If it’s historically accurate, I think it’s important to be included, but under everyone’s banner one group is bad, all one group is good, the reason one group is bad is because the other group is bad, I just have some problems with it. I can’t give you anything specific, I really can’t. Just what things I’ve heard. I’ve talked to school board members outside of school board meetings.”

Critical race theory is an academic theory that began in the 1970s that discusses how race has affected various legal, political, and social structures in the United States.

Porambo said she is against the way the district is handling COVID-19 and against any form of virtual learning, but she is against removing the two books, Gender Queer and Trans Bodies and Trans Selves, from school libraries after they just that they started reading them.

“I think we did a great disservice to our students by, even though we weren’t online, we didn’t go remote, I think the decisions about masking and stuff, I think those were decisions that should have been left up to the parents,” said Porambo. “I work in retail management and I chose, while my job required it, I chose not to. I’m an older gentleman and the choice worked out well for me. And I had some real issues with the face mask requirement. .. I would have voted to keep our schools open. And I would have voted that masking was the parent’s choice. I agree that what it looks like will be the board’s decision. I am very much against banning books and feel that the decision of the committee that was told that these two books, this decision is correct and that we are not talking about putting these books in elementary schools, we are talking about high schools. We are not talking about including them in our curriculum, we are talking about providing of our students’ information, and if a parent doesn’t want their student to read this book, parents have the option to go to the librarian and say I don’t want my child to have this book.”

Bernie Studer, who was born in Wyoming and retired in 2016 after working for a utility company in Fort Collins, Colo., said he doesn’t like the lies being told to kids and wants the school board to give the right ones student and teacher tools.

“We scare the kids, at least for the last 30 years, we’ve been scaring them. Basically, the land will run out tomorrow,” Studer said. “I don’t know, what do we have, 12 minutes left? I can’t keep the schedule, but this is how we scare them, we lie to them about things. The lies prevent them from being prepared for the real world…we have to stop it and engage the kids in discussions about things and let them come up with evidence of what they believe and discuss it with each other and they can ask us for help if they need it, that’s great, we’ll provide it for them and that’s one of the main duties of the school board is to make sure that the students have the tools and that the teachers have the tools and the administration has the proper tools… I don’t know if that’s happening in Natrona County, but that seems to be the trend. Basically it’s not an outright lie, it’s just they do things and say things that may make students feel that ‘that’s the real world out there .’ They come out of school and go to an employer, that’s not going to be it, they’ve done it in schools, in the real world it’s a bit more difficult and that’s what I’m worried about.”

Studer said he’s been to three school board meetings and isn’t too sure how the board works, but he wants to be on it to advocate for the public and is open to talking to anyone about anything.

“I have my personal email on my banner and on the little stickers I give out. I’m open to discussion, anything, anyone,” Studer said. “They can ask me a question, they can tell me I’m out of bounds, whatever. As long as we’re civil, I’ll come, I’m available…I just felt an obligation to get involved, even if all I could dam, is speaking at meetings or just talking to people and bringing their concerns to the school board, that’s fine with me. Most importantly, I want to be an advocate for society.”

Studer said people have overreacted to COVID-19, and he was surprised to see similar sentiment in Oregon, Wyoming, and that he opposes both books being in schools.

“Nationally, I think everyone overreacted. I was in Oregon when it started happening, and it kind of followed me to Wyoming,” Studer said. “I was surprised how quickly everything was locked down…I think books should be limited and if people are interested and parents should get involved with their child. Their child should be able to come to their parents and ask ask them questions and I realize that sometimes the situation doesn’t allow that, the child is their personal thing, I’ll keep it to myself, talk to my friends or here’s a book I’ll read , I think you should have guidance, no criticism, just help them.”

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