Last month, in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, students attending Patriot High School in Prince William County Schools (PWCS), Virginia, organized to form a Turning Point USA (TPUSA) chapter. One of the students leading the initiative told IW Features, “I wanted to start this chapter because of Charlie Kirk’s murder. We are choosing of our own volition to pick up Charlie’s microphone and continue the fight. What we are fighting for is simple––truth.”

But in their pursuit of truth and friendship within a TPUSA club, these students faced institutional and ideological barriers to founding a chapter at their high school. 

For example, the students were unable to find a faculty sponsor. PWCS Regulation 646-1 requires, among other things, that clubs must be “supervised, directed, or otherwise sponsored by school personnel.”

High schools in the district host a variety of clubs with a leftist framework, including LGBT, young Democrats, and equity clubs—none of which seem to have had an issue finding a faculty sponsor. Many parents blame the district leadership’s ideological biases, arguing they are leading to viewpoint discrimination in their children’s public schools. 

Jennifer Wall, a current PWCS board member for the Gainesville district and former lawyer, told IW Features that “under the Equal Access Act, schools can’t favor certain groups over others or exclude groups based on their viewpoints.” 

Wall told IW Features, “I believe that some members of the community do not know about the Equal Access Act nor understand the legal underpinnings and rationales of the school division’s policies, which follow federal statutory and case law. This has contributed to vocal community opposition of conservative students’ efforts to form Turning Point-affiliated clubs on our campuses.” 

On Oct. 15, Merianne Jensen, a PWCS mother, testified at a school board meeting in support of a TPUSA chapter at Patriot High School. She said, “My son and his friend showed remarkable initiative in starting a Turning Point USA chapter at Patriot High School, a club open to all students that promotes civic engagement, leadership, and open dialogue––qualities we want every student to develop.”

Jensen continued to explain that the students’ attempt to start the club faced “an uphill battle.” She said, “No teacher would sponsor it, fearing backlash in today’s polarized climate that many of you on this board have created.”

Unfortunately, the parents who have spoken up in support of the students’ right to form a TPUSA chapter have faced backlash from PWCS’s education officials as well. On Oct. 1, Tracy Blake, the male Democratic-endorsed school board vice chair and member for the Neabsco District––who reportedly has a criminal history––verbally assaulted and intimidated Erica Trennidick, a Republican-endorsed school board member, for her support of TPUSA clubs in PWCS. She detailed the “aggressive and unprovoked confrontation” on her Facebook page. 

Trennidick wrote, “He joined a conversation he was not part of, shouted profanities, invaded my personal space, made troubling remarks about my character, and continued to pursue me even after I walked away and made it clear l wanted the interaction to end. He also made a threatening remark involving my husband––who was not present––further escalating the intimidation. His behavior was so alarming that I had to ask security personnel to escort me to my vehicle.”

Trennidick told IW Features that the confrontation was about her support for TPUSA and Blake’s objection to it. She also said it was the third time that she had experienced such unprovoked intimidation from Blake. Trennidick said the first time occurred in September 2024––in the presence of students––regarding her appointment of Moms for Liberty members to school board committees. The second time, Trennidick said, occurred in November 2024, a few days after the presidential election, because Blake was upset that President Donald Trump won over his preferred candidate, former Vice President Kamala Harris.

IW Features requested comment from Blake. He did not respond.

During Jensen’s school board testimony, she raised the issue of the lack of decorum among board members. She said, “Mr. Tracy Blake’s verbal assault on Ms. Tredinnick after the Oct. 1 board meeting for her support of the Turning Point Club exposes your hypocrisy.” 

Jensen continued, “You allow a board member to bully a female board member while preaching inclusivity, stifling conservative voices, and free speech for our kids. Mr. Blake, you are a toxic example to our children.”

Three days after Jensen’s powerful testimony, the Prince William School Board voted to issue a public censure of Blake for violating board policy and the code of ethics. The vote was 6-2, with Blake and Woodbridge District Member Loree Williams dissenting.

Trennidick told IW Features that the censure, which the majority of Democrat-endorsed school board members supported, “shows how wrong his behavior was.”

She, however, cast doubt on whether the censure would effectively change Blake’s future behavior, pointing to his questionable social media posts in the days that followed.

On Oct. 20, for example, likely in response to being censured for misconduct, Blake posted lyrics on X from the song “Whatchu Want” by The Notorious B.I.G. He wrote, “What have y’all done? To even have-an opinion on what I’ve been doin’… What have y’all won? Only thing you can identify with is losing…”

Moving forward, if Blake does not conduct himself in an appropriate and professional manner, Trennidick told IW Features that the next step might be a public recall.

And those steps might already be in motion. On Oct. 6, Jacob Alderman, the chair of the Prince William County Republican Committee, released a statement calling for Blake’s resignation: “I call on Tracy Blake to resign immediately. Anything less is a failure of leadership and a risk to our community. Threatening a colleague for discussing conservative student groups is unacceptable and dangerous. It fuels the very climate of rage that has already endangered lives.”

Reflecting on the incidents with Blake, Trennidick said, “We can and will disagree on policy—that’s part of democracy. But disagreement must never turn into intimidation.”

From a school board member’s experience with her male colleague’s intimidation tactics, to teachers’ fear of retribution for sponsoring conservative clubs in high schools, to conservative students’ hesitance to share their viewpoints, it is clear that conservatives are experiencing impediments to free expression at every level in PWCS.

For the sake of truth and fairness, conservatives across the nation––much like the brave students of Patriot High School––must continue to work together to overcome institutional and cultural barriers in liberal public schools.