In May 2023, a slate of three far-right candidates swept the Crook County School Board elections in Prineville, Oregon, running under the banner "Crook County for Better Education." Backed by a political consultant married to the Oregon House Republican minority leader, they promised to "restore wholesome education" and fight "indoctrination." Within weeks, the district's award-winning superintendent had resigned. Within two years, two of the three board members had themselves resigned under fire, the district had cycled through multiple superintendents, students had walked out in protest, and an investigation had uncovered that the board was likely violating Oregon's public meetings law.

But what happened in Crook County's schools didn't happen in isolation. It was one front in a broader far-right campaign to capture the institutions of rural Central Oregon — from the police and the courts to the water supply and the Republican Party itself. The school board was simply the most visible battleground.

The Library Came First

Before they came for the schools, they came for the library.

Beginning in 2022, conservative activists in Crook County launched a campaign to segregate all LGBTQ-themed children's books at the Crook County Public Library into a separate section. Books like "Sam Is My Sister" — a children's story about a transgender girl — were found thrown in the trash, stuffed behind diaper changing stations, and hidden on shelves. Some people checked out stacks of queer children's books en masse so no kids could read them.

Library director April Witteveen called it "guerilla tactics." Patrons shouted at staff, accused librarians of distributing "child pornography," and packed meetings with hundreds of people. LaQuinta Stec, the head of the library board who opposed the segregation push, was removed from her post by the Crook County Court after calling for the resignation of Cheyenne Edgerly — the leading figure in the book campaign. County Judge Seth Crawford defended the removal, saying it wasn't Stec's place to "air someone's dirty laundry in that way."

The segregation proposal ultimately failed in a 4-1 board vote. But the damage was done. Witteveen left her position for a job in Bend, citing the toll on her mental health. LGBTQ residents of Prineville described a climate of fear and harassment that hadn't existed before. Katie Fisher, the library's teen services librarian, told OPB that young people regularly came to her in crisis — students afraid of being kicked out of their homes if they came out, with nowhere to turn.

One 16-year-old trans student, identified only as Eledy, put it plainly: "If this all continues to go this way, then I might be in danger and my friends might be in danger as well."

The "Mama Bears" Take the Board

Cheyenne Edgerly — the same activist who had led the library book campaign — then set her sights on the school board. She formed a slate with Jennifer Knight and Jessica Brumble, dubbed the "Mama Bears" in campaign ads that declared: "We don't co-parent with the Government."

The slate was managed and financially backed by Bryan Iverson, a political consultant married to Oregon House Minority Leader Vikki Breese-Iverson. Iverson formed a PAC called Crook County for Better Education, raising more than $10,000 in cash and in-kind donations for the slate — an unusually expensive race for a rural school board where campaigning of any kind had previously been rare.

The three candidates ran on a platform opposing LGBTQ and racial inclusion in school curriculum. Emails obtained by OPB showed Edgerly had been pressuring District Superintendent Sara Johnson to remove books and abandon programs discussing queer people for months, frequently sharing disinformation from far-right news outlets with the district. In one move that drew widespread condemnation, the superintendent — under pressure from Edgerly — canceled elementary school field trips to the public library.

In May 2023, all three won. Edgerly defeated incumbent Doug Smith 54% to 46%. Knight pulled 51% in a three-way race against incumbent Jessica Ritter. Brumble defeated longtime board member Patti Norris 56% to 43%. The far right had a 3-2 majority.

The results stood in stark contrast to the rest of Oregon, where conservative school board candidates lost in Newberg, Canby, North Clackamas, and most Willamette Valley districts. But in rural Central Oregon, the culture war strategy worked.

The Superintendent Flees

Dr. Sara Johnson was named Oregon's Superintendent of the Year in 2022. She had been building Crook County's schools into one of the best small districts in the state. On June 7, 2023, less than a month after the election, she announced her resignation.

"When the new school board members begin their terms in July, Scott Cooper will be the only existing board member who hired me five years ago," Johnson wrote. "It's become evident that the new board members do not share my vision or mission for district leadership and how to operate the school district."

She continued: "I believe we are all better when working collaboratively together and focusing on the success of every student. It has become clear that it is in the best interest of the school district — and me — to step aside and allow the new board to select their own leader."

Board member Scott Cooper, the sole remaining pre-takeover member, said at the time: "I wish Dr. Johnson well because I think she has done amazing things for this district in terms of bringing our children new opportunities and making our district outstanding."

After Johnson's departure, the board interviewed several candidates for interim superintendent — including controversial former Alsea School District superintendent Marc Thielman, who had faced allegations of inappropriate behavior from a former employee and had made mask-wearing optional in his district before the state lifted its mandate. Duane Yecha, a former Crook County superintendent, was ultimately chosen as interim.

Hundreds of Crook County parents and community members packed a school board meeting to support athletic director Rob Bonner amid the district leadership crisis

Two Years of Chaos

What followed was a cascade of leadership failures, personnel vendettas, and violations of public trust that gutted the district's stability.

In May 2023, board member Gwen Carr resigned and was replaced by Steve Holliday — but not before Edgerly and three applicants for Carr's seat obtained a temporary restraining order that briefly delayed the appointment.

The board eventually hired Melissa Skinner as permanent superintendent in July 2024. Skinner, who had previously worked in the Ector County Independent School District in Odessa, Texas, told The Bulletin she was "excited to build relationships in Crook County and ensure that the district offered a world-class education."

Her tenure lasted less than six months.

By December 2024, the district was in full crisis. Board chair Jessica Brumble resigned from the board on December 10 — and was immediately hired as the district's transportation manager, in a hiring process that sparked outrage and an ongoing investigation. The same week, rumors spread that the district planned to remove Rob Bonner, the award-winning athletic director at Crook County High School. Hundreds of students walked out of class on December 16 in protest. Hundreds of parents packed a school board meeting to support Bonner. Both teacher and classified staff unions signed onto a formal complaint calling for Superintendent Skinner's removal.

That complaint, filed by Gayden Pack, accused Edgerly of maintaining a "hit list" of employees she wanted removed — with Bonner allegedly on it. Pack told Central Oregon Daily: "I believe that Edgerly has a vendetta. I believe that she has a few select people in her small circle that she's enlisted to continue to file complaints and push her vendetta through frivolous arguments."

The board voted 3-1 on January 6, 2025, to begin mutual termination talks with Skinner. Edgerly was the lone "no" vote. Skinner was placed on paid administrative leave, and Assistant Superintendent Joel Hoff became acting superintendent. The board approved the separation agreement on January 27.

Edgerly resigned on January 9, 2025 — the same day a community member launched a recall effort against her. In her resignation letter, she cited a "woke mob," "threats," and "vitriol" against her family, and claimed that "the most dangerous place for children is the current version of public education." Former board member Jessica Ritter responded: "I've experienced a lot of gaslighting from Ms. Edgerly, so this sounds like par for the course."

Within roughly 18 months, the "Mama Bears" majority had driven out an award-winning superintendent, cycled through an interim and a permanent replacement, lost two of its own members to resignation under scandal, and faced a community uprising that included student walkouts, union opposition, recall campaigns, and ethics investigations.

Crook County School Board members during a public meeting as investigations revealed violations of Oregon public meetings law

Breaking the Law to Keep Secrets

The dysfunction wasn't limited to personnel chaos. The board was also violating Oregon's open meetings law to target its own employees.

In December 2024, the Prineville Review — a local investigative outlet — discovered that the Crook County School Board had been conducting executive sessions under ORS 192.660(2)(b), which governs disciplinary hearings for public employees, without providing the required written notice to the affected employee. Under Oregon law, that notice must inform the employee of the hearing and give them the opportunity to require the governing body to hold the session publicly.

The board had been holding these sessions regarding complaints against Athletic Director Rob Bonner. Board Chair Jennifer Knight admitted the board had gone into executive session under 192.660(2)(b), but claimed it was "properly noticed and called."

Oregon Government Ethics Commission Executive Director Susan Myers told the Prineville Review otherwise: "There is no exception" to the notice requirement. Myers confirmed that re-entering executive session later in the same day does not constitute a "continuation" — it requires all new legal prerequisites.

Scott Cooper acknowledged in writing that after the Prineville Review raised concerns, the board re-entered executive session to discuss the legality of their own actions — but under the wrong statute. Myers confirmed that discussion wouldn't even qualify for executive session under the statute the board claimed to be using.

The violations likely extended back months, possibly years. The Prineville Review also uncovered similar violations by the Crook County Cemetery District, which admitted to the violations and whose directors were placed under preliminary investigation by the Oregon Government Ethics Commission.

The Bigger Picture: A County Under Siege

What's happening in Crook County's schools is not an isolated phenomenon. It's one thread in a coordinated far-right campaign to capture every institution of power in rural Central Oregon — a campaign that UTM has documented extensively.

In Prineville itself, as we reported in When the Militia Is the Law: How Far-Right Groups Hijacked Prineville's Police and Politics, far-right militia groups and Patriot movement organizations have been working to infiltrate and control local law enforcement and political apparatus. The Prineville-Redmond area is a known hotbed for Patriot movement activity, centered around groups like the Central Oregon Constitutional Guard — a militia-style organization whose members have participated in armed standoffs with federal agencies.

In 2024, The Guardian revealed that at least 66 members of the People's Rights Network — an anti-government group founded by far-right militia figure Ammon Bundy — attempted to win Republican precinct committee positions across three Central Oregon counties. At least 12 ran in Crook County alone. The group had already successfully captured the Deschutes County Republican apparatus in 2022, electing a member who had worn a Confederate uniform to a Fourth of July parade as county party chair. Their strategy mirrors the "precinct strategy" promoted by Steve Bannon and Trump himself — a bottom-up takeover of party infrastructure.

The economic dimension compounds the political one. As we documented in From Coal to Code: How Boardman Traded One Poison for Another — and a Town Is Paying the Price, the closure of the Boardman coal plant — once the economic backbone of the region — was followed by the arrival of Amazon data centers that have drained the area's water supply. In Boardman: Amazon's Data Center Empire vs. a Town's Drinking Water, we showed how a small town on the Columbia River was being consumed by Big Tech's insatiable demand for water and power, leaving residents to cope with the consequences. And the region has been repeatedly devastated by fires — as covered in The Fifth Fire: Amazon's Green Energy Goes Up in Smoke and The Sixth Fire: Six Trailers, Two Acres, and the Corporate Media is Tone Deaf.

The pattern is consistent: economic collapse creates vulnerability, far-right organizations fill the void with a narrative of resentment and control, and the institutions meant to serve the public get hollowed out from within. The coal plant dies. Amazon moves in. The water disappears. The militia takes the police. And the schools — the one institution that could offer the next generation a way out — get captured by people who think the most dangerous place for children is public education itself.

A Community Fights Back

Despite everything, Crook County is not giving up.

In the most recent school board elections, only one of four positions was contested. Kevin Bradley defeated far-right perennial candidate Eddy Howard 61% to 38%. Eric Osborne and Kelsey Swick were appointed to fill the vacancies left by Brumble and Edgerly and ran unopposed. Longtime member Scott Cooper was re-elected without opposition.

The community that packed meetings to defend Rob Bonner, that signed recall petitions, that launched complaints and demanded accountability — that community is still there. But the damage done by two years of far-right governance will take years to repair. Multiple superintendents have cycled through. Staff have left. Students have been traumatized. LGBTQ kids in Prineville — who already had few resources — watched their schools become battlegrounds for their right to exist.

As Pacific University's Andrew Saultz told The Bulletin: "Leadership turnover harms teacher retention and leadership turnover harms student outcomes."

The far-right's war on rural Oregon's institutions is far from over. But in Crook County, at least, the people they targeted are fighting back — and they're starting to win.