Chinmay Nagarkar is hiding his real agenda

Pronouns really upset this guy. If pronouns are your number one issue as a voter, then maybe Chinmay is your guy.

But here’s the thing. Our district has inclusion policies designed to build safe learning environments for ALL students. If you read his web site, student safety is his number one issue.

So what are we to make of his vehement opposition to a district inclusion policy that thoughtfully outlines exactly how staff should handle the very delicate and personal issue of a student’s identity?

In some social media posts, when pressed on his position regarding support for our LGBTQ+ kids, he stresses that he does not support discrimination, but wants policy based on science. Implying that the current policy is not.

Every single student in our district has a right to go to school in a safe environment, in schools full of kids and staff who show up as their truest selves. That means you might meet someone you disagree with. In a safe learning environment, we might actually foster better understanding in our communities.

Banning books has a bad reputation. It calls to mind black and white images of narrow-minded angry people around a flaming pile of books. Distasteful business banning books.

So. what we’ve learned is that the people who want to ban books have spent a lot of time crafting messaging that might sound reasonable to the busy voter who skims the voter guide before filling in the bubble. 

People don’t say outright that they want to ban books from our schools or that they support censorship. But when you look into the organizations behind these efforts, we start to see some common themes. Their goal is to remove books they don't like from schools. And there are a lot of books they don't like.

Where is Chinmay in all of this? 

We did the work so you don’t have to. It took a lot of time to make these connections because we didn’t want to just accept opinions out in the community that Chinmay’s a right-wing book banner. 

Here is what we found. Stick with us, you’ll see what we mean! There are links so you can dig further.

1. Chinmay is a member of the Facebook group: Washington, Parents’ Rights In Education, and makes supportive posts in the group. 
2. This group is part of a national organization that aims to run candidates in school board races to oppose what they call “Radical Gender Ideology” and “Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE)” among other platform issues with pretty disturbing labels. You might have heard about Moms for Liberty. Similar organization, similar goals.
3. Below you will see a screenshot of post by an admin for the group. She posted a link to a site called Take Back the Classroom, a site that shouts: “Find Out Which Pornographic Books are in Your Child's School.” 
4. The post accompanying the link states: “Naysayers will say I believe in ‘banning’ books. Nope. I believe in screening for age-appropriateness in PUBLIC SCHOOL libraries. If ya’ll want your kids to read smut so badly, go check it out at the public library or buy them at the book store. Because they are NOT ‘banned.’ You can print them, write them, and even read them.”
5. Chinmay LOVED this post.
6. Yeah, we know it’s just a heart. On a post. The key is that Chinmay has adopted the language of parents’ rights. And if you aren’t familiar with the vocabulary these “we’re-not-banning-books-but-we're-banning-books” groups employ ... well you could end up giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Endorsements in nonpartisan races are always a little weird. Because when you look at them, you can clearly see the partisan lines.

What is interesting about Chinmay’s endorsements is that he opted not to seek endorsements from the Republican Party, even though he is vice chair of the 41st Legislative District Republicans (covering Mercer Island, Newcastle, Beaux-Arts, and parts of Bellevue, Sammamish and Issaquah).

So he doesn’t seek the GOP endorsement and he doesn’t mention his leadership in local Republican politics. Casual visitors to his web site might come away with the idea that he is a nonpartisan centrist who wants more accountability.

Why does it matter? It is a lie by omission. Chinmay is following a partisan playbook, using tactics to hide who he is and bring divisive and dangerous views to our School Board.

So who likes this guy?

First up we have Sam Sim, Korean-American community leader and CEO of Apptronic, Inc. Sam Sim is a Republican who ran for the State Legislature and lost in 2024. The 44th Legislative District covers Snohomish County. So we have a guy from Snohomish county.

Next up we have Wendy Ghiora. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because she ran for Issaquah School Board against Sydne Mullings in 2021 and lost. She is a retired private school principal. She was the favorite candidate for the “let-conservative-parents-decide-all-the-things-in-our-schools voters.”

Still with us? 

Then we have Pastor Joe. He is a longtime pastor of a megachurch in Bothell. He has nothing specific to say about Chinmay, but says he researched each candidate. There is just a link to Pastor Joe's Picks, where you can find his statewide voter guide for “Getting Conservative Leaders Elected” along with links to Teachings from Pastor Joe.

And finally we have Vibhuti Jha. Who, you ask? All we can tell you is that he is running for the New York State Assembly. Do with that what you will. (Could we do a deep dive? Sure. Do we want to? Not really.)

Do schools fail some kids? Unfortunately, yes. Many of us know someone personally or know of a family that struggled to have their child’s needs met in our school district. It’s heart-wrenching for the child and for the family to try to figure out the best course of action. There are important lessons that we as a community can take from these failures, and ignoring them would be the greatest failure. 

It's pretty awful that Chinmay is hanging his personal agenda on the shoulders of kids. And it’s unacceptable. He shouts accountability! He has charts! He also has a massive chip on his shoulder because our district has an inclusion policy.

So yes, we need to evaluate and improve how we meet the needs of every single student in our schools. Even the trickiest of cases. So, in that sense, OK, no talent left behind.

But scrubbing your old posts on Facebook, deleting a pro-MAGA post from your Medium account, skirting questions in community forums, using the “parents’ rights” group playbook to hide what you really stand for? If you have to go to all that trouble and effort to improve your electability, then you're not the man for the job.

The stakes are so high when it comes to our kids. Our educators know this. Assuming that they do not know this is disrespectful. Cynical. And doesn’t help us move forward to build a better community that supports our kids and our education system. One that sees more successes for kids and families, that aims to understand the why behind it all.

We hope this information has been helpful.