Two Turning Point USA afterschool groups have been formed and approved by school officials at public high schools in Eagle County – home to Vail and Beaver Creek ski areas – drawing opposition from parents and an online protest petition signed by nearly 200 people so far.

According to a Change.org petition opposing the group at Eagle Valley High School, TPUSA members have “routinely engaged in racist, homophobic, and sexist hate speech on college campuses across America. Their refusal to condemn harassment and violence that result from their actions is a testament to their true nature.”

Stating TPUSA is a “well-funded organization linked to hard-right extremists identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center,” the petition goes on to read “this isn’t just another political debate club” and that the group that’s had so much success harassing college professors is now targeting high school teachers.

“What’s most alarming is TPUSA’s latest strategy to infiltrate high schools,” the petition reads. “Eagle Valley High School’s administration and Superintendent Phil Qualman have confirmed that the group secured a taxpayer-funded faculty sponsor, as required by district policy. The district shared that they don’t prevent student groups from forming based on political or religious affiliations, provided they ‘don’t promote violence, bullying, or behavior that disrupts the learning environment.’”

In fact, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) reports TPUSA is beyond disruptive on college campuses such as Utah Valley University, where Kirk was allegedly assassinated while giving a speech on Sept. 10.

The petition cites rising hate, teen depression, and suicide, as well as a “tragic first-degree murder case involving its students in 2024. Allowing TPUSA to gather here risks attracting more national attention, endangering the safety of students and faculty, and contributing to existing tensions. TPUSA does not belong around young impressionable minds who are still trying to learn about the world and their place in it. It undermines district wide efforts to foster a diverse and supportive learning environment.”

A concerned Eagle County resident said she won’t vote for future public-school funding if the school district sticks to its guns on the TPUSA group at Eagle Valley High School in Gypsum and Battle Mountain High School in Edwards.

“We don’t need to be teaching our kids to hate,” Susie Kincade posted in an online comment on RealVail.com. “I signed a petition to stop the club through Change.org but I don’t think that gets to the school board. I will NOT vote for any school funding as long as the Board allows clubs like this to exist.”

Eagle County School District chief communications officer Matthew Miano confirmed in an email that the schools have approved the clubs at both Battle Mountain and Eagle Valley and that the district is aware of the objections from concerned parents, but legally can’t bar the groups.

“We received a couple of letters from parents that had concerns over this organization starting a chapter at our schools. We explained to them The Equal Access Act (1984) is a federal law that ensures public secondary schools that receive federal funds cannot discriminate against student clubs based on their religious, political, or philosophical beliefs,” Miano wrote. “Therefore, we are not permitted by law to preempt this group from forming or meeting at EVHS regardless of the outcome of any community petition. The petition being circulated is not associated with Eagle County School District in any way.”

The “starter” of the Change.org petition is anonymous and did not respond to a media request for additional comment, but as of Friday morning, 62% of the certified signatories on the petition were from local zip codes. Miano did not respond to questions about the allegations in the petition and TPUSA’s track record of violent and divisive rhetoric.

“We encourage students to demonstrate leadership and civic engagement, whether they are conservative or liberal. This is an example of a student-led club that has followed all the necessary protocols to meet on site during non-class time,” Miano said. “The students have met with the administration at [the schools] and understand they have a responsibility to make sure the club doesn’t become a distraction to the learning environment. We don’t feel there is a need for the district to comment further on the matter at this time.”

With firearms the leading cause of death among children and teens in the United States and 64 school shootings across America so far this year, gun safety would seem like an obvious area of emphasis at public high schools.

TPUSA founder Kirk reportedly said shootings such as the one that took his life are the price of maintaining the Constitution’s Second Amendment rights in the form of “a well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” It is debatable if the founders meant unlimited gun rights, but it’s clear Kirk thought so, and he also advocated for more and more guns in more public places.

“I think it’s worth [it] to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights,” Kirk said, adding, “If our money and our sporting events and our airplanes have armed guards, why don’t our children?” There was armed security at the TPUSA event where Kirk was allegedly assassinated.

Kirk’s killing has already stirred deep vitriol in Eagle County, where an art teacher admitted to and apologized for making inappropriate comments in the wake of the shooting and enraged parents and the Eagle County Republican Party called for her firing at a school board meeting in September. The district accepted the teacher’s apology and took undisclosed disciplinary actions but did not terminate her contract. It is worth noting there was a school shooting at Evergreen High School the same day as the Kirk shooting, but its victims received far less publicity.

The Eagle County Republican Party, unable to elect any countywide candidates other than Sheriff James van Beek, continues to fan the flames of division in the county that’s home to Vail and Beaver Creek ski areas. It has injected partisan politics into traditionally nonpartisan town council races, violating town charters, and weighed in on a petty sign-stealing case in Eagle. 

“This is the most partisan nonpartisan election I’ve experienced,” Eagle Town Council candidate Mark Bergman posted online, following up in an email: “I have yet to see or hear any candidate identify with a political party. However, the County Republican Committee has actively interfered with this nonpartisan election. The Dems have delivered factual info, such as announcing that two candidates had withdrawn and a group of candidates were hosting a meet and greet. No endorsements, no criticism … no lies or rumors. Factual information for voters.”

Republican Sheriff van Beek created a stir last year when he agreed to read a children’s book at a library story hour written by Jack Posobiec, a right-wing conspiracy theorist who rose to infamy in the “Pizzagate” shooting after falsely spreading misinformation that a child sex ring was being run by Democrats out of a Washington, D.C. pizzeria. Van Beek canceled the reading following a story in the Colorado Times Recorder.

Posobiec is now viewed as one of the heirs apparent to Kirk’s TPUSA leadership, which will welcome right-wing commentator and disgraced Fox News celebrity Tucker Carlson to an event in Phoenix in December despite Carlson recently normalizing and elevating in an interview white nationalist podcaster Nick Fuentes – a raging antisemite.

All of which, seemingly, is coming to a high school campus near you soon.