OAN Roy Francis
UPDATED 9:32 AM PT – Saturday, February 4, 2023
According to reports, the Ohio Department of Education is looking into a pro-Nazi homeschooling network maintained by a couple in the state.
After news of the “Dissident Homeschool” network surfaced last week, a representative of the state agency said the department is “actively reviewing compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements.”
According to Vice News, the network, which disseminates pro-Nazi material via a Telegram channel, has more than 2,400 users.
Logan and Katja Lawrence of Upper Sandusky, Ohio, have been identified as the Mr. and Mrs. Saxons who administer the channel.
The identities of the Lawrences and the homeschooling network were first revealed by the Anonymous Comrades Collective, an anti-fascist research organization. The Lawrences’ names were also confirmed by two family members.
According to Katja Lawrence of the neo-Nazi podcast “Achtung Amerikaner,” the pair started the network because they were “having a rough time finding Nazi-approved school material” for their kids.
“We are so deeply invested into making sure that that child becomes a wonderful Nazi,” Lawrence added on the podcast.
Stephanie Siddens, Ohio’s Interim Superintendent of Public Instruction, tweeted that she was “outraged and saddened” after learning of the group.
“There is absolutely no place for hate-filled, divisive and hurtful instruction in Ohio’s schools, including our state’s home-schooling community,” she added.
The superintendent of the Upper Sandusky Exempted Village Schools, Eric Landversicht, said in a letter to the locals that homeschooling parents are “responsible for choosing the curriculum and course of study” and that the “the parents’ chosen curriculum is not sponsored or endorsed by the District.”