Brett Galaszewski, the leader for Turning Point in Wisconsin, told board members at Lake Country Classical Academy in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, Wednesday night that Charlie Kirk’s “dream” was to have a Turning Point Chapter at every college and high school in America. He knew Charlie personally.
“My ask is Charlie’s ask,” he said, at a meeting where the board discussed the LCCA’s principal’s rejection of a student request to start a high school Turning Point Club. “The board can make this happen and see Charlie’s dream through.”
“It’s not a lot to ask,” added Galaszewski, Turning Point’s enterprise director for the legacy field program.
The past 24 hours have been filled with heartbreak, shock, and sadness, but also overwhelming love and support. @charliekirk11 wasn’t just a leader, he was a visionary, mentor, and friend. Working with him since almost the beginning of @TPAction_ has been the honor of a… pic.twitter.com/99JKwreiPT
— Brett Galaszewski (@bgalsWI) September 11, 2025
A 17-year-old student named Catie Smiley wants to create the Turning Point club at the conservative school. Principal Margaret Hagedorn, the wife of state Supreme Court Justice Brian Hagedorn, has rejected that request and announced that she is creating a generic “civics” club instead.
Catie told WRN that she wants to start a Turning Point club to help her school “thrive” because she “loves it so much.”
The board had included a draft letter in its meeting packet that would inform parents its policies were being revised and would likely accommodate a Turning Point Club after hue and cry resulted, but the board on Wednesday night scrapped that draft letter, and the board appears to be going along with the civics club, but what that will be is very confusing to Smiley, her mom, and other parents who spoke after the meeting.
The meeting was basically a rant session by Principal Margaret Hagedorn and some board members against critics (at least the part that dealt with the club issue). Some of the board members and the principal went on a wholesale rant, saying they have been mistreated, lied about, and criticized. They basically painted themselves as the victims of critics (without giving specifics on the supposed misinformation). They called for people to have conversations rather than communicating online; Catie’s quest to start the Turning Point Club has gone viral, with many people offering her support on social media and criticizing the school’s decision, although there is some disagreement among parents about the direction the school should take.
However, Hagedorn did not answer two requests for comment (by email and voicemail), at least to Wisconsin Right Now, before our stories ran, and Melissa Smiley, the mom of Catie Smiley, the teen who wants to start a Turning Point Club at the school, alleges that Margaret falsely told Fox News that she had spoken to Catie and her mom about the club. They said she did not.
Hagedorn alleged that she has been the victim of a “public media campaign to attack me personally, lie about me and destroy my reputation” (she wasn’t specific.)
Another board member called the criticism “disturbing” and “disappointing.” An official said school leaders were “tried and convicted.” One said, “It’s been a crazy five days to say the least.” One board member said board members are volunteers and have a lot of other things going on. The board members, principal, and another official labeled the criticism destructive, cruel, lies, etc. It was pretty aggressive rhetoric. One accused critics (including complaining parents, it appears) of trying to destroy the school.
The students got far less mention.
On the draft letter, the board decided to “bypass” that item on the agenda because the “situation has changed” and scrapped it for the aforementioned, but ill-defined and vague “civics club.”
The parental critics, including Smiley, say they simply disagree with Hagedorn’s decision to reject a Turning Point Club. After the meeting, Melissa Smiley alleged, “We are continuing to allow the board to prop up someone who won’t take accountability for her actions,” referring to Hagedorn. “We have been thrown under the bus. There are several years of concerns.”
A New ‘Civics Club,’ But What Will it Entail?
Hagedorn told the student body Wednesday (and this was reiterated at the board meeting) that the administration is creating the “civics club” instead of a Turning Point club. Melissa Smiley says that Margaret told students the administrators will choose the students to lead it. Margaret says she developed this idea (“brokered” it according to another official) in consultation with a national Turning Point leader and Hillsdale College, of which LCCA is a member and to which Charlie Kirk was close. She said the “civics club” idea is “enthusiastically supported by Turning Point and Hillsdale.”
However, Melissa Smiley says she and her daughter were not even a part of the conversation.
Hagedorn and other board members claim that Hillsdale College offers guidance to public charter schools to not offer political and religious clubs or “enrichment” activities because of a concern they would have to offer any club, then. (This point is legally disputed by some experts. Margaret said it would also apply to a pro-life club, which also can’t be thus allowed) Although member schools have some latitude to tailor their approach for their own schools, they claim Margaret was just following Hillsdale guidance and LCCA policies are based on Hillsdale policies.
But Galaszewski told the board/Hagedorn that Turning Point actually is not a political or religious organization based on how it is legally incorporated (which seems to run counter to their claim that approving it would violate the guidance/policy recommending against political or religious organizations).
He said Turning Point tries to hold all leaders and politicians accountable even “allegedly conservative Supreme Court justices,” an apparent reference to Brian Hagedorn, who was sitting in the back of the room and is Margaret’s husband.
“It’s not a political or religious organization,” he said (for example, one arm is a 501 c) (3)). However, he then said, “We’re okay with the terms as they stand right now,” when pressed, without explaining what he meant. This comment seemed to contradict the entire thrust of his other comments, so WRN wanted to ask him for clarification, but he left immediately, perhaps to catch a plane.
The room was pretty full, and police were present, but no one misbehaved.
Two other parents stood up and raised concerns. Others spoke afterwards. Parents said that they aren’t trying to destroy the school – they love it, they believe in its mission, and they’re trying to save it and build it. They’re concerned that a lack of extra-curricular activities disadvantages the students on college applications.
They’re concerned about declining enrollment under Margaret’s leadership, issues with donations, her general leadership style, and a perceived decline in “community confidence” as one man put it.
One parent, Andrea Hayse, slammed administration. She said she took her kids out of the school, even though she loves its mission and wants it to thrive. She accused Margaret of disbanding a previous civics club that was popular with students and parents, without proper communication.
She said the past civics club was “ended abruptly by administration” without “even basic respect” or “any conversation.” She said other in-house clubs were “systematically disbanded” and alleged that there is a “pattern of dismissive or controlling behavior that is on full repeat right now.” She said it’s not “one issue” but rather a “pattern of control at all costs” that extends back years, not the past five days.
Another parent, Tracy Zundel, raised concerns about declines in enrollment and limited extra-curricular offerings. He said some parents are talking about “whether they will keep their kids here.” It’s not because they don’t believe in the school’s mission; they fervently do. They’re worried about “extra-curricular and leadership opportunities” for kids.
They don’t want kids to have to choose between “college opportunities” and a “classical education.”
Both parents and others afterwards said the Turning Point club is not the entire issue. It’s not about the “past five days” that the board/M. Hagedorn focused on, but rather a systemic pattern of longstanding concerns about the leadership of a school they love.
They also expressed confusion afterwards about what the new civics club is supposed to entail, and to what degree, if any, it will follow Turning Point materials or mission.
Afterwards, Catie Smiley, 17, told WRN that she believes keeping Charlie Kirk in the club will have more meaning and emotional impact on students than just a generic civics club. She stressed that she loves her school and is just trying to build it. She will be featured on Fox and Friends tomorrow, but said if administrators are going to die on “this hill,” she will try to work within their required framework.
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