School board meetings are supposed to be about kids and education.
But one board member turned them into something completely different.
And an Army professor used one shocking tactic against conservative school board members that will make your blood boil.
Military information warfare expert weaponized his training against elected conservatives
Lansing, Kansas seemed like just another small town success story where concerned citizens stepped up to serve.
But nobody expected what happened next when a retired Army Colonel with expertise in psychological warfare joined the board.
Pete Im isn't just any school board member.¹
He's the Director of the elite Information Advantage Scholars Program at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth – teaching military officers how to conduct information operations against enemy forces.²
Now documents obtained through a Kansas Open Records Act request show Im allegedly used those exact same military tactics against his fellow board members – conservative women trying to protect taxpayer dollars and curriculum standards.³
An August 2025 email from Im to the school superintendent and a progressive board member reads like a military operations plan targeting enemies.⁴
When conservative board member Amy Cawvey raised legitimate concerns about a $70,000 lighting contract that bypassed competitive bidding requirements, Im didn't address her fiscal responsibility questions.⁵
Instead, he drafted a strategic communications plan to destroy her credibility.
"Amy will try to spin this as a 'meeting about transparency' or 'fiscal responsibility,'" Im wrote in the email obtained by RedState.⁶
He recommended framing her concerns as a "delay tactic" and provided talking points designed to make conservative board members "look like the ones sowing chaos."⁷
This is straight out of the military information operations playbook – identify your target, craft precision messaging, control the narrative, and discredit opposition through coordinated messaging.
Military doctrine describes information operations as tactics designed "to influence, disrupt, corrupt, or usurp the decision-making of adversaries."⁸
Military doctrine explicitly prohibits conducting these psychological warfare campaigns against American citizens.
But Im's email suggests he violated that sacred boundary by deploying information warfare tactics against elected officials in a Kansas school board meeting.
Army information operations expert gave school officials battle plans to crush conservative women
The depth of Im's strategic planning goes beyond simple disagreement about school district policies.
His email contained detailed predictions about what conservative board members would say, pre-scripted responses to neutralize their arguments, and specific behavioral instructions for allies.⁹
"Stay calm and steady. Let Amy, Kirsten, and Mary look like the ones sowing chaos," Im instructed the superintendent and progressive board member.¹⁰
He even provided talking points dismissing fiscal responsibility concerns as "second-guessing" that creates "chaos after the board already made a lawful decision."¹¹
The timing makes Im's tactical warfare approach especially troubling.
Just weeks earlier in March 2025, Im voted against complying with Trump Administration guidance to remove curriculum promoting divisive Critical Race Theory from Lansing schools.¹²
When pressed about following federal requirements, Im dismissed the Department of Education itself, asking "why are we putting all this energy and effort into a policy, or excuse me, a recommendation, from a federal organization that may not exist a couple more months down the road?"¹³
So Im wants to ignore lawful federal guidance from President Trump while silencing elected board members who dare question a questionable $70,000 contract.
Board member Amy Cawvey – one of the women Im targeted in his email – said his actions violated both ethics and Kansas law.
"State statute is very clear that no one board member has more power than another and alone cannot direct the superintendent," Cawvey explained. "Only the majority of the board can do this. Not only was Mr. Im's actions unethical but he violated state statute and his oath to uphold the law and constitution."¹⁴
Kansas has no state agency that investigates ethical violations by school board members, leaving these boards to police themselves.
The Lansing school board's own code of ethics requires members to "make policy decisions only after full discussion at publicly held board meetings," "encourage the free expression of opinion by all board members," and "take no private action that will compromise the board."¹⁵
Im's behind-the-scenes strategic communications planning to neutralize conservative board members appears to violate every one of those principles.
Board member Kirsten Workman – another woman Im named in his targeting memo – said the situation reveals something deeper about power and integrity in troubled times.
"After nearly two years in office, I've learned to ask myself when people are pointing fingers whether they are pointing at something egregious, or away from it," Workman noted.¹⁶
Progressive Army Colonel's information warfare wins the day as conservative women lose their seats
The military-style information operations campaign appears to have worked exactly as Im planned.
Both Amy Cawvey and Mary Wood – the two conservative women specifically targeted in Im's August email – lost their reelection bids this Tuesday.¹⁷
The Lansing School Board that will be seated in January 2026 will have six progressives and just one conservative.
Kansas is a solidly conservative state where President Trump won by large margins in both 2020 and 2024.
Yet through coordinated information operations tactics borrowed from military psychological warfare, progressives completely captured control of this small-town school board.
The implications extend far beyond one Kansas suburb.
Im's position at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College means he's training the next generation of military leaders in these exact information warfare techniques.
If those tactics can be weaponized against American parents and elected school board members, what's to stop other military-trained operatives from doing the same thing in school districts nationwide?
Parents thought they were fighting woke curriculum and fiscal irresponsibility when they ran for school boards.
They didn't realize they'd be facing opponents armed with military-grade information warfare training designed to defeat foreign adversaries.
The battle for America's schools just got a lot more complicated.
¹ Chase Spears, "Army Professor Launches Info War on Conservative School Board Members," RedState, November 7, 2025.
² Ibid.
³ Ibid.
⁴ Ibid.
⁵ Ibid.
⁶ Ibid.
⁷ Ibid.
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⁹ Ibid.
¹⁰ Ibid.
¹¹ Ibid.
¹² Ibid.
¹³ Ibid.
¹⁴ Ibid.
¹⁵ Ibid.
¹⁶ Ibid.
¹⁷ Ibid.
