Lincoln students, community debate existence of conservative high school club
A school board meeting in Placer County became the latest battleground in the national culture war surrounding slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk as hundreds of students and parents packed a high school auditorium to debate whether a conservative club in the district represents free speech or hate speech.
Club America — associated with the organization Kirk founded, Turning Point USA — at Twelve Bridges High School gained national attention over the weekend after a video of Lincoln City Councilmember Holly Andreatta’s guest speech at the club’s inaugural meeting was published online. Andreatta has also held the position of mayor, which is a rotating role in Lincoln’s government.
In her 26-minute speech, Andreatta amplified Kirk’s opinions on Martin Luther King Jr. and diversity initiatives in the piloting profession. She also shared a personal anecdote about her relationship with her daughter, tying her daughter’s sexual orientation to childhood trauma.
Andreatta has since taken to social media to say that the clips from her speech were taken out of context and manipulated.
At Tuesday night’s board meeting for the Western Placer Unified School District, many of the comments directly addressed Andreatta, who also briefly spoke to the trustees. She did not clarify her comments from the club meeting.
“When voices are shut down, our people are intimidated for beliefs, we risk losing freedoms that belong to all of us,” Andreatta said. “Supporting the First Amendment means choosing dialogues over division, understanding over fear, reason over censorship.”
Several people stated their support for Andreatta, with some saying that they believe the videos circulating online were altered by artificial intelligence — despite multiple student recordings showing consistent content. Students in attendance of the Club America meeting said the recordings were authentic.
The Lincoln High School auditorium was divided by ideology, with most supporters of the club seated on the right and opponents on the left.
Club founder Garret Culp defended his chapter.
“My purpose with Club America is to host and create respectful dialog and to uphold the principles of American exceptionalism and Christianity,” he said.
“I am not a hateful person, nor is my club a hateful group,” Culp added. “We are simply students trying to foster conversations between people of different opinions. While those topics and opinions may be uncomfortable for some people, I assure you that they are not hateful.”
Culp told CBS Sacramento that he and other club members have faced harassment online. He declined an interview with The Sacramento Bee, citing concern over its initial coverage of the club meeting. Andreatta also declined to comment for similar reasons.
Those on the other side of the room said that the club and Andreatta’s remarks have created a divisive school environment that has left students, particularly those in the LGBTQ community, feeling unsafe.
“Two months ago ... I listened to you cut an ethnic studies class that hundreds of students had already signed up for, that you paid $60,000 in curriculum for,” parent Jessica Martinez said. “You took it off because members of the community who said — I see some of them here right now — said it was divisive. So, surely, you can disband a club that is equally as divisive for free.”
“Holly Andretta should not devalue civil rights efforts and spread homophobic rhetoric to students,” Quest Rhodes, a 2023 valedictorian from Lincoln High, another school in the Western Placer district, said. “Devaluing civil rights efforts by Martin Luther King Jr. is a slap in the face to every student in the school district. It sends a horrible message that nonviolent protest and standing up for your rights is inherently meaningless and will not enact social change. It dehumanizes and belittles those who fought for equal protections and treatment under the law.”
A group of students at Twelve Bridges said they have gathered 300 signatures for a petition to end the club that they verified personally after some trolls attempted to flood the Google form with fake submissions.
A district spokesperson told CBS 13 that the signature drive would not lead the board to make a decision about the future of the club and that district decisions are made in accordance with board policy as well as state and federal law.
This story was originally published December 16, 2025 at 10:27 PM.
