Laurel Fetzer

Laurel Fetzer was selected as a Gladiolus Group inductee for her selfless and strengthening camaraderie shown to fellow education reformers, and for her courage in seeking to bring accountability to state and local education agencies.

Laurel is married to Erik and is the mother of 4 amazing children whose individual gifts and talents have brought joy to her family. Laurel’s desire to do her best to be a good parent led to her efforts to support her children and make public schooling work for her family. Laurel made time to volunteer in all her kids’ classes and schools—PTA president in Elementary schools 3 times, High school 4 times, helping with the school choirs, and district science fair- and many more school centered activities. Erik also was PTA president one year.

Knowing who and what her kids were interacting with was important to Laurel. During Covid, her school district embraced a DEI program which they denied doing. Laurel and another parent brought this DEI program to public view in an comprehensive video entitled, What’s Really Happening in Murray School District? The pushback from their efforts, involving thousands of dollars in freedom of information requests (GRAMA in Utah), resulted in the district engaging in a massive effort to cover-up the controversy, and ultimately in the district.

Laurel Fetzer ran for the Utah State School Board District 5 seat in 2022 and lost to a Democrat who ran as openly Queer. Since then, Laurel has been helping with others’ campaigns and has witnessed much corruption in the system. Laurel continues to provide support for education reform and transparency initiatives by speaking at & monitoring legislative hearings, co-hosting Higher Ground’s Breaking Down Bad Bills zoom meetings, and advocating against the tracking and grading of students’ personal social emotional learning traits.

Laurel is a Registered Dietitian trained in Functional Medicine and helps people become healthier.  Laurel believes standing up for kids and academic schooling is important, which is reflected in her involvement of the last several years. Laurel is grateful to have good people to stand with.