DOWNERS GROVE, Ill.—Terry Newsome, a father of two high school freshmen in a Democratic-leaning Chicago suburb, was never into local school board meetings. That was until five months ago. Newsome was busy working as an associate vice president at a Paris-based global information services provider. He was also fighting two cancers, one being stage-four prostate cancer. After he survived that one, his Italian Mom, a devout Catholic, said to him, “Well, son, you must be kept on this earth for something.” About seven months ago, his then 8th grader son came home from school and told Newsome, “Dad, my teacher just told us there is no American dream. It is not there for everybody, so it is not real.” Newsome, a descendant of European immigrants who had lived the American dream, was shocked to hear that. He called the principal, and he reached out to parents, all of which opened …