Parents are fed up: fed up with bullying from school district officials, fed up with teachers unions being put ahead of their children, and fed up with a lack of transparency regarding their child’s education. Instead of staying fed up, parents are standing up.
Yet parents who dare speak out are being attacked. The education bureaucracy is labeling these parents “domestic terrorists" and “extremists," referring them to the FBI, and in some cases suing them, tracking them online, and putting their careers in jeopardy.
In Case You Missed It via USA Today Opinion, education bureaucracy continues to sic federal law enforcement officials on concerned parents. That’s why Republicans’ Commitment to America includes passing the Parents Bill of Rights.
Michigan mom fought for her special needs son. The school board reported her to the feds.
By Ingrid Jacques
October 7, 2022
Like many parents during COVID-19, Sandra Hernden didn’t like how her school district’s remote learning policies were hurting her children.
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One of her three sons was especially struggling. He has special needs and his GPA plunged to a 1.5 from a 3.5. …
So she started pushing back against the school board's decisions. She sent emails and communicated with the school board via Zoom, as well as attended in-person board meetings.
Some of those interactions became heated and some of the rhetoric was over the top. But, from what I've seen in written correspondence between Hernden and board members that is now the subject of a federal lawsuit, Hernden's words did not rise to the level of threatening behavior or speech unprotected by the First Amendment.
The board’s response? To retaliate against Hernden by contacting her employer and then the U.S. Department of Justice. Hernden responded last week by suing the district for violating her constitutional rights.
This shunning of parents is not an isolated incident. And it speaks to why so many parents around the country are fighting for their kids and what they’re learning - despite pressure from the government to stand down.
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Hernden continued attending meetings and communicating with board members. And she continued to feel disrespected and ignored.
“It was frustrating, demeaning and humiliating," Hernden told me. “Parents should have a right to air their grievances and be able to speak freely without fear of retaliation."
Things got worse. Last year, the National School Boards Association sent a letter to President Joe Biden asking for federal help in dealing with upset parents at school board meetings - a situation the group equated to “domestic terrorism."
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Last October, Attorney General Merrick Garland responded with a memo detailing how the Justice Department would take the association's request seriously and indicated the department’s willingness to investigate and prosecute individuals who harassed or intimidated school officials.
Chippewa Valley board President Frank Bednard… sent an email, along with an exchange he had with Hernden about the legality of public comments at meetings to the Department of Justice. He called her out, as well as the group Moms for Liberty.
It’s not clear what these moms had done exactly, other than express their deep concerns over what the school board was doing in response to COVID-19 and the consequences for their children.
The intention is more evident: intimidation and the silencing of opposing views.
Reporting Hernden to both her employer and to the federal government is a disproportionate response to what she was trying to accomplish. And it runs afoul of the Constitution and her First Amendment rights. Impassioned pushback from parents about legitimate issues is not the same as threats of violence and harassment.
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As [Hernden] says: “It’s everything to do with parents being heard, and parents’ rights when it comes to their kids’ education. They are our children - they don’t belong to the government."
Read the full op-ed here.
