Parents Finally Fight Back

We’ve all heard about the tremendous learning loss that has occurred the past two years. It’s staggering what our children have missed through these crazy times.

Research shows that kindergarten students at greatest risk for not learning to read rose from 29% to 37%. All grade levels had similar statistics.
Besides learning loss, the report shows that school closures also jeopardized the safety and health of our children. Many kids missed out on meals, which is the only reliable food source for some.

Even though we know that children are the least at risk of Covid, we have done immeasurable harm and they have suffered the most.
I’ve said before, the one good thing that came out of school closings, is the awakening of parents to what children have been learning. Parents were shocked when they started to notice what children were doing in school.

Parents took back the schools in Virginia in a huge wave that swept in those who were vowing to change the way things were going. The Governor at the time, said “parents should not be deciding what their children were taught.” That didn’t sit well and he was thrown out along with a host of other incumbents who didn’t understand the role that parents should play in education.

A recent report from Heritage Foundation, disclosed that there are organizations promoting the idea that schools should not just be educating. An organization, Communities in Schools, is promoting the idea for schools to become a one-stop shop where children can get everything they need. Counselors, dentists, nurses, social workers and financial planners can solve all the problems. Not only should government provide all of these services, but it must also be done in schools. Yikes.

The ex-wife of Jeff Bezos donated $133 million to this organization. In order to show how well this idea would work, the organization conducted an in-depth study. It didn’t turn out the way they had planned.

Researchers assigned 1500 students to receive services, or not, administered by CIS. 751 students received the full range of services and 750 received none. After two full years, and found, “CIS case management did not have an effect on students’ traditional outcomes. Students in the case managed and non-case managed groups had similar rates of chronic absenteeism, attendance, core course failure, and credit accumulation, and similar course marks.” The real kicker was that students who received services were significantly more likely to be suspended due to misconduct. 

Schools should be educating our children. How can they be expected to solve all the social ills of our communities and provide a quality education? Allowing schools to have more responsibility is removing a core component of being a parent and removing parents from the loop. 
Many school systems see parents as the problem and the contempt that has been shown these past two years has exposed it. In order to bypass the problem, parents, schools can just take over all responsibility for any service a child might need. 

Parents across the country have also started noticing the books that are in the classrooms and libraries. A study from PEN America, a literary advocacy group, finds that more than 1,000 books have been removed from schools. These books were removed in 26 states between July 2021 and March 2022, affecting 2,899 schools and more than 2 million students. The study said that pressure from parents as well as national organizations played a part in the removal. The report also said that pressure from Governors and lawmakers was partly responsible. 
Some of the books that were banned feature stories of racial issues (likely CRT related), LGBTQ and themes around activism. Do we send our children to school to be taught activism for issues that might not be on our agenda? I think not.

A graphic novel, “Gender Queer”, was banned in 30 school districts. Others on the list were Lawn Boy, Out of Darkness, The Bluest Eye and All Boys aren’t Blue.

Texas Governor, Greg Abbott has directed that his state creates new standards to remove books from libraries. He cited parental concerns about content that was “pornographic” and “obscene” and not age appropriate for children.

I’m so happy to see communities finally paying attention to what has been happening in the education establishment. We have known for years that children weren’t learning as they should. But now we are finding out what they are learning. It is not a pretty sight.

In Forsyth County, there has been a huge interest in changing the trend. Nothing shows that more than the fact that 17 Republicans are running for positions on the school board. There are some very impressive candidates in the group and it’s exciting to hear the changes they are suggesting.

I hope everyone will check out each of the candidates and vote. It is crucial that schools get back to teaching and children get back to learning. School is no place for social engineering. If teaching is taking place, there’s no time for all the other side items. Reading, Writing, Arithmetic should be the basics and they’ve been time tested. Parents want results.