This is a great, comprehensive breakdown. I like to be aware of what the far right is doing on social media, and the buzzword for the last six to nine months related to this has been “social contagion.” That’s the reason, according to a subset of parents, that the “trans fad” (sometimes it’s “gender identity issues”) has allegedly taken hold over white, middle class teenagers. It’s very common for right wing influencers (or micro influencers) to encourage parents to pull kids from what they almost always refer to as “government school” because work teachers and social contagion are to blame for….everything, I guess. I definitely observe some social contagion going on, but it’s not among the kids.
I’m always surprised at how few people (other than loud troublemakers) attend meetings for parents. Without attendance, we don’t have a voice. BTW, do not sit with your friends. Spread out and speak from multiple parts of the room. Feels like more of the group agrees if people all around you agree.
To anyone looking at the examples Emily gave and thinking “wow, Florida is messed up,” please don’t think Florida is the only place doing this.
Even typically blue New England states like New Hampshire are defunding their public schools and passing laws about teaching kids topics that might make them feel “discomfort.”
It’s really easy to write off Florida right now, but it’s in every state.
It really is in every state. I'd say go to school board meetings or listen in to just the public comment virtually if you can, and see what's going on.
I agree with this. I've been to a bunch of school board meetings here in Loudoun County, and a majority of the time it's not any M4L people. They have a few people who come back again and again, and they are most always name-calling, rude, and disrespectful in their comments. It's a bit disappointing really. But the kind and considerate outnumber them here.
Award winning children's author's visit was cancelled in the school district (& feeder pattern in which I teach) last week... over seemingly ONE parent complaint that the author (Derrick Barnes) has "controversial ideas." You read that correctly.
Mind you, we teachers, have complained about different things within our schools and district and nothing is ever done (or ever done swiftly) but one parent complaint shuts down an event that was 9 months in the making.
I do not believe this is a direct hit by M4L but I believe it is a symptom of it. I am very frustrated as a teacher.
I'm in Loudoun County and I feel like we are at the epicenter in some ways.
The good news is Tiffany Polifko didn't win by much; just under 100 votes.
And she was in a three way race.
I'm hoping the democrats put up a candidate as strong as Nick was (who was on the ticket last time around...not sure if he'll run again because the opposition was horribly nasty to him!) and we get her out of there.
So far we don't know who many people running for school board are, but I'm sure it will come to light soon. I have heard the person who started that PAC speak and I thought, "Uh oh. He's a great speaker and could get people to rally behind him."
They keep driving home the same talking points: school was closed for two years (they still had virtual school), masks did more harm than good (I think most science doesn't agree with that), radical gender ideology is harming kids (reading books with LGBTQ+ characters doesn't turn anyone gay, as I've proven by reading books to the school board), any books with sex in them needs to go (which is ridiculous, a majority of high school kids, statistically, have sex, so reading about it in a book is not going to harm them!) and they are really about bringing God into public schools (it's not the place for that!).
It will be interesting to see what they pivot to next; currently they are on about releasing the internal reports about a case of sexual assault that happened. They're convinced it's a massive coverup, though another investigation found that it wasn't. They have no problem and don't speak up at all about any of the cases of racist graffiti in schools (unfortunately instances of that have been going up).
I bet there will be a renewed interest after Ian Prior's book comes out in March and their numbers will grow a bit; luckily I don't think the book is that great of a guide on how to get involved, more just a story about how he did and how his contacts and past experience helped him create Fight For Schools. But I am worried about that PAC funding candidates.
To combat it, we are going to hit the ground and canvass and knock doors and keep showing up at school board meetings and encourage people to vote their values. I think more people in Loudoun County are for public schools and empathy and inclusion than against them. Funny enough, most of the people who are speaking out the loudest around the public schools are parents who have taken their kids out.
Hi from Loudoun as well! I really like Nick. A lot! I canvassed for him. But I wonder about the wisdom of running these super young candidates who don’t have kids in public school against the “parents’ rights” candidates. It also doesn’t help that we had multiple educators running on the right (or as “nonpartisans” 🙄). Do you think we should change that approach?
Hello! I think it would be great to have at least some young candidates in the running; and I know some people argued that he wasn't fit because he wasn't a parent (I argued with quite a few of them on twitter because I think that's just ridiculous!). A lot of the parents rights advocates in our county don't have their kids in public schools, yet still come and yell at the school board meetings. So far I haven't heard of anyone else running on either side except April for Algonkian, on the Dems side. And yeah that nonpartisan candidate was anything but. I wonder if we'll see more three way contests this year.
Yes to all of this. I live in Illinois so it's safely blue at the moment, but the anti-choice movement is very loud and Nick Fuentes grew up a few blocks away from where my parents live in the Chicago suburbs. So, we have plenty of problems. The first time I heard anyone talk about Parental Rights it was anti-choice people trying to preserve IL's last abortion restriction, that pregnant people under 18 had to tell a parent or get a judge to sign off. They failed, and now the legislature and governor protected people coming to IL from other states seeking abortion care. Now I hear about parents rights all the time.
Anyway thanks to anyone who read this far! Chicago votes on Feb 28 and April 4 (runoff) for Mayor and Aldermen. The REST OF THE STATE votes on APRIL 4 for school boards! Tell your friends!
This is a great, comprehensive breakdown. I like to be aware of what the far right is doing on social media, and the buzzword for the last six to nine months related to this has been “social contagion.” That’s the reason, according to a subset of parents, that the “trans fad” (sometimes it’s “gender identity issues”) has allegedly taken hold over white, middle class teenagers. It’s very common for right wing influencers (or micro influencers) to encourage parents to pull kids from what they almost always refer to as “government school” because work teachers and social contagion are to blame for….everything, I guess. I definitely observe some social contagion going on, but it’s not among the kids.
100 percent. So much fear over them knowing that trans kids exist...because they think it will turn their kids trans, which of course is wrong.
Satanic panic vibes for sure.
100%
What matters is showing up.
I’m always surprised at how few people (other than loud troublemakers) attend meetings for parents. Without attendance, we don’t have a voice. BTW, do not sit with your friends. Spread out and speak from multiple parts of the room. Feels like more of the group agrees if people all around you agree.
To anyone looking at the examples Emily gave and thinking “wow, Florida is messed up,” please don’t think Florida is the only place doing this.
Even typically blue New England states like New Hampshire are defunding their public schools and passing laws about teaching kids topics that might make them feel “discomfort.”
It’s really easy to write off Florida right now, but it’s in every state.
It really is in every state. I'd say go to school board meetings or listen in to just the public comment virtually if you can, and see what's going on.
They are so loud. But not so many.
I agree with this. I've been to a bunch of school board meetings here in Loudoun County, and a majority of the time it's not any M4L people. They have a few people who come back again and again, and they are most always name-calling, rude, and disrespectful in their comments. It's a bit disappointing really. But the kind and considerate outnumber them here.
Award winning children's author's visit was cancelled in the school district (& feeder pattern in which I teach) last week... over seemingly ONE parent complaint that the author (Derrick Barnes) has "controversial ideas." You read that correctly.
Here's the article:
https://www.al.com/news/2023/01/author-derrick-barnes-cancels-hoover-library-visit-after-school-controversy.html
Mind you, we teachers, have complained about different things within our schools and district and nothing is ever done (or ever done swiftly) but one parent complaint shuts down an event that was 9 months in the making.
I do not believe this is a direct hit by M4L but I believe it is a symptom of it. I am very frustrated as a teacher.
Thank you for this comprehensive breakdown!
I'm in Loudoun County and I feel like we are at the epicenter in some ways.
The good news is Tiffany Polifko didn't win by much; just under 100 votes.
And she was in a three way race.
I'm hoping the democrats put up a candidate as strong as Nick was (who was on the ticket last time around...not sure if he'll run again because the opposition was horribly nasty to him!) and we get her out of there.
So far we don't know who many people running for school board are, but I'm sure it will come to light soon. I have heard the person who started that PAC speak and I thought, "Uh oh. He's a great speaker and could get people to rally behind him."
They keep driving home the same talking points: school was closed for two years (they still had virtual school), masks did more harm than good (I think most science doesn't agree with that), radical gender ideology is harming kids (reading books with LGBTQ+ characters doesn't turn anyone gay, as I've proven by reading books to the school board), any books with sex in them needs to go (which is ridiculous, a majority of high school kids, statistically, have sex, so reading about it in a book is not going to harm them!) and they are really about bringing God into public schools (it's not the place for that!).
It will be interesting to see what they pivot to next; currently they are on about releasing the internal reports about a case of sexual assault that happened. They're convinced it's a massive coverup, though another investigation found that it wasn't. They have no problem and don't speak up at all about any of the cases of racist graffiti in schools (unfortunately instances of that have been going up).
I bet there will be a renewed interest after Ian Prior's book comes out in March and their numbers will grow a bit; luckily I don't think the book is that great of a guide on how to get involved, more just a story about how he did and how his contacts and past experience helped him create Fight For Schools. But I am worried about that PAC funding candidates.
To combat it, we are going to hit the ground and canvass and knock doors and keep showing up at school board meetings and encourage people to vote their values. I think more people in Loudoun County are for public schools and empathy and inclusion than against them. Funny enough, most of the people who are speaking out the loudest around the public schools are parents who have taken their kids out.
Hi from Loudoun as well! I really like Nick. A lot! I canvassed for him. But I wonder about the wisdom of running these super young candidates who don’t have kids in public school against the “parents’ rights” candidates. It also doesn’t help that we had multiple educators running on the right (or as “nonpartisans” 🙄). Do you think we should change that approach?
Hello! I think it would be great to have at least some young candidates in the running; and I know some people argued that he wasn't fit because he wasn't a parent (I argued with quite a few of them on twitter because I think that's just ridiculous!). A lot of the parents rights advocates in our county don't have their kids in public schools, yet still come and yell at the school board meetings. So far I haven't heard of anyone else running on either side except April for Algonkian, on the Dems side. And yeah that nonpartisan candidate was anything but. I wonder if we'll see more three way contests this year.
Yes to all of this. I live in Illinois so it's safely blue at the moment, but the anti-choice movement is very loud and Nick Fuentes grew up a few blocks away from where my parents live in the Chicago suburbs. So, we have plenty of problems. The first time I heard anyone talk about Parental Rights it was anti-choice people trying to preserve IL's last abortion restriction, that pregnant people under 18 had to tell a parent or get a judge to sign off. They failed, and now the legislature and governor protected people coming to IL from other states seeking abortion care. Now I hear about parents rights all the time.
Anyway thanks to anyone who read this far! Chicago votes on Feb 28 and April 4 (runoff) for Mayor and Aldermen. The REST OF THE STATE votes on APRIL 4 for school boards! Tell your friends!
And a reminder that the mayoral votes are so important because the mayor picks the school board in some capacity until 2027
Those votes are coming up quick!