The Parkers’ delusions of forging history seemed to have joined the slag in the furnace. They will not be known as people who created case law giving parents the right to tell schools:
- what books their children can read or have read to them
- what subjects are optional per student
- what topics – even if they arise spontaneously in class – require removal of individual students by parents’ demands
There’s lots of background at MassResistance Watch and Marry in Massachusetts. Search for David Parker or Mad Dad.
In theory, they could return to Massachusetts courts to try to twist the parental notification law. They failed before in several levels of court. A huge problem for them is that the judges don’t see to agree in the slightest that an early reader that says there are same-sex couples in a state where same-sex marriage is legal is sex education.
Moreover, by the time this dirty snowball rolled into federal court, they hoped to establish the right of parents to determine what their kids are exposed to in public schools. Today’s Supremes decision could be a resounding clank of a closing lid on that.
Meanwhile, neither Parker’s site nor MassResistance has posted any rants or comments of any type. We may hear the keening and rending of garments when they discover that what we considered inevitable has happened. Lackaday.
a card?
Yes, yes. You must mean the Fool.
I thought I’d send something topical rather than a comment on how others view them. I was thinking perhaps something like this
…though I suspect some otherly politicized might consider those pornography.
Like, say you find out that your child’s public school is teaching kids something that you are concerned would harm them, what is the mechanism for parents to use to correct the situation? Like suppose schools were teaching that white kids should not date black kids, or that stupid kids should consider killing themselves (I know they’re unlikely to teach something like that, but suppose they were), how would someone (and would they have to be a parent?) go about getting schools to stop teaching that? Is the teaching of creationism a good example? Wasn’t that stopped by some parents saying that they objected to what was being taught in class?
your local elementary school principal and ask?
Being a local elementary school principal, I can answer that question. The short answer is that local School Committees determine the curriculum within the context of the State Curriculum Frameworks. But of course, School Committees don’t micromanage to the extent that they choose library books. School librarians do, according to standards set by national school library associations.
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p>However, well-organized school districts have a system in place where parents can challenge a library book in circulation. That system requires review of a challenged text by a group of teachers administrators and parents that determine the appropriateness of the text for the age level of children and the extent to which the text furthers the legitimate curriculum goals of the district. A text can be left in circulation or removed from it. Usually there is an appeals process to the Superintendent and/or the School Committee.
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p>The bottom line is that schools are political institutions that reflect the values of the communities in which they exist. A good school administrator understands that and positions their school or district in the mainstream of the values of that community.
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p>That doesn’t mean an administrator can’t show leadership in this area. They can. I work in a district that spends a good deal of resources and energy on development of anti-bias, anti-racist teaching. That work is probably slightly outside the mainstream of our community.
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p>However, if an administrator were to do that kind of work in a very conservative and non-diverse community, they would likely be looking for a new position fairly quickly.
Most of what you list are illegal and not in play – overt discrimination and such. The short answer is that librarians help the teachers, administrators and board members tweak or create curriculum. Parents can view and comment on books and lessons before they appear, but very few parents bother.
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p>Actually the books and lesson plans tend to be middle-of-the-road from the self-censoring administration. That was not good enough for four parents.
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p>Those who are really pushing for this or that can join or run for the boards, meet with principals, superintendents and the board and such.
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p>A major point of the rulings against the two couples in Lexington was that because they don’t like a book or don’t want teachers even to utter “homosexual” in factual conversations, they do not have the right to dictate curricula or lesson plans. In fact, the four wanted special rules for only their kids. For example, if any discussion even mentioned that homosexuals exist or that some families had two moms or two dads, the parents wanted the teachers to halt the class, remove their child from the class, and so forth. That was true even if some child said something like, “My mommies…”
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p>In the hearings I attended, the judge basically said that they needed to find religious schools or some other private institution that shared that philosophy. The concept was that public school educated all and did not cater to individual politics, religion or such.
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p>These four parents were outraged at that from their comments. They want the benefits and ease of public education, but want it tailored to their whims. They claimed that even hearing about things the parents disapproved of violated their religious rights. They refused to accept that they had the kids the vast majority of the time and could teach them whatever they wanted. Neither the state nor the U.S. District nor the Supreme Court bought into the parents’ arguments.
Their desire to prevent their children from even knowing that gay and lesbian people exist is completely creepy.
The self-identified parents rights folk are of a cloth. I contend they are clear examples of the authoritative personality, as in this series of posts.
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p>I too have long tired of Parker’s chest thumping. It seems clear they’re getting winger money to keep this going. That would likely disappear about a loss at the highest level.
Judge Garrahty did such a spendid job for the Boston Public schools. After thirty five years—the system remains a complete failure: drop out rates, MCAS, metal detectors at the doors. Yup—-just swell judge.