Youngkin's Big Lie About McAuliffe and Parental Involvement in Schools

One of the most dishonest ads Glenn Youngkin's campaign is running - and there are a number of dishonest ads in Youngkin's repertoire - is that Terry McAuliffe opposes parents being involved in their children's schools.  The ad takes a snippet of McAuliffe speaking out of context and utterly ignores what is happening in schools and school board meetings in Virginia and elsewhere in the country where "conservative" parents - think homophobes, Christofascists, creationism proponents and white supremacists - are opposing mask and vaccine mandates, seeking to purge gays from any mention, and want a white washed version of American history that eliminates non-whites and ignores some of the ugly truths of the country's history.  Indeed, the unruliness and threats exhibited by these "conservative" parents has caused the national association of school boards to ask the U.S. Justice department for protection for school boards and the prosecution of parents engaging in violence and intimidation. It is this dangerous and censoring behavior of parents that McAuliffe was rightly condemning. What's more disgusting is that Republicans such as Youngkin are using the situation to further enrage the deplorables and haters among the GOP base in the hopes of driving them to the polls. Missing from Youngkin's ads are the fact that he wants to take public school funding and give it to private schools, including "Christian" schools masquerading as charter schools.  A piece in the Washington Post looks at the movement of "conservative" parents and the threat it poses to quality public education.  Like so much with today's "conservatives" it is an example of an extreme minority trying to force its views and beliefs on the majority. A vote for Youngkin will literally put your children and grandchildren at risk and threaten the quality of their education. Here are highlights: 

The three-dozen women who showed up at the Brevard County school board meeting last week wore identical "Moms for Liberty" T-shirts, declaring they don't "CO-PARENT with the GOVERNMENT."

They snickered and jeered their way through a board member’s defense of the district’s classroom mask mandate, eventually getting kicked out of the room.

Afterward, a gaggle huddled under an oak tree nearby, listening to the proceedings via cellphone. When the board voted to keep the mask ordinance in place, Jody Hand, a 52-year-old mother of three, jumped to her feet. “I am going to be spending every minute making sure parents know they don’t have control over their children anymore,” she shouted.

Hand’s anger offers a window into Moms for Liberty, a controversial organization looking to play a major role in next year’s elections. Launched initially in Brevard County to support “parental rights” in public schools, Moms for Liberty chapters have spread nationwide. Its leaders hope to convert brawlish pandemic-era cultural divisions into lasting political power.

And their targets are sprawling — not only mask mandates but also curriculums that touch on LGTBQ rights, race and discrimination, and even the way schools define a scientific fact.

A Moms for Liberty chapter in Tennessee questioned whether a textbook that included a photograph of two sea horses mating was too risque for elementary schools. Members in Suffolk County, N.Y., have begun describing school mask policies as “segregation,” urging their children to rip off their masks in classrooms in protest.

And in Indian River County, Fla., a chapter recently objected to fourth-graders being taught how to spell “spinal tap,” “isolation” and “quarantine” because they were too “scary of words” to teach at that grade level, said Jennifer Pippin, head of the Indian River chapter.

But the group’s critics warn that Moms for Liberty has sowed divisions among parents and made it harder for school officials to educate students while keeping them safe.

Gary Shiffrin, head of the Brevard Association of School Administrators, who has been involved in public education since 1971, blames Moms for Liberty for the most disruptive educational environment he has seen, besides the lingering opposition to desegregation early in his career.

“They have decided they are going to be the spokespeople for conservatism, and this won’t end when covid ends,” said Shiffrin, a former teacher and high school principal.

The first two Moms for Liberty chapters in Brevard and Indian River counties launched in January, merging with two organizations that were campaigning against local coronavirus restrictions.

They quickly became known for their outspoken tactics, with the Brevard group often directing their ire at Jenkins.

Within days of its formation, Jenkins said some members of Moms for Liberty began targeting her. Jenkins said members picketed in front of her house, followed her to her car shouting epithets after school board meetings and sent threatening mail to her home and office.

She said someone has even filed a report with the county department of Child and Family Services falsely accusing her of abusing her daughter and using drugs.

Anthony Colucci, president of the Brevard Federation of Teachers, said Moms for Liberty has helped disintegrate the comity of local government, including turning school board meetings into “The Jerry Springer Show.” It has made it nearly impossible, he said, to discuss how to best serve students.

“I can be sitting in a meeting minding my own business, and they turn around and scream at me that I am a commie and teachers want to see all kids fail,” Colucci said. “This group brings out the worst in people.”

Tamsin Wright, a mother of two, said she’s been showing up to board meetings to support the mask mandate. But she often feels bullied, even though she thinks Moms for Liberty represents a minority of Brevard parents.

“Hate and conspiracy is so exciting. It gets people to come out in droves, so it works,” Wright said.

Florida Republican leaders say they are already benefiting from the group’s work. Christian Ziegler, vice chairman of the Florida Republican Party and a Sarasota County commissioner, credits Moms for Liberty and the broader issue of “parental rights” for bringing new voters to the GOP.

Ziegler also expects the group’s members will become foot soldiers for Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) reelection campaign next year. DeSantis has aligned himself with the “parent’s rights” agenda, including in his attempts to restrict school districts from instituting mandatory masks policies.

A Washington Post-ABC News poll released in early September found that two-thirds of Americans support mask mandates in schools.

But Descovich and Justice believe their approach appeals to parents wanting to decide for themselves how best to raise their children. They plan to use the phrase “parental choice” to galvanize conservative parents to vote in both school board races and broader statewide elections, including DeSantis’s reelection bid.

In Nassau County, N.Y., Moms for Liberty member Barbara Abboud . . . said she got involved with the organization after a school social worker put up a blog post that seemed to embrace critical race theory, an academic framework for examining systemic racism.

Democrats have questioned how Moms for Liberty is being funded, noting that its rapid expansion comes as DeSantis gears up for his reelection campaign ahead of a possible presidential bid.

Pamela Castellana, chairwoman of the Brevard County Democratic Party, said she is skeptical that Moms for Liberty is truly a grass-roots group. She noted that the group’s leaders are closely allied with several of DeSantis’s longtime political allies.

This month, The Washington Post reported that GOP megadonors have been quietly funding local groups that oppose school mask mandates.

[S]ome “Moms for Liberty” members booed when they heard that elementary school students are being taught about climate change and “environmental racism,” with references to President Barack Obama, John F. Kerry and Oprah Winfrey.

This is the parental involvement McAuliffe was condemning.  Kudos to him for doing so.