Parshall Partners

Kids Over Politics

         There is a revolution taking place in this country. Moms and Dads, from large cities to small communities, all across America, are standing up to school boards and teachers unions who have determined that it’s far more important to teach radical ideologies than basic academics.

         Consider what happened recently in a small town outside of St. Cloud, Minnesota. The Sartell–St. Stephen School District has partnered with a group called Equity Alliance Minnesota. The group has been hired to do an audit on ‘racial inequities’, to the tune of $80,000.

         The words “equity” and “equality” aren’t the same. Equality means people are given the same resources and the same opportunities. The individual determines the outcome. Equity works for an equal outcome, regardless of individual contribution—a significant distinction that reveals a particular worldview.

         On a hot summer night, with no air conditioning and not enough seats for those in attendance, the school board in Sartell listened as both parents and students registered their concerns about CRT curricula coming into the school.

         One of the speakers was a 4^th grade student who shared that she, like the other students, was required to fill out a survey that asked questions of a very personal nature and that students were instructed not to disclose the contents of the survey to their parents. Haylee Yasgar testified:

“My teacher said that I could not skip any questions even when I didn’t understand them. One question asked us what gender we identify with. I was very confused along with a lot of other classmates.”

         Having been told to not repeat any of the questions to their parents, Haylee also stated:

“Being asked to hide this from my mom made me very uncomfortable, like I was doing something wrong.”

         Defenders of the audit refused to explicitly identify the use of Critical Race Theory in the classroom, which is fairly typical of districts where parents have complained. But is CRT in the classroom? Just ask the largest teacher’s union in the country.

         At their annual convention this year, the NEA passed an item dealing directly with CRT. The Union set aside over $127K to:

“Share and publicize, through existing channels, information already available on critical race theory (CRT)—what it is and what it is not; have a team of staffers for members who want to learn more and fight back against anti-CRT rhetoric . . .”

         The NEA also approved spending $56,500 to attack anti-CRT groups. That pits the NEA against parents all across the country. Another union, the American Federation of Teachers, stated that one of their officials went on national TV to talk “about how teaching critical race theory allows educators to ‘give our students the opportunity to understand the full breadth and depth of the American society.’”

         These radical change agents thought they could slip into America’s public classrooms and just as easily slip into the hearts and minds of America’s children. But they have been found out.

         Parents are rightfully pushing back. The parents who showed up on a hot July night in Minnesota to fight for their families worn T-shirts that said it all. KIDS over Politics. I couldn’t agree more.

         Those are my thoughts. I’m Janet Parshall.