DV Journal

As Yogi Berra once said, “It’s déjà vu all over again.”

Once again, across the country and here in the Delaware Valley, school aged children are being forced into virtual learning. And once again, it’s the very districts that can least afford to have their children outside of the classroom that are most impacted.

We know from experience that children do best when they are in the classroom; we also know from the COVID virtual experience that we all just lived through that there are many secondary impacts to children beyond being behind in learning. Many of our children are being unfairly burdened with mental, behavioral and health impacts due to prolonged time out of the classroom.

At the same time, school districts and local leaders across the country are deliberately pushing the “dumbing down” of America in the name of equity. From the principal in Minnesota that is eliminating failing grades, to the (thankfully) former mayor of NYC who unilaterally eliminated the city’s Gifted and Talented program, the very foundation of our education is under attack from those entrusted with its success. Just this week, I saw notice of the Methacton School District waiving midterms and finals for all classes this year – a dangerous trend.

In truth, all these actions hurt the very children that they propose to help. Pushing a child on to the next grade because we don’t give out “F”s is not “equitable.” It is, in fact, leaving them unprepared for the future challenges that they will face.

We’ve also previously seen the Attorney General of the United States, without documenting any specific threats, taking an unprecedented step to issue a memo likening parents attending school board meetings to domestic terrorists. All while a company founded and run by his son-in-law does work for various school districts across the country on the very topics that many of their parents are emotional about.

As a former school board president, I can speak from experience on how heated school board meetings can get when there is a topic that the community is passionate about, and no topics arouse passion more than those that affect people’s children. But parents must be made to be partners in the decisions that impact their children’s future.

Whether a child goes onto college, grad school, the military, or a trade, what they lean in primary school is foundational to their success, and to the success of our nation. Cheating them on an honest assessment on what and how they learn and cheating their parents out of their rightful and appropriate involvement, is cheating an entire country.

The Constitution is silent on education; it leaves these matters to the localities. However, when the federal government threatens and the local government abdicates its responsibilities, then Congress must act to ensure that future generations are educated properly. This can be done by passing legislation that calls for minimum standards in grading and curriculum in order to receive federal funding. Congress can also finally pass meaningful legislation to provide school choice to millions of families across the country.

From national security to economic prosperity, there is no greater challenge facing us today that the education of our children. As Jefferson has been quoted, “An educated citizenry is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people.”

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One day after winning the gubernatorial race in Virginia, Glenn Youngkin stated “We’re going to embrace our parents, not ignore them.”  Youngkin understood that angry and frustrated parents were essential to his successful bid to become governor.

All over the country, parents are dissatisfied with their local schools and school boards and concerned about their children’s future.  Extended school closures, hybrid classrooms, and overly conservative quarantine policies have harmed students academically, emotionally, and behaviorally.  Transitioning back and forth between remote, hybrid, and in-person creates continued stress for both parents and students, particularly the neediest children.

In Pennsylvania, Back to School PA PAC helped to mobilize and organize these distraught parents to recruit, train, and support potential school board candidates who put the students first. Supporting school board races in 17 diverse counties and well over 200 bi-partisan candidates, Back to School PA achieved a 60 percent success rate in its first endeavor. However, Back to School PA believes that 2021 was just the beginning for parent involvement in school board races and politics in general.

With no school board races in 2022 in Pennsylvania, these same advocates who formed Political Action Committees (PAC) to support school board candidates are trying to determine how they can influence and/or support other key races across the state. Parents have been activated, and most are now committed to remaining engaged in local and state government.

More parents may come out to vote in Pennsylvania in 2022 than any other election in recent history. Regardless of political affiliation, parents are exhausted and concerned about the future for their children and for the commonwealth.  If schools do not stay open reliably, it is difficult for parents to work.  Mothers bore the brunt of the school closures, as 33 percent of women left the workforce to support their children during virtual school. Single mothers and low-income families suffered the most during school closures. Domestic violence and child abuse increased. Pediatric hospitals are being overrun with mental health concerns, and suicide attempts have increased exponentially. More children are being hospitalized for eating disorders and depression.  Parents have watched their children falling apart literally before their eyes.

Parents have spent almost two years witnessing how local government works and how it failed our children. Many parents participated in their local school board meetings for the first time.  These parents would spend hours preparing their statement, and then they were dismissed as being selfish for wanting their children in school. In some districts, parent comments were actually censored or not included during virtual meetings. For the most part, parents have not been welcome at school board meetings and many have felt disrespected, while some have been escorted out of meetings by police.  Parents want transparency about what is happening in the classroom, and they want to be engaged and respected, not dismissed or labeled domestic terrorists.

The National School Boards Association labeled upset parents as “domestic terrorists” who should be considered dangerous and treated as such.  Instead of encouraging and modeling civil discourse, local, state and national government leaders have repeatedly shown that differing opinions and simply asking questions are not welcome.

These issues are likely to bring out more parents to vote in 2022. Parents want candidates who are not beholden to special interest groups, like the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA). They want candidates who will place the importance of children and their future first. Most parents want a balanced approach to government, diversity of thought, and transparency around decision-making.  Every parent wants to be respected as the person who knows what is best for their child.

Respect of parental rights may be the single biggest issue for the 2022 elections.  Parents have never felt as demoralized and hopeless as they have over the last 22 months.  Watching their children struggle academically, emotionally, and behaviorally and feeling helpless to support them has changed the game for many parents.  And those parents who were also forced out of the workforce or had to choose between work and supporting their children during virtual learning, will not soon forget the impact of these draconian measures on their children.

2022 may be the year when parents reclaim their rights at the polls.

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“There is a Chinese curse which says ‘May he live in interesting times.’ Like it or not, we live in interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty, but they are also the most creative of any time in the history of mankind,” Robert F. Kennedy said in 1966.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic reached our shores, the country and the Delaware Valley have been living in “interesting times,” to say the least. Everything from shopping to education to sports has been seen through the lens of COVID, and whether it might lead one to contract it or would mitigate the virus.

Local and state governments collected numbers and issued mandates. Schools were locked down, reopened, and some locked down again. One of the biggest political stories the Delaware Valley Journal covered in 2021 was the rise of parent power. Parents objected to COVID lockdowns and masks at school board meetings, parents opposed to Critical Race Theory, and shocked parents asking school boards to remove what they deem as pornographic books from school libraries, along with school boards limiting parents’ free speech rights.

This also gave rise to election victories for school board candidates who promised not to shut down schools again and the successful statewide political strategy of Back to School PA PAC, which gave about $700,000 to back those candidates’ campaigns.

Another big story this year is crime and violence in Philadelphia, arguably driven by progressive prosecution—or lack thereof—by the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office headed by DA Larry Krasner, who was re-elected in November. As of this writing, 555 people were victims of homicide in Philadelphia in 2021—a horrific new record.

At the state government level, voters sent a clear message to Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf in May when they approved ballot initiatives limiting his emergency powers. It was a also the year when amazing numbers of Republican candidates began vying for the governor’s seat in the 2022 primary, along with similarly large  fields of hopefuls of both parties seeking the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Pat Toomey. The Senate race, which may tip the balance of the Senate, could become one of the most closely-watched political contests in the U.S.

The 2021 election process in some DelVal counties also came under fire as delays, mistakes, and mail-in ballots caused consternation.  That has also been a huge issue nationwide since former President Donald Trump questioned the validity of the election process that resulted in his defeat in the swing states, including Pennsylvania. And a lawsuit was filed against Delaware County officials alleging malfeasance in the handling of the 2020 election there.

Another statewide issue in the DelVal Journal was Wolf’s unilateral plunge into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a move that will undoubtedly limit Pennsylvania’s job growth and drive up energy costs for businesses and residents.

RGGI is supposed to reduce greenhouse gases by an auction process for power producers and industrial plants in 12 states, which buy credits to offset emissions. But those other RGGI states are not energy producers like Pennsylvania, with its wealth of natural gas.

And we have closely followed the controversy over the $6.1 billion Mariner East II pipeline. Some residents who live in the vicinity of the pipeline along with public officials have fought the pipeline, while overlooking clear benefits from the pipeline for employment, safety over rail or truck transport, and reduced energy costs. Luckily, for the economy of the DelVal region those efforts appear to have failed and the project is on track for completion.

Locally, Hurricane Ida hit some DelVal areas hard with flood damage as streams overflowed their banks while tornadoes pummeled parts of Bucks and Montgomery Counties.

National issues of inflation and supply-side woes also affected the Delaware Valley region as the Biden administration’s energy and regulatory policies began to be felt here.

In Norristown, the DelVal Journal broke a story regarding Norristown Area School Board President Shae Ashe sending sexually suggestive messages on social media to an underage Norristown High School girl. In the wake of those articles, Ashe resigned from the board and, although he was re-elected, did not return to it.

In Delaware County, the new Health Department, promised by Democrats who were elected to a majority in the county council in 2019, is taking shape and expected to open in 2022. It will cost taxpayers an estimated $10 million its first year.

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We’ve learned over the past two years that local is everything when it comes to civic life. If you are angry that your White child is being taught that he is guilty of having slave owner ancestors, you visit your local school board meeting to protest. If you are upset that your child is being swathed in unnecessary masks from morning to late afternoon, with no recreation breaks and only a brief reprieve to swallow and chew, you go to the school board again. If you don’t want to lose your job because your boss has decided to mandate vaccines and you’re hesitant, or if you just want one damn ticket to see “Hamilton” without getting the third degree at the box office about your history with infectious diseases, you write a letter to the editor, stage a work stoppage, picket the theater, write a screed on Facebook or run for office yourself. Forget Joe Biden; let’s NOT go Brandon, this is personal.

I’ve been witness to that since the pandemic began, and even before. But the rise of COVID has intensified the political awakening on the part of my neighbors. It’s also turned some of them into rabid creatures, drunk on the power of being woke and intent on neutralizing those neighbors who get in the way of their agenda.

Recently at a (here we go again) local panel discussion entitled Asian American Perspectives on Race & Equity, the president of the PTO at Valley Forge Middle School, Un Kyong Ho, made this comment about some of her own neighbors:

“I believe that the far-right, who are motivated by white supremacist ideas, are really scared right now because demographically, there is nothing they can do about the fact that there is a browning of this country.”  She also dismissed parents’ requests to review teacher training materials which are funded by taxpayer money as being “communist.”

Ho has also made clear on a public community forum her opinion about those who do not share her opinion on vaccines, stating “F*** the Unvaccinated.”

A Change.Org petition has been circulated seeking her resignation, which is unlikely to happen since Ho has been unapologetic in defending her comments, and she has a base of community support among her friends who also believe the unvaccinated should engage in some form of reproductive recreation.

While I do not know Ho personally and have no connection to the Valley Forge Middle School, I have a serious problem with someone in a position of authority, albeit in a volunteer position, who displays this level of hostility and ignorance toward the parents of other children in her community. The defiance and extremism of her words are ironic, given the fact that it is precisely the targets of her ire–White conservatives–who are tarred as wild-eyed zealots.

As someone who has spent the good part of her career dealing with immigrants, I find it reprehensible that someone would attack people with differing ideologies on academics as xenophobes who are afraid of those who don’t look or sound like them. It is also disturbing to hear the term “communist” bandied about to describe concerned citizens who merely want to see what is being provided to children under the guise of academic enrichment, particularly when that enrichment is being paid for by the parents of those children.

Whether Ho resigns is not up to me, nor is it up to anyone reading this. It is a personal decision. But I do think that we have a right to examine up close those individuals who seek to exert influence in our local communities, to assess whether they have the character to be in positions of authority.

As they always say, sunshine is the best disinfectant.