Red wave in school board races has given conservatives control of some school districts, writes Eileen Griffin in Heartland Daily News exclusive.
By Eileen Griffin
Conservatives entered school board races in large numbers this election cycle, flipping several school boards previously dominated by leftists across the country.
Nine school boards in at least six states gave conservatives the majority, The Daily Wire reports. With wins in Michigan, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, New Jersey, and Florida, conservatives will have authority on education issues.
Parental rights were a major issue and reason for the movement toward conservatives in local elections. Parents have become an active voting block, The Daily Wire reports.
“Over the last two years, parents have complained about a litany of issues plaguing the public school system, including pandemic learning loss, pornographic and Critical Race Theory content in classroom materials, sexual orientation and gender identity being taught to very young students, and school safety,” writes Mairead Elordi for The Daily Wire.
Moms for Liberty
Mary Grabar, Ph.D., author of Debunking Howard Zinn and Debunking the 1619 Project, told Heartland Daily News she was not surprised to see so many conservatives run for school board seats given what is happening in classrooms.
“I’ve witnessed and reported on teacher conferences where teachers spoke about subverting parental desires and sneaking in pages of (Howard) Zinn’s book and teaching social justice math,” Grabar said. “They have been pushing increasingly radical, anti-child lessons year by year until we had the kinds of lessons that parents were shocked by during the COVID lockdowns. I have witnessed this progression. These people will not be satisfied. The new school board members need to remind teachers about who is boss.”
With so much interest and concern, momentum grew up to, and during, the mid-term elections, resulting in big wins for conservatives.
“I spoke at a number of meetings and events put on by Moms for Liberty and Republican groups,” Grabar said. “Especially in the Charleston, South Carolina group there was a tremendous amount of energy.”
With the help of conservative groups such as Moms for Liberty, several seats flipped to conservatives, often placing them in a majority on a school board.
“I was pleasantly surprised to see how that group (Moms for Liberty), led by Tara Wood informed parents and candidates for school board and other offices about the corruption of education,” Grabar said. “I think that when people argue against a certain curriculum, they have to do it on the basis of fact and not emotion. In both of my books I focus on exposing the omissions, misrepresentation of sources, plagiarism, and other sins of history writing.”
Unions’ Power
Larry Sand, President of the California Teachers Empowerment Network, agreed that the conservative wins were positive, however, he warns there is much work yet to be done.
“The results tended to be favorable, but the massive power of the teachers unions is still a tough nut to crack,” Sand told Heartland Daily News. “There are signs of progress, but we all need to be sleeping with one eye open. Eternal vigilance is a must.”
Sand said the quality of the schools may improve with the new school board members, but the left will still retain influence.
“It certainly should (improve the quality of schools) where conservatives were elected, but lefty school boards will probably continue their cultural crusade to the detriment of kids.
The left’s influence is entrenched in curriculum, the choice of textbooks and library books. Books with factual historical errors are used in classrooms despite evidence of the inaccuracies.
‘Maintain a Constitutional Republic’
Grabar testified at the state level when bills were introduced restricting use of the 1619 Project and Critical Race Theory in schools, and says teaching children inaccurate and disparaging history about their country has consequences.
“I have long maintained that the future of our republic depends on how future citizens are educated,” Grabar said. “We cannot maintain a constitutional republic if students, beginning in kindergarten, are taught that we were founded as a “slaveocracy”—to use the word of The 1619 Project—and remain one.”
Grabar says parents need to remain involved and might need to find an alternative way to educate their children outside of the government-run schools.
“I always encourage people to pull their kids out of public schools or else keep an eagle eye on what is being taught,” Grabar says. “While many might be able to homeschool their children or send them to private schools (which are also being corrupted), not all can or are willing to. We need to be concerned about the kids in public school, even if they are not related to us. We will have to live with them.”
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