The website Legal Insurrection shared the story of a Rhode Island mother who was on the brink of being sued by her local school board for asking questions about Critical Race Theory, and how it was being taught in schools.
According to William Jacobson, who is also a professor of law at Cornell University, Nicole Solas filed a series of public record requests, “concerning Critical Race and Gender theory in public schools.” Solas wasn’t commenting on CRT, rather she sought to understand what it is that the school district would be teaching her soon-to-be kindergarten student.
Yet, the South Kingston School committee voted on whether to sue Solas because of all the public record requests, which they say wasted their time. In speaking about this, committee Chairwoman Emily Cummiskey went a step further, going directly after Solas and referring to her and her requests as, “racist:”
“More than 200 APRA requests have been filed by a single individual in just the last few weeks alone,” she said, “demanding more than 300 hours of our district’s time to these records requests” and distracting from “efforts to make our schools more equitable, inclusive, and empowering by eradicating any harmful practices or prejudices through equity and anti-racism teachings.”
“It’s disappointing, and extremely disheartening, to see an individual, particularly one without a child in our schools, work so hard to harm these efforts, and in turn, send a message to our students and families that anti-racism education is not valued. Racism and hate have no place in our district.”
The Chairwoman also called the possible lawsuit, ““potential injunction” to blunt “a nationally-organized, racist group [attempting] to create chaos and intimidate our district. …This is their MO nation-wide and I anticipate other districts in our state will soon experience the same unfortunate influx we have.”
In the end, with pressure from the community, the school board relented. You can listen to my interview with William Jacobson here.
In Brownsburg, Indiana, parent Kristin Ferklic has been very outspoken about her issues with Critical Race Theory. On social media, she has asked questions and made statements about CRT, and the Brownsburg Community School Corporation (BCSC.) In response, the BCSC Superintendent, Jim Snapp, blocked her on Twitter.
Ferklic enlisted help from the Liberty Justice Center who wrote to Superintendent Snapp, stating, “Blocking Ferklic violates numerous constitutional rights: to receive publicly available governmental information, to participate in a public forum and to be free from discrimination or retaliation based on viewpoint.”
She is now the head of the Indiana chapter of No Left Turn in Education.
Parents across America are concerned about the education their children are receiving. They continue to speak out against the bigotry of CRT in schools, including the false narrative of the 1619 Project and the inappropriately named “anti-Racism” training. Yet, for asking questions, or voicing their concerns, they are labeled as bigots and racists by school groups and other “woke” organizations. Or, their legitimate concerns completely ignored.
Honest opposition to CRT is everywhere. And these parents show no signs of staying silent:
