Standing Up for Parental Rights!!

A case for rescuing children from Vermont public schools

I rcenetly spoke at a Vermont Statehouse event concerning parental rights and Vermont public schools. I include my written notes below, as well as a link to the full panel presentation (I begin at about 40 minutes in).

(Thanks for reading my Substack!)

Vermont’s schools and Superintendents are waging war on parents and schoolchildren, using our tax dollars and our state institutions

I’m an attorney and I’m going to make that case, and the case for our being here and fighting back to defend Vermont’s schoolchildren from a toxic indoctrination facility.

Americans have the right and the duty to raise their own children, and that includes their education, moral values, and physical health. All three of those are under bold attack by Vermont’s paid government employees.

Troxel v Granville, 2000, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor opinion:

“The liberty interest at issue in this case -- the interest of parents in the care, custody, and control of their children – is perhaps the oldest of the fundamental liberty interests recognized by this Court. More than 75 years ago, in Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U. S. 390, 399, 401 (1923), we held that the "liberty" protected by the Due Process Clause includes the right of parents to "establish a home and bring up children" and "to control the education of their own." “

It’s hard to believe Vermont teachers don’t have the best interests of our children in mind. Thing is, that is the question – whether what teachers believe is in the best interests of children aligns with what their parents believe. Most teachers are ultra-liberal; conservative teachers are not welcome at VT public schools. Our schools have become ideological indoctrination facilities.

Let’s have a look.

Abortion and gun rights – are those for parents to teach about, or do the schools tell kids what to believe. Are “active shooter drills” good for children, and do they protect them, or “drill” fear into them?

What about God? – Is the existence and character of the Creator something parents are responsible for, or do teachers perceive they should “liberate” children from such liberty-restricting, oppressive “systems” and teach them the Big Bang fantasy and Evolution “Science” instead? Climate change science? – more fear and indoctrination, and self-hate.

Let’s examine some more science:

– gender ideology. Gender dysphoria versus species dysphoria. Right now in Coventry, three transgender para-educators have been inflicting their gender ideology on elementary school children. Several families have pulled their kids out of the school, and are either homeschooling or paying for private school – while still paying for the abusive trans-teachers’ salaries out of their taxes. There are only two genders. Science and chromosomes.

Speaking of that, a school in Morrisville punished a 13-year-old girl for wearing a shirt that said there are only two genders. The parents hired a lawyer, and now the school superintendent and the school attorney both say the child was never disciplined – a lie, paid for by our tax dollars. That girl was shamed and punished, as are many children who dare disagree with gender ideology.

– queer theory. Notice it's a theory. Kindergartners are being taught about gender orientation, instead of parents deciding when they should be taught about sex at all, including heterosexual sex. Children are encouraged to “choose” their gender and pronouns, as well as who they are attracted to. Marriage is oppressive. So much for real science. The culture war is here – we weren’t asked, and if we object with facts and logic, we are attacked as “culture warriors.” There is an attack against our culture and our parental rights, and we must reclaim common sense to protect our schoolchildren and prepare them for the real world, not this Marxist lie of Utopia.

– sex education. You would be astonished at what they teach young children in school now, in the name of liberating them. The book “Gender Queer” includes graphic pictures of oral sex between minors – but if you object you are called a book banner. Gaslighting by paid officials, and an assault on parents, families, and their children. But that’s the goal – read the Marxification of Education, by James Lindsay. The far-left Marxist atheists believe they are liberating children from an oppressive white patriarchy. Drag Queen story hour is not about teaching tolerance OR reading: it is the opposite

– racism. The schools teach that Vermont is systemically white racist, that white people are intrinisically supremacists, and that black people are marginalized victims. None of this is proven – it is all false. Where is the history of Vermont’s abolitionism and service in the Civil War? They are re-writing history. Superintendent John Castle and others claimed “We are not teaching Critical Race Theory.” It’s worse – they are APPLYING it to children. BLM flags at schools. Just ask the kids. More gaslighting against parents by those we pay.

We pay them a lot – nearly the highest per-student costs of public school education in the nation, and test scores in core areas are dropping. Vermont has lost more than 30% of its student body since 2000, but not a single superintendent position. Schools close, bureaucracy, and school administration salaries grow!

But what else? Anxiety, depression, mental illness, suicide – all higher in public school children than homeschool children. Homeschooling is surging around the world, as parents stand up to protect their children. This is called by the far-left indoctrinators “Parental Rights Extremism” (PRE).

— The home-educated typically score 15 to 25 percentile points above public-school students on standardized academic achievement tests

— A 2015 study found Black homeschool students to be scoring 23 to 42 percentile points above Black public school students

— 78% of peer-reviewed studies on academic achievement show homeschool students perform statistically significantly better than those in institutional schools

— Homeschool students score above average on achievement tests regardless of their parents’ level of formal education or their family’s household income.

— 87% of peer-reviewed studies on social, emotional, and psychological development show homeschooled students perform statistically significantly better than those in conventional schools

– medical care Vaccines, puberty blockers, sex hormones, abortion, birth control, HPV. Radio ad – this is illegal, yet Vermont statutes and our AG protect medical personnel above children and parents in these decisions. This is vile, and it must be vehemently opposed. This is a breach of everything decent and honest about the teaching profession, and Vermont’s legislators and schools should be ashamed and held accountable.

Read Coleman Hughes’ book, The End of Race Politics. Let’s end this, and reclaim our schools and tax dollars to protect and educate, rather than harm and indoctrinate, Vermont’s schoolchildren. (My presentation begins at about the 40 minute mark.)

“Mainstream American society isn’t morally confused about white supremacy; it’s an ideology that most Americans reject on moral grounds. By contrast, many Americans are morally confused about neoracism. They’re fooled by the self-proclaimed “anti-racist” label that neo-racists have adopted. That moral confusion makes neoracism a more dangerous threat to the dream.

“White supremacy is a wolf in wolf’s clothing. It has long been exposed for what it is, and people aren’t fooled by it. Neo-racism, by contrast, is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It uses the guise of anti-racism as a lure to garner support from well-intentioned – if misguided – people who want to support the cause of anti-racism but are no longer sure how.” (Coleman Hughes, The End of Race Politics)

This neoracism is what is taught as CRT, and under the misnomer of DEI.

Coleman Hughes’ book also helps us shift our attention to the impacts of social media and social justice ideology on our schoolchildren, but also our modern American political landscape

As to social media, Hughes writes:

“[It] turns out that certain content has a much higher ‘top speed’ than other content. Anything that appeals to our tribal identities, us versus them narratives, or historical grievances travels fast … Anything that emphasizes common humanity, rational analysis, or fact-checking, on the other hand, travels far more slowly …

“[S]martphones and social media changed the speed limit of information – which in turn gave a massive competitive advantage to ideas, information, narratives, and arguments that tap into division, tribalism, and grievances. Neoracism was among the ideologies able to take advantage of this seismic change. Ultimately, this change resulted in an information diet that is less tethered to reality, not more.”

Liberty Nation News quote:

“Social media use is the second leading cause of disability among psychiatric disorders … This era of progressively increasing digitalization, the recent trend of a dramatic shift toward online social life, and the desire to get social attention is expected to take a gruesome toll on the population’s mental health.”

This is what Vermonters must protect minor children from — our public schools have more than failed us: they are weaponizing our young children against their own culture, their own families and community, and ultimately against themselves!