Parents' Rights

From Oregon to Florida, parents are asserting what they say is their right to direct the education of their children. The discontent has focused on questions ranging from anti-racism instruction to library book selections and COVID-19 pandemic issues, including school reopenings, whether masks should be worn at school and virtual and remote learning. Often, however, these parents have protested in ways that are angry and aggressive. Some have forced school board members to retreat from meetings, others have engaged in shouting matches — and in a few extreme cases, school board members say they have been threatened with violence. Parents with different views have pushed back against these protests, and sometimes they have been joined by students, who say open discussion of diverse viewpoints is healthy. Meanwhile, nonwhite parents in many areas have formed their own advocacy groups to seek policies that will curb inequities in public schools.