Like many situations in our society right now, the outsized attention being paid to the conflict between some angry parents and local school boards throughout the country is over-hyped, over emphasized, and unsurprisingly being exploited by cable news. Has there been an upwelling of exasperated, hostile parents unleashing their pandemic frustrations in what has historically been the civil and cordial confines of school board meetings? The answer is yes of course. We’ve all seen the videos filled with yelling, finger-pointing, and curse words. An unfortunate symptom of the contentious and distrustful age we live in, for sure. I would argue however, that it is a vocal belligerent minority that has seized the megaphone in our public square and that they do not represent the majority of parents in this country.
Most of us who are sending our children to public schools, recognize that the schools, administrators and teachers and the boards that are charged with operating and guiding policies have been between a rock and a hard place. We’ve all been between a rock and a hard place this past year. They’ve had no real good choices. Intermittent shut downs that no one wanted to instate, done for the sake of public health, hurt children’s academic and social development. Millions of parents struggled with remote learning situations, juggling of child care and throw into the mix the nuclear-charged mask debate and you’ve got a recipe for a powder keg to explode. Unfortunately these episodes have become fodder for the culture wars. Right wing cable hosts and hate radio pundits, true to form have thrown fuel on the fire, painting well intentioned American school board members as part of the vast big government conspiracy to control and ultimately destroy individual liberties.
The reality is a much different picture of course. Most school board members in most locales across the country are just normal good folks living in our neighborhoods; reasonable, often very middle-of-the-road fellow citizens just trying to be involved and do right by their communities. These school boards, while not perfect, are in a vast majority of situations just trying to make the best collective decisions that balance the needs and desires of children and parents with the general public welfare and health of small towns and big cities. There is no way everyone will ever be happy, nor have they been. And not all of the anger has been coming from the don’t tread on me, anti-vax, right wing crowd. Probably most of it but not every bit. Even some crazy left wing nuts have shown up to get in the mix. These folks would have the schools just completely shut down until the last case of COVID-19 disappeared from the world. There are always looneys on both sides. But school board members caught in the middle of all of it do not deserve the insults and bad behavior that have been on display.
Now, do most of us understand some of the frustrations being expressed? Sure we do, but most of us won’t stand on a chair in front of our neighbors with spit flying out of our mouths yelling expletives at some poor woman who has volunteered her time to try and make a difference and oh by the way may be a parent herself and experiencing similar situations. What’s wrong with people? Where did peoples’ manners go? Where did the common decency and cordiality among fellow citizens go? It’s pretty safe to say that for a hostile and emboldened minority they are modeling the bad behavior and hateful rhetoric they saw from a certain President for four years. They think it’s ok now to act like that. Yet I would argue that most of us still have that decency to us. Most of us still do know how to treat and talk to others. Most of us do support our public school boards and appreciate the hard work and unenviable position they are in. Most of us understand the balance that must be struck. We all have the right to express ourselves and our frustrations regarding public policies that affect our daily lives. But most of us in the middle know there is a right way and a wrong way to do things. Unfortunately, for now, that overhyped, angry, and hyperbolic minority of parents have hijacked the conversation.