Parents, Act Your Age

by Jay Joseph ’22

Controversies over school closures, mask mandates, anti-racist education, LGBT+ rights, and more have sparked aggressive protests across the country, causing a variety of extreme reactions ranging from illegitimate elections for school board administrators to persistent death threats towards these public servants. Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a memorandum on October 4 addressing the recent “disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff.” The Department of Justice will also form a task force to address these incidents and prepare local school employees to handle them.

While parents have the right to voice their opinions and values while defending their children in an appropriate setting, they don’t have the right to endanger public servants or break the law in these pursuits. These public servants chose to devote their time and energy towards ensuring a quality education for the students of their communities, not towards stalking, death threats, and the endangerment of their families. These recent false elections mock the authority of school boards and, as Attorney General Garland said, “the nation’s core values.” Save these outrageous and self-righteous games of pretend for children and be mature adults; let school board administrators do their jobs with the same safety they strive to ensure for their students.