Topic: Education/Parents Rights

Children, who are COVID-19’s lowest risk population, are once again being forced to make enormous sacrifices even after the end of the pandemic. 

Shutdowns, mask, and vaccine mandates are again being pushed in schools and by their powerful allies.

A Montgomery County, Maryland elementary school is mandating masks for third-graders, and Kinterbish Junior High School in Alabama reintroduced masking.

In higher education, Dillard University in New Orleans brought masks back. Rutgers University and Georgetown University have also mandated masks and over 80 colleges and universities are still mandating vaccines. At the University of Michigan, students who test positive for COVID-19 must leave campus, or isolate themselves, much to their confusion.

And it’s not just masks. School districts in Texas and Kentucky have shut down due to COVID-19 outbreaks. School closures are happening in other areas, citing extreme heat and teacher strikes.

Teachers unions are flexing, at students’ expense.

Teachers unions are too eager to close schools, demand masks, and keep parents quiet and fearful. Those unions have powerful partners willing to push the message that COVID is back.

• Former White House official Dr. Anthony Fauci is back in the media, saying “there’s no doubt that masks work,” and urging people to follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) latest guidance. We now know that masks don’t work, from the most comprehensive analysis of studies on mask efficacy conducted by Oxford epidemiologist Tom Jefferson.
• Teachers unions influenced the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration and urged the Department of Justice to investigate parents who challenged school closings and prolonged masking. 
• When President of the American Federation of Teachers Randi Weingarten was criticized for shutting down schools, President Joe Biden personally called her, saying, “I am not abandoning you on schools. I want you to know that.” 
• Teachers unions demanded and got $200 billion from taxpayers – which to date has not been spent!

These actions have had disastrous effects on our children. Our children are paying the price with the loss of two decades of learning, mental health issues including depression and anxiety, and according to the CDC, an increase in developmental disabilities in children due to prolonged masking.

“We know children are largely safe from COVID,” said IWF’s Education Freedom Center Director Ginny Gentles on Fox News. “This is always a low risk population and masking only harms children, particularly children with special needs. This desire to do something and the something being masking has to stop.”

Citing the now famous line, “The child is not a mere creature of the state,” from the 1925 Supreme Court decision in Pierce v. the Society of Sisters, Gentles continued:

“We have known for a long time that parents have the right to direct the upbringing and education of their children. But somehow school districts have forgotten this and want to hide information from parents. And that’s why it’s important to stand up to them.”

Mandatory masking in schools is unscientific, unfair to kids, and purely political. It is our right as parents to decide what is best for our children, including sending them to school without masks. 

Is your school requesting masks? 

Take action today and push back on mask mandates at your school. This template letter provides a starting point for you to express your concerns with school officials.

Is your local newspaper pushing powerful union-crafted messages? Tell everyone! Here are resources on masking, closures and parents rights to help you write a letter to the editor. How To: Write a Letter to the Editor

Learn more about masking:

• Two Truths and a Lie: Children and Masking
• The Downsides of Masking Young Children are Real
• I’m a Doctor. Here’s Why My Kids Won’t Wear Masks This School Year
• Let my children take off their masks, the science says it is safe 
• Mandatory Masking of School Children is a Bad Idea
• Young kids are at low COVID risk in schools, but masking them could do long-term damage 
• It’s 98 Degrees Out. Why Is My Child Wearing a Mask?
• Mask Mandates Did Nothing. Will Any Lessons Be Learned?

Learn more about the effects of school closures:

• Policy Focus: Learning Loss
• ​Two Truths And A Lie: Learning Loss
• FACT CHECK: Is There No Such Thing As Learning Loss?
• Hearing | The Consequences Of School Closures
• Hearing | American Education Opportunities
• Students Going Back To School Shouldering The Weight Of Pandemic Learning Loss

Learn more about how to take control of your child’s education: 

• In 60 Seconds – Parental Rights
• Policy Focus: Parents Taking Control of Children’s Education

In July 2023, Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration updated Virginia’s model policies. The updated guidance is a victory for parental rights as well as for the safety and well-being of all students in public schools.

Changes to the model policies include:

• School officials are not to keep secrets from parents regarding their children’s chosen gender identity.
• Bathroom and locker room use is to be based on biological sex, rather than chosen gender.
• Students are to compete in school sports based on their biological sex, rather than their chosen gender.

While the revisions to Virginia’s model policies are commonsensical for most of us, fringe transgender activists, and now the Department of Justice, are trying to intervene and roadblock these important changes.

Let’s lift our voices to encourage Virginia’s public schools to adopt policies consistent with the new guidance.

Take action today by telling your Virginia public school district’s superintendent that you support safety and fairness in public education and want parents involved in their children’s lives.

Parents matter! They are important in every aspect of a child’s life. Yet today, government-run schools are determined to disrupt the parent-child relationship and create barriers so that parents are left in the dark about what their children are exposed to in the classroom.

That doesn’t sit well with parents so it’s time to send these government officials a message: Parents have rights!

The Parents Bill of Rights Act (H.R. 5) was just introduced to protect parental involvement in all federally-funded K-12 schools. The bill confirms that parents should have the right to: 

• Review their school’s curriculum, reading materials, and state academic standards.
• Lawfully engage with their local school board and educators.
• See a school’s budget and spending, including detailed information about revenues and expenditures.
• Protect their child’s privacy.
• Keep their child safe and be updated on any violent activity at school.

The bill is moving swiftly through the legislative process. Your voice matters in this conversation and legislators need to hear from parents now.  

Tell your legislators to support Parents’ Rights!

More resources:

• How To Talk About: Education Freedom
  This IWV communications kit addresses misperceptions and includes a Q&A, talking points, and a glossary of terms.
• Debunking Education Freedom Myths
  We talk with Corey DeAngelis about some of the most common school choice myths.
• Education Savings Accounts and Homeschooling
  We address questions about ESAs and home education.
• How to Find Education Options