The time for discussion is over — it’s time to take back our schools

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Letters to the Editor
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21
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In light of the last Fayette County School Board meeting, it is obvious that the time for discussion is over.

From the long lines in the hot sun due to limited public seating, to the plethora of armed guards, to the snarky running Facebook commentary by Mr. Leonard Presberg during parents’ impassioned pleas to make decisions for their children’s health and education — enough is enough.

First, all board members — indeed, all school employees — must remember that they work for We The People. They do not work for The Department of Education, they do not work for the media, and they certainly do not work for themselves.

The citizens of Fayette County fund our schools, which means our schools must reflect our local values. If the past two board meetings are any indication of current Fayette County sentiment, it’s safe to say that most of us oppose masking our children.

Also, I do not want atheism or Satanic clubs in our schools. I do not want our kids being taught about masturbation, Critical Race Theory, or how lockdowns, masks, and experimental gene therapy are good things. Any argument that the First Amendment applies to school is moot — schools are not the responsibility of the federal government, Bill Gates, or even Leonard Presberg. They are the responsibility of the community. The Department of Education was created under Jimmy Carter, not the Constitution. It is time to reject federal and local dictatorships over our schools and declare our authority.

Second, the disrespect shown by Leonard Presberg toward his constituents — along with the complicity of every other board member — is abominable. Perhaps in a kingdom it is permissible to look down your nose and scorn those whom you perceive as your subjects. But in America, our elected officials work for us.

Finally, the time to act is now. Parents must engage and do one or more of (at least) three things:

If you do not want to mask you children, do not mask your children. When your children are forced to wear a mask, tell them to refuse. When Covid vaccines become mandatory (and they will), refuse to inject your children with experimental mRNA gene therapy. We must band together and civilly disobey these unconstitutional and inhumane mandates.

Pull your children out of the public school system. If you cannot pull them out, write, call, and visit your schools to demand the removal of masks. Demand the school board inform you of what changes they are currently planning on making to sex education.

Demand that topics such as Marxism (and its derivative Critical Race Theory) be left out of our school curriculums. Same goes for Atheism, Satan worship, and anti-Christian, anti-conservative messaging.

Demand that our children recite the pledge of allegiance and learn to love their country. Get rid of Brain Pop and its progressive agenda. It is time to go on the offense, because the other side will not stop until Christianity, American history, and childhood innocence are destroyed.

Finally, we must vote every board member out. Then, we must demand that our new board members replace the current Superintendent. If at all possible, RUN! You will find a groundswell of support from passionate parents who want the best for our children.

It is time to reclaim our schools. If we do not stand up and reject the current madness unfolding in the public school system, we will lose our children to the destructive, hateful, and de-humanizing ideals of progressivism. And if we lose our children, God help us.

Michele Cooper

Fayetteville, Ga.

21 COMMENTS

  1. what if I want my child to be a masterbating, satan worshiping, marxist?! What if the idea that learning history as well as math and english, from people who achieved a degree of higher learning specifically to be able to teach younger people about these topics makes sense to me? What if, the conservative values you hold, do not align with those that I base my belief systems on and further more what if I do not want to live around or in the kind of place where bigots and lunatics get to decide what is taught in schools? The more comments I read in the Letters to the editor section, the more I am convinced that maybe I should support the efforts of the non mask wearing, anti vaxxer, neo fascist Karens and Kens. I find myself looking out my window more often, pleased with the progress these goof balls are making as a handful of demographics I cant stand are systematically wiping themselves out via their own stubborn stupidity from Covid. I am starting to think those of us that want the vaccine and that support masking just keep it up and keep an extra bottle of hand sanitizer nearby to wipe our hands of these folks.

  2. In every school (public and private) there are requirements to provide for health and safety, to include what can be worn (or not worn) by students. Students can not come to school, in almost all schools in the US, without shoes because it poses a health and safety risk. Students are usually required to wear clothing that covers certain parts of their body. If children have “lice” or other contagious conditions there are health and safety protocols in place. The fact that an individual parent may prefer that their child come to school barefoot, with an active, untreated infestation of “lice”, or with no shirt or pants is not accepted because it is not considered safe or healthy. Individual parents do not get to set these standards for the school/s.

    Masks (face coverings) are needed in many schools (based upon the data) to assist in preventing the spread of a virus that has taken the lives of 600,000+ people in the the US and this virus is still raging.
    Indoor mask policies are effective and complement vaccines and other measures to prevent infection in everyone, vaccinated or unvaccinated. Effective mask policies are associated with reductions in COVID cases over time. If the person who is infected and those around them wear masks, it can prevent spread to all or some of those other people. (safety and health)

    COVID surges in our community harm businesses, hospitals, schools, and families. Many people are already wearing masks indoors in public places, but masks are most effective when everyone wears them together in indoor spaces when the data demonstartes that there is a need.

    For parents who want to be in total control of what their child wears and does in a school setting, the best course of action seems to be online learning and home school options. Most schools have historically placed requirements on students based upon health and safety. Based upon the current data, some school systems may not need to mandate masks while others may need to do so. It is important to follow the state or local health department data.

    Unfortunately, this issue has become about many things that aren’t necessary or reasonable — let’s keep our focus on children being able to go back to school and also being as safe and healthy as possible at the same time Children need the adults in the room to be role models and look out for the entire community of learners and their families.

  3. Hello Ms. Cooper,

    The First Amendment of the United States Constitution, and the Georgia Constitution, defend the right of the individual to practice any religion or no religion. While you decry it as “moot,” public schools, as entities of the Federal and State governments, cannot pick “winners and losers.” Ask yourself: what is more harmful? My children being exposed to thoughts that force them to think about their beliefs and come to a deeper understanding, or indoctrinated, Orwellian “groupthink,” where the only ideas allowed are those that are strictly adherent to a centralized belief system that cannot be questioned, akin to “sheeples.” I want my children to have the confidence that they can face challenging thoughts, critically examine them, and make their own decisions informed by their beliefs and values.

    Do you know what makes a baby? Sex. Do you know what doesn’t? Masturbation. I’d like my kids to feel safe in knowing there is an appropriate time and place for intimate experiences, but their body is sacred and special and theirs to control. My children are learning at an early age about consent and appropriate contact. One out of four women in Georgia will experience sexual violence in their life. Sex education in our schools must, by law, heavily focus on abstinence, need not be comprehensive, and is not required to be medically accurate. In this one area, where statistics say 25% of girls in our school system will be subject to abuse in their life, we are willing to turn a blind eye to the best medical and socially appropriate education, in the name of moral turpitude. I take it as my own personal responsibility to teach my daughters about consent, safety, and protection because in this one area the school system legally cannot give them any alternatives.

    Claiming to dissuade conversation of Critical Race Theory, a graduate level social and legal area of study, is attempting to sweep any discussion of the challenges that we face in society. I have no doubt about your ability to perform online research, so I invite you to look at Fred Wardlaw and his family from Castor, Louisiana. Descendants of slaves, the family lost their land that went back for generations because of laws that were fundamentally crafted in a way that disproportionately affected black communities. This is, in many respects, no different than saying, “only children wearing school spirit wear can play sports” and then charging $1000 for the clothing. You’re not specifically excluding any group, but you’re creating an insurmountable obstacle for the poorest of families, who tend to be in the racial minority. When combined with other factors, you would begin to look at and study how those families have a very difficult time making ends meet in this country when prosperity abounds. If that’s something that interests you, it would make sense to study it in college or graduate school. That body of knowledge is called Critical Race Theory, and it’s far beyond what’s addressed in the Georgia Milestones standards.

    By gene therapy, I can only assume you are referring to mRNA-based vaccines that have been studied for nearly 30 years. They can train the body’s natural immune response to attack specific pathogens who have a protein spike that matches the training. A vaccine recipient’s DNA is unmodified in the process, so no gene therapy takes place. Vaccines are required in schools and that requirement was supported by the Supreme Court in 1905. Children receive numerous vaccines to prevent future illnesses. The MMR vaccine has virtually eliminated a painful and debilitating illnesses from the United States. It has received substantial negative press over the last 20 years because Andrew Wakefield, a discredited ex-doctor in the United Kingdom, faked results of a study and defrauded all of us. I love that I live in a country with such excellent science that we’re able to eradicate illnesses and prevent untold suffering and death.

    I can continue to give you facts, but you call for action. You ask me to demand the elimination of any topic that makes you uncomfortable. I will not do that. There is no guarantee of protection of thought except for the freedom of thought. I want our schools to push our children in every conceivable way. We cannot do that in a safe protective bubble-wrapped version of Fayette County. I want my children to grow and be encouraged by who they are and struggle with tough decisions. I want them to excel at academics, at sports, at pushing the boundaries and frontiers of their ability and what they think is possible. I don’t want rote automatons who subserviently mimic the pledge without knowing the freedom of human expression and of love and laughter and pain. I want my children to grow up in a place that forces them to grow and think for themselves and be the very best version of themselves.

    I want the very best for my children. They challenged me to be a better parent and to grow with them as they grow in our brave new world. Life should come with a warning label, “Safety not assured.” But life should also come with the label, “Go and be yourself and figure out who that is.” I’m still figuring out who I am. It’s not part of your vision for what we should be, because we should be better and do better and be challenged and learn. That’s what I want for our schools.

    • Sorry to double reply to this hot mess, but I just read the saddest article by the Friendly Neighborhood Epidemiologist, whom everyone concerned with the pandemic should be following. She is a sort of clearinghouse for much of the studies, trends, and information that bombards us, and her report makes it easier to understand and draw conclusions. She is Emily Smith, a Texas Christian and churchgoer, so even you, Ms. Cooper, may trust her.

      The theme of this week’s report: COVID-19 is on the rise among children! “As of September 2nd, 5 million total COVID cases have been among children – equating to 15.1% of all cases. This is an overall rate of 6,709 per 100,000 children in the population. HOWEVER, over the past two weeks that total climbed by 455,000 – which is an increase of 10% on average,” she writes, with documentation you can see if you look it up. Emiliy Smith, Friendly Neighborhood Epidemiologist, publishing on substack. You can find her.

      Worse even than that dramatic increase in childhood COVID across the country: Georgia, in particular, is among the states with a 25% increase in children testing positive over the past two weeks! If you think children can’t get COVID, you are wrong; Delta variant changed all that. And if you think it’s a good idea to go maskless and prevent children and teachers from wearing masks at school, you are part of the problem. Vaccinations for everyone who is eligible and masking in public places are still the most important tools we have to end the pandemic.

      A pandemic which should be over already for the USA if so many folks weren’t dragging their feet on vaccinations.

  4. For once I agree with PTCitizen, too. Home school if you want the right to make sure your children catch and spread COVID, remain ignorant about the history of the USA, assume Christianity is true and is the only religion, believe in the tooth fairy, or whatever else it is you want them to learn.

    It’s funny you don’t even seem to care about the quality of the education (you don’t mention reading, writing, ‘rithmetic), as long as no one is saying anything anti-conservative or trying to teach your kids about common decency in society and caring for each other — which also makes it funny that you’re concerned their education might be anti-Christian when your concern about your right to spread COVID is the antithesis of Christianity. Ms Cooper you are a riddle wrapped in an enigma as Winnie would say.

  5. The folks that have showed up at the past two board meetings are most definitely not representative of the county. You think because you are showing up and making the most obvious noise that you are, but the silent majority is out there, and we’re sending our emails and having conversations with our board members.

    Which Christian doctrine do you want taught in schools? The Catholic one? Greek Orthodox? Baptist, Unitarian, Mormon, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist, Branch Davidian?

  7. “You’ve got to be taught
    To hate and fear.
    You’ve got to be taught
    From year to year.
    It’s got to be drummed
    In your dear little ear.
    You’ve got to be carefully taught.”–
    Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific

    (Not one hopes in our public schools. Nor in our Christian churches).

  9. The best way to resolve these issues is:
    — acknowledge that PARENTS are the ones who should make these decisions
    — help parents make these decisions by allocating to them the per capita funds for their children’s education. If they choose to send their children to Public School, the schools get the funding; if they choose private school, those entities receive the funding; if they choose to home school, the parents receive the funding.
    –acknowledge that some parents will not choose wisely, but accept that – taken as a whole – the vast majority will do what is best for their own personally unique situation.

      • Because dollar for dollar, private schools are more cost effective delivering a higher quality education at a lower price.

        Besides… the distinction between a government run public school, a non-profit public school, and a for-profit private school is trivial at best. Where government run public schools excel is in giving administrators jobs. Typically at the expense of hiring teachers or paying them well.

        • I suppose if the Government contracts private organizations to operate the schools, I can accept private schools paid with my tax money. Otherwise, I have less control of the curriculum or other school activities than I do through the democratic process.

          • Generally speaking, that describes many charter school organizations, and studies have shown that the performance is broadly similar, and any cost-vs-performance differences tend to come from reduced operating costs; charter schools don’t necessarily need to provide transportation and don’t generally have students that require higher levels of service.