A small-town Texas school board member who believes there are pornographic books in the school library was censured by the other trustees of Granbury Independent School District Aug. 23. Trustee Karen Lowery — who ran for office last fall on…
School board battles are back with a vengeance
Over the past few years, MAGA politicians and local activists have made education, especially the teaching of history, a hot spot in the culture wars — with the megaphone of Fox News. In the waning days of his presidency, Donald…
In North Carolina and Texas, Baptist ministers are running for school board seats
Two Baptist ministers have waded into the hyper-combative arena of public education by seeking school board seats in an era of unprecedented hostility, in some places bordering on violence, aimed at district leaders and educators. Both men — Jonathan Grant…
Organized foes of Critical Race Theory shouldn’t set the direction of our school district
Last week, a phalanx of protesters showed up in force at the Fort Worth Independent School District school board meeting to challenge the racial equity and cultural inclusion initiatives our nearly 90% Black and brown district has instituted in recent…
From Texas to Tennessee, evangelical parents are trying to take the ‘public’ out of public education
Ever since the forced integration of public schools, white evangelical Christians have led the charge to “protect” their children from social issues they’re not willing to face up to at home. Sadly, they expect that protection to come by means…
That time I went to the school board meeting to speak against banning books
This week, I found someone who has it rougher than pastors in handling dissent generated from right-wing conspiracy theories and fear of the LGBTQ community: Public school administrators. I had no idea how bad this is, and yet I should…