I Asked What My Daughter Would Learn in Kindergarten. Then the Teachers Union Sued Me.

By Nicole Solas Goldwater Institute Apr 09, 2022

 

I’m just like any parent—when I enrolled my daughter in kindergarten, I wanted to know what she would learn. In response, our school district bullied, harassed, defamed, evaded, and stonewalled me. Then the teachers union sued me. I left public school because I no longer felt safe but I’m still taking action to get answers.

Kindergarten is a precious milestone. Our babies are not babies anymore: They go to school for full days. Parents want to know their children are safe at school, and they want to feel confident that their children are receiving a quality education. I knew many public schools across the country have been politicizing lessons, so I called my principal in the South Kingstown School District in Rhode Island to ask if they teach concepts of Critical Race Theory or gender theory. That question and the events that followed changed my life.

The principal said they don’t call children “boys” and “girls,” and teachers embed values of gender theory into classroom lessons. They ask kindergartners, “What could have been done differently on Thanksgiving?” How can five-year-olds answer such a bizarre question that shames them for their American heritage? The principal told me these were “common practices” but could not define a “common practice” or tell me when these “practices” originated. Now I wanted to know these “common practices” and the educational pedagogy supporting them, but the school refused to answer my questions.

Instead, my school did everything in its power to evade me. The school told me to submit public record requests, but when I submitted what they considered to be too many requests, the school publicly threatened to sue me. They held a special public meeting to target me and treated me as if I were on trial. There, they publicized my public record requests and my personal emails. They allowed community members to speak in support of me or against me, and one woman whom I’ve never met turned directly to me and called me racist. The school even hired a PR firm to smear me in the national media. Later, the local teachers’ union had a meeting with 250 teachers where they put my name and picture on slides characterizing me as “threat to public education.” Two months later, the Rhode Island branch of the National Education Association filed a frivolous lawsuit against me to silence me and send a message to other parents that they could be punished for asking questions too. 

This is all because I did what the school told me to do: submit public record requests about Critical Race Theory and gender theory. I became the target of an organized and vicious attack—all because I dared to ask questions about my child’s education. 

But it backfired. Treat parents like adversaries, and they will respond like adversaries...........To Read More.....