Over the last year, school board meetings nationwide have been the center of heated debates over contentious issues like mask and vaccine mandates for students, Critical Race Theory in classrooms, and more. Rather than reform their practices to reflect the will of parents — whose taxes pay their salaries — school boards have increasingly turned to a number of tactics and stratagems that muzzle parents from influencing their own children’s schooling.
Many school officials seem to treat parents’ ability to comment on their children’s education as a fully revokable indulgence extended by the government. For instance, the Ohio School Boards Association informs parents that, under state law, “There is not a legal requirement that [school board] meetings afford the public an opportunity to comment or otherwise participate in the meeting.” A number of districts seemingly tell parents they should consider themselves privileged to address such an august body of learned bureaucrats.
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