This past week, a survey from “Piedmonters for a Fair Education” made its way onto a popular Facebook group for local families. The anonymous survey linked to a proton mail account (an email service that offers end-to-end encryption favored by anyone interested in concealing their identities) purported to represent a “rapidly growing coalition of Piedmont parents, PUSD faculty and community members” who were unhappy with the school district over its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and asked residents to fill out an “incident” report.
The anonymous nature of the survey makes it hard to determine its true origins, but anecdotal reports from local parents indicate that the survey is similar to ones being circulated among parent communities around the country. In October, NPR reported on the various groups protesting school board policies over a variety of issues. Parents Defending Education is one that specifically calls on its followers to target school boards over diversity initiatives.
From the story:
“The toolkit further says activists don’t need any evidence that “critical race theory” is currently being taught in their local schools in order to mount a campaign against it: “It’s important to note that whether CRT is currently in your school system is mostly irrelevant to the purpose of this document.”
* Parents Defending Education, founded earlier this year, provides resources to activists, pursues litigation, and publishes “incident reports” on districts around the country. President Nicole Neily previously worked at the libertarian Cato Institute and the Independent Women’s Forum, another conservative group that has produced a template letter for activists challenging school mask mandates.”
NPR: A look at the groups supporting school board protesters nationwide
An Instagram account tied to the group had only four followers. The account did follow two groups that have targeted the equity efforts by school boards around the country, including Parents Defending Education.
It sounds like PFFE, ironically labeled “wokeatPiedmont” is an extension of the beliefs touted by Ms. Hool in the Piedmont Post earlier in the year. She was of the belief that her mixed race children are suffering white guilt. The extension of her belief was we did not need to teach critical race theory or even allow our school educators to bring up current events that could possibly pile onto this white guilt as it negatively impacted her mixed race children and her white husband. I shared my experiences, that as mother of African American young men, I’m more concerned about the “community policing” stops my sons encounter at the hands of the police, the ones where the officers have their hands hovering over their service weapons. Will my hoodie wearing brown child return home or will he be shot by an overzealous neighbor. Will my lanky brown runner son be hunted down like an animal by neighbors because he stopped to check out a nice car or fancy house? How my husband spent years being stopped for the infraction of “driving while black” How my friends have ended up face down on their cars because they “match a description” of a robbery suspect. Whether Ms. Hool and her organization willingly knew they were using a poll generated by right wing, conservatives(dare I say pro-white folks) they clearly dropped the ball in vetting its origin. Ms. Hool has made her position known multiple times in the Post(at least 4 different letters to the editor and her editorial commentary) The community should be aware that she is pro-white people and anti teaching anything else that is not the sanitized version of “US History” that would have us believe that white people have been worldwide saviors to all other races. Anyone who has children whom they hope will be global citizens should steer clear of PFFE.
As a Chinese mother of PUSD students and a member of Piedmonters For Fair Education (PFFE), the article written by a Piedmont Exedra staff writer is unfair and unbalanced. The staff writer chose to stoke fear in the community with his/her own bias towards the position of the group.
To imply that PFFE utilizes tactics from a “right-wing playbook” is contemptuous.
In addition, the public perception of PFFE consisting of white right-wing racists is untrue. Our members belong to different ethnic groups, different religious groups and different socioeconomic groups.
If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.
John Stuart Mill