Parenting & Families

Moral Panic at the School Board Meeting

Is this a school board meeting or did I inadvertently join the worst kind of book club? It is a Tuesday evening in December in Duval County, Florida. I am here with fellow members of a local advocacy group, Public School Defenders, to speak to our school board members and community-at-large. Our...

Let's Let Our Legislators Know: Ban book bans!

Across the country there have been efforts to ban books in schools. This is happening here in Washington State, too. We have the chance to ban book bans in public schools by passing SB 6208 and HB 2331. Sign on now to ban book bans in Washington State! These bills would prohibit the banning of...

Who We Are and Where We Come From is a Complicated History.

My child's class recently was assigned homework that asked culturally intrusive questions about where our family came from prior to them "moving" to America. There were questions such as, "Why did they “move” to America?", "Do we have anything in our homes that comes from that country?" and "List any recipes that come from that region." Being a black mother raising black children, I was not surprised but deeply concerned about why this was assigned to 8-year-old second graders. I learned that this is part of the Tennessee States Studies curriculum.