Minnesota's Parental Bill of Rights, Part IV

Why the Minnesota Parental Bill of Rights is Desperately Needed

By Jeff Johnson, Ph.D.

Jeff Johnson served on the St. Cloud City Council from 2010-2018 and is a retired university professor. He also served on a school board as a member, vice chair, and chair. He is currently a high school teacher. His combined teaching, school board experience, and being a parent of high school children has provided unique insights into school policies and parental rights. He is locally known as the Minnesota axe grinder who likes to “grind the axe” when it comes to corruption, coverup, bad behavior, and wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars.

Background

Years ago, when I served as school board chair, I clearly remember explaining to parents in an open house setting that teachers and parents have distinct roles. The parents’ role is to raise their children. The teachers’ role is to provide an education. There is an expectation that parents and school personnel will cooperatively work together to achieve these collective goals. As one of the co-writers of the Parental Bill of Rights, (PBR) it became clear to me that a grass roots parent-friendly document needed to be developed for parents and school boards here in Minnesota. Hence, the Parental Bill of Rights was born from an idea suggested by Gary Gross of FreedomProsperityBlog after he broke the story about Cassie Fredregill. Cassie is a Little Falls parent who wanted information about the sexting curriculum in her 10 year old daughter’s class. It should be noted that a similar bill (see HF 1590 – Parent’s Bill of Rights) is in the Minnesota legislature. However this bill addresses non-behavioral issues such as getting parental consent before obtaining minor child medical records, getting a photo ID card, etc. Unfortunately, some people believe that HF 1590 is already “DOA” because the legislature and governor’s office is DFL controlled.

As one of the primary authors of the PBR document (not HF 1590), I decided to take what I said as board chair years ago and with the assistance of the entire ad hoc committee of writers, add more substantive details to the roles of parents and school personnel which is taken directly from the preamble of the Parental Bill of Rights:

Parent, parents or guardians (parent) are responsible for providing for the physiological,physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of their child/children (child). School personnel (employees and volunteers who work with students) are to provide an education based on academic standards established by local and state policy makers.

Why the PBR is Desperately Needed? The War on Our Children

Public school employees are compensated with taxpayer dollars and are public servants. They should act like public servants. As a former board member and chair, I was extremely sensitive to my role as a servant to parents. The unprofessional behavior of Little Falls school officials towards Cassie Fredregill and subsequent retaliation towards her 10-year-old daughter is abhorrent. A parent who inquires about sexting curriculum materials in her 10-year-old daughter’s class should be treated professionally, with dignity and in a timely manner. In Minnesota, there have been several other high profile obscenity related issues that have recently surfaced. Alpha News reported that parent groups have found pornographic books available to Delano students that have depictions of underage rape. Even Governor Tim Walz has shockingly supported a sexually graphic book containing sexual assault and molestation at a reading event. His new taxpayer funded $17,000 a month lakeside mansion? That is a different matter. A Bemidji teacher wants to secretly inject children with puberty blockers as one parent called this “disgusting and disturbing. A Shakopee teacher required students to read a sexually explicit book that is light years beyond the scope of a human anatomy sex ed class. One cartoon picture of a young girl on a phone listening to someone say, “I want to eat your p_____y!” is shockingly irresponsible!

There is some good news. Senator Eric Lucero has introduced a bill (see SF 933) in the legislature to classify drag shows as adult entertainment however the chances of surviving the DFL legislature is poor at best.

As a state, Minnesota has now arrived at a time where civility and other expectations have to be outlined in a PBR document. As Dr. John Palmer wrote, right #4 – full disclosure of information is imperative:

Full disclosure of all information regarding their child including all official and unofficial school records. School personnel will not willfully conceal information or events from the child’s parent unless a unique legal circumstance exists such as a no-contact order issued by a judge is in effect.

It is anticipated that most parents will support this document. However, school board support remains in question. Our team of writers believe the Parental Bill of Rights is straight forward and common sense. We already know where the progressive left stands on the sexualization of our children and allowing parents to make decisions on behalf of their children. Minnesota is seemingly winning the race for the bottom, passing California by more than a nose. Perhaps the parents will have the FINAL SAY when they pull their kids out of school and leave Minnesota like so many former Minnesotans have already done in recent history.

Editor's note- Cassie Fredregill's article will be the last article explaining why the Parental Bill of Rights is essential to our children's education and our parents' ability to do their job as parents.