The GOP-Parents Bill of Rights

This past week has been one of the most stimulating weeks I've experienced in ages. Last Saturday, I was contacted by Cassie Fredregill, a parent-warrior who doesn't have an inch of back-down. When Cassie's 10-year-old daughter brought home disturbing news from school, Cassie emailed her daughter's teacher to find out more about this controversial class.

Making a long story short, that led to lots of attention getting paid to Cassie's situation. That, in turn, led to Cassie getting interviewed by Mitch Berg Saturday afternoon. After Mitch's interview of Cassie, a friend of this blog called me to rave about the quality of Cassie's interview. During our conversation, I said that it's time for Minnesota's parents to have their own bill of rights.

This friend has a Ph.D. in Education Administration so he excitedly volunteered to write a first draft bill of rights. I volunteered to proofread it after this friend and Cassie finish putting it together. If the Little Falls School Board thought that they'd run roughshod over this family, they thought wrong. My friend is known to grind a mean axe. Cassie is obviously the best kind of troublemaker (she cares deeply about her kids). I don't like bullies so I'm willing to fight bullies whenever I find them. (Last Saturday, I was told about another bully so here we go again.)

Just to give readers a taste of what might be in this parents' bill of rights, here's a sampling:

1. The parent has the right to make final decisions on their children’s behalf despite contrary views or objections from the child’s teachers or school administration. The parent has the right to cooperatively work with school administration and teachers to reach a mutual agreement in a timely manner when concerns or conflicts occur.
2. The parent has the right to respectful, considerate, honest, transparent, and timely information about their child in full cooperation from the child’s teacher and school administration.
3. The parent has the right to full disclosure of all information regarding their child. Teachers, staff, and administrators will not willfully make information or events "secretive" from parents unless a unique legal circumstance exists like a "no contact" order issued by a judge is in effect.

Here is the Preamble to the Parents' Bill of rights:

Preamble

The role of parents is to raise children by providing for their physiological, physical, economic, emotional, and spiritual needs. The role of the child’s teacher is to provide an education based on academic standards in an environment that is safe, secure, and encouraging. Children will develop and grow at their best when parents and teachers take responsibility for their respective roles and work cooperatively together for the benefit of the child.

Cassie is the role model for parents who want the best education for their children. Cassie's daughter will look at this picture years from now and know that her mom had her back:

The GOP shouldn't hesitate in making the Parents' Bill of Rights part of their legislative agenda. God knows the DFL won't champion a parental rights bill.