Opinion Editorial by Ruby Receipts, Honess Tea, Kim Chee,
Many parents in Livingston County Michigan have become friends with parents in every district in our county. We have connected, forged bonds and frequently share and support each other at meetings and behind the scenes. We share the Freedom of Information Act requests, it usually leads us down rabbit holes we never expected. Most of all, the committed 200 or so parents who do not leave board rooms empty see patterns of behavior from districts, unions and especially Superintendents.
Today we will begin with embattled Hartland Superintendent Chuck Hughes. (We know we are also sick of him !) It is no wonder he's doing everything he can to fight against Vote4cleanslate as much as possible. He's scared. In the last two years not only has he refused to let parents speak for showing up to the school board meetings 2 minutes late, he has allowed hecklers to attack parents he doesn't agree with and not silence them or maintain order in the meetings. He is also guilty of not recording the meetings. Why record for all the district parents to see when you have something to hide! It's unbelievable.
Parents in Hartland for nearly 3 years, have been outraged at the following things the dictator Hughes has kept under his finger:
Quarantines and masking when all other school districts in Livingston County were not.
Allowing gay pride flags in classrooms.
Allowing gay pride stickers all over buildings.
Not addressing security concerns that are massive red flags : sex acts in bathrooms, not having school resource officers. Allowing union operatives to drive districtwide decisions like the Teamsters. The worst act committed against district parents was when a group of parents wanted to build a bridge to Hughes and asked for a sit down with him to cool the air and possibly heal what had happened between the parties. His reply was " only if you wear masks ". Amongst Livingston County parents this had to be the most insulting response to an extended olive branch we had ever seen. This guy does not want these parents involved or even heard.
The most aggregious act by Hughes is how he activated the Teachers Union against the parents to gaslight a war that didn't exist.
We as Hartland parents pushed for a crowd to show up in the Spring of 2022 while the Hartland School Board was holding open interviews for an open board member appointment. The previously mentioned heckler of parents, Ed Gentile, was to be interviewed. Parents showed up, packed the room and spoke their opinion of Gentile as well as their interactions. Speaker after speaker spoke how Gentile bullied them on Facebook and more, encouraging the board to not appoint him to the available position. The disdain by Hughes was visible. One Dad even said he had requested and applied countless times but couldn't even get an email returned. Bias much? Every speech was either concerning Gentile, how parents felt slighted by Hughes and how Hughes was still not allowing parents in buildings. Never once did a parent mention a teacher. The entire theme was problems with Hughes.
Next meeting, 3 weeks later, we regular attendees, were shocked as we waited in line to get into the meeting. There were over 30 Hartland Education Association members wearing shirts and gay pride pins. They all sat together, one representative spoke and they all stood up and raised their fists in the air. What was happening? The speech was how they supported gay pride and the lgbtq movement and something about how any parents against the lgbtq movement were horrible people.
We sat in stunned silence : Where in the world did this war on parents get waged from?
Worse yet ? The HEA representative who spoke said when the kids are in school " they are OUR Children" WHAT!?
Chuck Hughes gaslit a nonexistent war between parents and teachers. Thank God we have video because no one would believe this actually happened. Chuck Hughes did this to take the heat off of himself.
Let's now take a walk 23 miles south to Pinckney Michigan where Rick Todd is Superintendent of schools.
For the most part, during pandemic times Todd as Superintendent would follow other districts guidelines and keep optional masking. He was favored at this time and seemed to be doing the right things. Until he began a slow roll merging the district into a SEL quid pro quo on a backdoor deal with University of Michigan. He swapped a physical education grant with agreeing to implement TRAILS SEL over a 5 year period. Why?
Fast forward to school board elections. Rick Todd has not only shown some bias, he is taking a play right out of Chuck Hughes bag of tricks and gaslit a fued between conservative school board parents and their supporters versus teachers.
Sound familiar?
Rick Todd is another Superintendent who doesn't record school board meetings. When one Pinckney Mom found out about the implementation of the quid pro quo phys ed equipment and the SEL program, she met with head of curriculum and Todd himself. They both defended the program and shortly thereafter, this Pinckney mom declared her candidacy for school board. Since then, Rick Todd's very own wife has attacked the school board candidate on social media, towing the line of inappropriate bias.
This past week the same Pinckney mom running for school board with 2 other conservative candidates, showed up with a crowd at the Pinckney Board meeting.
This may sound like Deja'vu: The group spoke on the SEL roll out districtwide, the blanket indoctrination of mental health issues, the push of the lgbtq agenda and the decreasing quality of education. Not one word about teachers
The very next day Rick Todd takes to YouTube to say how he's so disappointed in people attacking his teachers. Wait, what ? He can record this targeted attack on parents but not a school board meeting? Where are Rick's priorities? The Teamsters aka teachers union.
Deflection or ignorance? Neither. It's a play straight out of the Teamsters manual ! When you are in the hot seat start a fire with two groups of people to take the heat off of yourself.
Both, Rick Todd and Chuck Hughes should have lunch or better yet, shadow fellow Superintendent in Brighton Matt Outlaw. Outlaw replies to every email.
He's openly met with any parent who asks to talk to him.
He doesn't seem to play favorites, he's dedicated to children and bettering his district. He supports parental rights, encourages parental involvement in schools. One of our favorite things about Outlaw is his patriotism to the district, in small ways we see the American Flag appearing, not the gay pride one. He's professional. In the Spring of 2022, parents led a resolution to the Brighton Board of Education to record all meetings and publish them to YouTube. Outlaw not only encouraged the Board to support this he thanked the parents that asked for it.
We need to stop these rogue dictator Superintendents. We need to stop the squeeze they are receiving from the Teachers Teamsters! These leaders of our schools must show a dedication to children and education not agendas and back door deals.
May the best men and women rise on November 8th.
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