Submitted by Donna Manning MD
Make no mistake about it, the current wave of disrespectful and disruptive behavior at our School board meetings masquerading as “parental concern” is part of a nationwide movement to turn school boards into political pulpits and stepping-stones for bullying political ideologues.
The national school board putsch is the brainchild of Steve Bannon, the rabble-rousing proponent of antidemocratic radicalism. As he recently said, “The path to save the nation is very simple — it’s going to go through the school boards.” In Bannon’s ruthless and messianic pursuit of power, school boards are leverage; students are pawns; education is partisan propaganda. Bannon’s educational coup has the support of weird and sinister groups like QAnon, The Proud Boys, and The Three Percenters.
Our community must stand firm and push back against noisy attempts to intimidate and take over the Coronado School Board. We must strongly oppose threatening mob behavior and, instead, strongly affirm civil discourse, truth in education, and democratic values. We must elect competent and apolitical candidates dedicated to providing a safe, supportive, and scholastically excellent environment in CUSD. School Boards must be for educating kids, not for promoting ultra right-wing dreams of a political coup and an autocratic America.
Donna Manning MD
