5 Explosive Parent-School Conflicts Making Culture War Headlines

Public school educators and administrators may have been looking forward to summer vacation a bit more eagerly than usual this year—if just because it might allow the culture wars a bit of a cooling-off period. This school year, some of the nation's hottest political controversies came to roost on primary-school campuses, particularly this spring, when parents made headlines after pushing for—or pushing back against—policy changes ranging from LGBTQ representation to the banning of the Bible. Here are five of the most notable times parents got angry with schools this year. 

In May, Daily Salinas filed complaints to ban several books at Bob Graham elementary school in Miami Lakes, Florida, where her two children are students. One of the items removed from the school was Amanda Gorman's poem "The Hill We Climb," which the 25-year-old poet laureate recited at President Biden's inauguration.  As reported by the Guardian, several news outlets discovered that Salinas had attended Proud Boys events and a protest organized by the far-right organization Moms for Liberty. She said she had only read passages in the books she sought to ban—including The ABCs of Black History, poems by Langston Hughes and books on Cuba—which she criticized for containing "indirect hate messages,"  references to critical race theory and gender indoctrination. "They have to read for me because I'm not an expert," said Salinas. "I'm not a reader. I'm not a book person. I'm a mom involved in my children's education."

On June 3, more than a hundred protesters and counter-protesters massed in front of Saticoy Elementary in Los Angeles, at odds over the school's planned Pride Month event. One group advocated a boycott of the school, calling the event "indoctrination" and unsuitable for children. Counter-protestors said the protest was bigoted and that children had the right to learn about different types of families, BBC News reported.  Police intervened when a fight broke out. Although one adult received minor injuries, no arrests were made. A school employee told BBC News that the school had planned to read a book to students about some children having "two mommies and two daddies." The director of the San Fernando Valley LGBTQ Center participated in the school's assembly and said students enjoyed the presentation.

On May 15, "scores" of parents and children protested outside three Brooklyn schools that were being prepared to temporarily house migrants, the New York Post reported. "I say to the mayor, 'Open up Gracie Mansion, and allow the migrants to have a shower and hot meal,'" Mayra Ducos, 42, said outside her children's school, PS 17. Cots were being set up in the schools' gyms to briefly house the asylum seekers. "It makes me want to cry, honestly," said parent Jesenia Velez, 32. "I do sympathize with what's going on, but I just don't think it should be on school grounds. If you're going to accept people in, that's fine, but they should be nowhere near kids. It's not the right place."

"As we've been saying for months, we are in the midst of a humanitarian crisis, having opened approximately 150 emergency sites, including eight large-scale humanitarian relief centers, to serve more than 65,000 asylum seekers," a City Hall spokesman said. "We are opening emergency shelters and respite centers daily, but we are out of space."

On June 6, protesters gathered outside a school board meeting in Montgomery County, Maryland, while community members debated whether LGBTQ+ books should be allowed in classrooms. Maryland law requires school districts to allow parents to opt out of coursework that deals with "family life and human sexuality." The school district decided in March that books with LGBTQ+ themes shouldn't require an opt-out.  Thirty members of each side were allowed to address the school board meeting. Outside, one side held placards reading messages such as "restore opt-out" and "please accommodate, respect and protect our religious freedom," while the other waved Pride flags and a poster reading "Keep MCPS Free From Hate." 

On June 7, more than 100 parents and children rallied at Utah's Capitol to protest a school district's decision to remove the Bible from middle and elementary school libraries following the passage of a Republican-backed "sensitive materials" law, the AP reported. A review committee from the Davis School District had concluded the Bible was too "violent or vulgar" for young children.  In 2021, Utah's state legislature passed a law requiring school districts to create new procedures allowing residents to challenge "sensitive materials," using a statute-based definition of pornography to define them. "If folks are outraged about the Bible being banned, they should be outraged about all the books that are being censored," said Kasey Meehan, of the writers' organization PEN America.