Big money is pouring into Pa. school board elections, proxies in wars over COVID and culture – WHYY

As debates about national issues are playing out across the region, students are watching.

Gabrielle Johnson, a sophomore at Springfield Township High School, said its disheartening to hear adults fight against critical race theory. Few, she thinks, actually understand the concept; too many use it as a catch-all for any acknowledgment of race in classrooms.

Im honestly disappointed in how adults are handling it, because, out of everybody, theyre the ones that really do control a students learning. So they should understand what theyre talking about, said Gabrielle Johnson, a sophomore at Springfield Township High School. People say its going to teach white children to hate themselves when its really just teaching about the history of how race has affected America since its founding.

Johnson, who is Black, said she would like to see inclusive history classes that teach about multiple cultures. She pointed to a class project she worked on in her 7th grade history class, where she focused on ancient Mali.

That was the first time in school that I have ever been taught about African or really any minority history, and that was really important to me, she said, adding that it was especially meaningful to learn about 14th century ruler Mansa Musa.

Im usually used to seeing Black people being told, Youre not going to be successful or Youre not going to be anything in life. It was nice to see that one of the richest people to ever exist was a Black man.

Jeffrey Henig with Columbia University said the increased focus on school board races is part of the nationalization of education politics in the U.S.

Increasingly, national groups of various kinds have seen local school board elections as tactically important and have put money and people into local communities to try to have some influence on the local political outcomes, but also because they perceive the chance to use education as a way to build support for broader political goals, he said.

In suburban districts, injecting culture war politics into school board races is one potential way to mobilize voters and recapture Republican support in areas where it has waned recently in presidential and congressional and county-wide races.

Henig says the fact that these larger, coordinated campaigns are catching fire on the local level reflects actual grassroots backlash.

I dont think that outside actors can make a movement jump up on demand. They can move in strategically where there are real grievances, Henig said. If the discontent isnt there, then their throwing matches would be like throwing matches on wet ground.

In districts across the state and country, demand for change in school board leadership comes after an extremely challenging 18 months, when nearly every option for schools and families was less than ideal.

No matter what decision we made last year, a third of the people would be angry, a third would be furious, and a third would be just plain upset, said Wood. It was a terrible situation for everyone. We did the best we could.

Studies have shown that virtual school resulted in significant learning loss for students, both academically and from a social-emotional standpoint. The remote school year was incredibly challenging for parents, juggling work and other responsibilities while helping their children learn. It was also incredibly challenging for students, many of whom struggled with feelings of isolation and felt disconnected academically.

Even for those happy with districts that approached the pandemic in the most risk-averse ways, there has been a near universal understanding that virtual education presented steep challenges, especially for children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds.

Now, even with most, if not all, Pennsylvania schools fully reopened, many parents remain wary, fearing another COVID surge could send students right back into virtual classrooms. That has been the constituency pushing hard for candidates vowing to keep kids in the building.

Many of those candidates, though, are also finding support from voters who are increasingly skeptical of a laundry list of other decisions school leaders make.

At a Radnor School Board meeting last week, a small but passionate group of parents turned up to rail against what they called pornographic material in the school libraries.

Parent Clark Engel said frustration about the schools books pushed him to move his two youngest children to private school.

Lots of little things go on throughout the year that are all subliminally designed to tell students that they dont have to listen to their parents that they can decide for themselves what gender they want to be, what sexual orientation they want to be, what religion they want to be, he told Keystone Crossroads. Its all designed to subvert parents. Theyre laying the groundwork in these very early, formative years.

He supports the slate of candidates backed by the Reopen Radnor Committee.

Even if Im pulling my own children out, I feel like I need to do this as a public service for those that cant afford to go to a private school, he said.

Some observers watching the more radical Pennsylvania school board races have noted, potential board members who are too focused on national, hot-button issues will be in for a surprise if they get elected.

When you actually get seated on the board, youre going to sit through a lot of boring discussions and presentations, said Larry Feinberg, president of the Haverford School Board, where hes served for more than two decades. Thats what democracy actually is. A great deal of it is not very exciting.

For Josh Tessler, the Radnor High School student, the past year has made him pay more attention to the school board race. For him, the biggest issue isnt around the districts handling of the mascot controversy or coronavirus pandemic. Hes passionate about two issues no candidates seem to be talking about: hands-on learning and feeling overwhelmed by homework.

I think they should be focused on the experience of students, he said.

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Big money is pouring into Pa. school board elections, proxies in wars over COVID and culture - WHYY