PDE Files Supreme Court Amicus Brief in L.M. v. Town of Middleborough
Public schools in the United States are supposed to be “the nurseries of democracy” and to “protect the‘marketplace of ideas.’” Mahanoy Area Sch. Dist. v. B.L. ex rel. Levy, 594…
Watertown Unified School District receives over $1 million from Greater Watertown Community Health Foundation to promote SEL; uses grant to hire “Mental Health / SEL Coordinator” for district
A concerned community member alerted Parents Defending Education that the Greater Watertown Community Health Foundation provided the Watertown Unified School District with a grant to hire an employee to oversee…
Massachusetts Teachers Association partnered with anti-Israel organization Massachusetts Peace Action to host webinar; webinar included anti-Israel sentiment and political activism
On October 26, 2024, the organization “Massachusetts Peace Action” hosted a webinar called “Books Not Bombs 2024: Increasing Federal Investment in Public Education.” The description of…
West Des Moines Community Schools has multiple district acknowledgements: a land acknowledgement, a labor acknowledgement, a trauma acknowledgment and one about sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.
A Freedom of Information Act request reveals that West Des Moines Community Schools has multiple district acknowledgements including land, labor, trauma, and one based in the tenets of queer…
PDE Files Supreme Court Amicus Brief in Speech First, Inc. v. Whitten
“America’s public schools are the nurseries of democracy.” Mahanoy Area Sch. Dist. v. B.L., 594 U.S.180, 190 (2021). Our “democracy only works if we protect the ‘marketplace of ideas.’” Id.
Entire Board of Chicago Public Schools Resigns
On October 5, 2024, the entire board of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) resigned, seemingly in protest against pressure from Mayor Brandon Johnson to request a short-term, high-interest $300 billion loan…
Nashua School District has policy that appears to explain that students can make decisions regarding their gender identity without parental consent
Parents Defending Education submitted a public records request to the Nashua School District seeking “any documents, materials, presentations, or videos shown or provided to staff during any training on transgender…
Keene School District has policy that explicitly tells staff to keep gender identity of students hidden from parents
Parents Defending Education submitted a public records request to the Keene School District seeking any guidance regarding transgender issues on September 5, 2024. PDE did not receive a response back…
Dover School District has policy that appears to explain that students can make decisions regarding their gender identity without parental consent; training states that district could adopt procedures to explicitly keep gender identity of students hidden from parents
The Dover School District has a policy titled “Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Procedures” that appears to explain that parents do not need to be involved in the gender identity issues…