The school board was the testing ground for the fall of our democracy

That school board chaos encompassed the uprisings of the so-called parental rights movement that topped your local news broadcast, riled up Facebook forums and demonized educators and students alike with precision and uniformed attacks marketed as “concern” for our most vulnerable population.

Credit: Con

Credit: Con

I was asked for my thoughts on the “endgame” because I’d been researching and reporting on the movement in a different way from 2020-2023.

That included uncovering exactly who was providing and financing this message, pushing for the passage of identical local and state legislation designed to dismantle undefinable “woke” education and how a minority coalition of loud and predominantly white people (not necessarily parents) managed to co-opt and mesh the meaning of diversity, equity and inclusion, critical race theory, public health measures and various curricula into an all-out war on educators and marginalized communities in the name of states’ or individual rights.

What we, particularly those of us in “mainstream media,” so comfortably called a conservative movement was actually pretty radical in theory and action. It was also in lockstep with movements of our past that resulted in the use of mint julep textbooks and resistance to integration well into the 1980s.

I traveled the country to talk to people being assaulted, followed home and finding what appeared to be a bullet hole in their living window after a conflict at a school board meeting.

In New Jersey, I learned how a lifelong Republican and school board member had become the target of his beloved party when he wouldn’t affirm false accusations about the board’s motives. It was eerily similar to the experiences members of the GOP had amid the “Big Lie” about stolen elections.

Right here in Georgia, I uncovered moblike harassment targeting an educator who was asked by the Cherokee County school system to apply and take on a diversity, equity and inclusion job, only to become the target of unspeakable juvenile and dangerous behavior that followed her to Cobb County’s school system. The campaign to get her fired was led by locals and people who were in no way connected to or living near the district itself.

Parents had undergone training that included material from the unaccredited Prager University as they received advice on how to cook up enough emotion, chaos and video footage to appear on Tucker Carlson’s now defunct prime-time cable network show. School board members had security in parking lots and in front of their homes. The parents had been taught their kids were being demonized in school for being white.

But the story was bigger than that.

It was about the newly formed coalitions asking people to anonymously track and report educators they deemed “woke” (reporters, don’t ever let someone else use the term without asking the person to define it). And it was about this sort of coalescing of chaos that makes it difficult to understand the alleged issue at hand, often times because evidence does not support the claims used to anger or excite fear in the accusers.

Perhaps the portion of the 2022 story that stood out to me the most was buried at the end.

Cherokee County Schools had banned the word equity from its district initiatives to avoid the backlash and fervor of the movement. No one had successfully explained to or convinced detractors that DEI — as defined and laid out in public documents by the districts themselves — was in service to children with Individualized Education Programs, physical disabilities and an array of socioeconomic experiences.

It was clear that, coupled with the hysteria of Critical Race Theory, everything was taking on a “new” meaning and the public relations blitz was now shaping a subculture set to move us to where we are today.

After exhaustive reporting that included interviewing and tracking hundreds of people, I knew enough to recognize what we were witnessing would not end at the school board. The school board was the testing ground for the current fall of democracy. And we cannot pretend we did not see it coming.

As we watch federal employees targeted and placed on DEI watch lists, remember that the same mechanisms were deployed by “conservative” groups against educators who became so disheveled they didn’t understand what they could teach and when, even if the material met longtime standards.

When we think about the level of chaos that ensued in our nation’s Capitol, remember the uprisings in the school board and who was held accountable for harm and who was not.

When we think about the legacy of school vouchers, remember that data is already showing us we’re maintaining segregation academies across the country. When we think about President Donald Trump’s desire to dismantle the Department of Education, think about where you’ve recently heard that idea before.

Yes, it took flight in your school board meetings. And when we think about who has led these movements — do not ignore the fact that race is indeed a factor.

This is not the makeup of a multiracial democracy at work. This is dripping in the language, overtures and undertones of white supremacy, no longer hidden under a blanket of short-lived political correctness. Education is the great equalizer, so when one seeks to maintain or gain power, education is the target.

The public school system is the one institution most of us will pass through in our lifetime. It’s where we’re molded from our earliest years. It’s where we are socialized and shaped. It’s where we learn how to deal with conflict and sensibilities before we shoot off into the world.

It took federal government action to force a more equal playing field for access to and resources for the schoolhouses. And it’s the new federal government that is returning us to a place the majority of us do not want to be.

We may not bear witness to the chaos at the school board any more. The goal has been met. The unraveling — on a much higher level — has begun.

But the next time you think what’s happening in your backyard doesn’t resonate with our greater democracy, think again.

Nicole Carr is a journalist and journalism professor at Morehouse College.