The Republican candidate who hopes to unseat Connecticut U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D) observed parents are outraged that their children are failing to learn education basics while woke teachers and school boards attempt to indoctrinate them with radical Critical Race Theory (CRT) and gender ideology.
In an op-ed at Fox News Monday, Leora Levy wrote that pandemic school closures, urged by the teachers’ unions and their political allies, have been “catastrophic” for our children, particularly those from low-income families.
Our students are our most valuable resource and as a parent, I know we must do whatever it takes to ensure they have a prosperous future.
Parents want an education for their kids, not indoctrination. Their voices must be heard. Read my full OpEd here ↷https://t.co/mZ0DXpKbpD
— Leora Levy (@LeoraLevyCT) October 4, 2022
But, with the reopening of schools comes the necessity for students to recover “from that disastrous learning loss,” an effort that, the U.S. Senate candidate says, “must be the top priority for educators.”
“Instead, it seems there is a greater focus on political indoctrination, gender identity and fluidity and other progressive woke ideologies in the classroom,” Levy said, asking, “What happened to the fundamentals?”
It is no longer the case, she continued, that parents can trust that schools are “providing a well-rounded education focused on what matters for success in life: reading, writing, math, English, real history, civics and American Exceptionalism.”
Levy honed in on three incidents that occurred in Connecticut that have parents in her state concerned.
In a recent Project Veritas undercover investigation, Assistant Principal at Cos Cob Elementary School Jeremy Boland was heard describing how he ensures his school does not hire Catholics or conservatives in order to guarantee the “subtle” left-wing indoctrination of children.
Levy explained her reaction to the investigation:
The video came to light on Wednesday 8/31, the day before school was starting and by that afternoon, I called a press conference to demand an investigation into this discrimination and abuse of power. Over 100 parents attended the press conference standing alongside me to make sure their voices were heard! They are tired of an education system that silences any dissent from the gospel of woke ideology and that is damaging a generation of American children.
Levy cited another recent incident, this one in Southington, in which parents were outraged that the school district’s superintendent backed an English teacher who introduced a vocabulary worksheet for high school students, instructing them in the tenets of CRT and gender ideology and how to use them in their writing.
“[T]he controversial material … included nearly three pages of definitions for divisive concepts, including ‘white privilege,’ ‘institutional racism,’ and ‘Latinx,’” Levy observed.
“I am a proud Cuban American, and I can tell you many Hispanics reject that woke term,” she said, referring to the word “Latinx.”
“The controversial material was never approved by the school board, and without the outcry of parents, it never would have been brought to light,” the candidate asserted.
Finally, Levy mentioned a situation in Stamford in which students were reportedly asked for their “pronouns,” and then “asked if that information could be shared with parents or should just be between the student and teacher.”
“This is outrageous and another blatant disregard for parental rights,” she said. “It is clear government interference between a parent and child.”
Levy condemned the state of the culture in America as it is affecting schools and children:
I hear it everywhere I go. The far left has their priorities twisted, embracing woke socialist policies and thinking parents don’t deserve to be a part of their children’s education. According to National Review, one Congressman just compared parents attending school board meetings to those that broke into our Capitol on January 6! In what world? Are we living in Cuba, China, or North Korea?
Levy’s comments come as Rasmussen Reports revealed survey results that showed 89 percent of voters believe public schools should “fully inform parents” about the subject matter taught in their children’s classrooms.
The survey of 1,000 U.S. likely voters, released Monday and sponsored by The Capitol Resource Institute, also found 69 percent of voters say books containing graphic sexual depictions of sex acts, including homosexual sex, should not be in public high school libraries.
For middle schools, the majority of voters opposed to the presence of such sexually explicit books in public school libraries increases to 79 percent, and 85 percent for elementary schools.
“There is no such thing as ‘age-appropriate’ for obscenity and pornography in public school libraries,” said Karen England, president of the California-based Capitol Resource Institute (CRI). “If the public knew how many books containing explicit sexual depictions of sex acts were in their public school libraries they would be pulling their children out of school immediately.”
“I am fighting alongside parents to ensure our children and grandchildren are educated, not indoctrinated, that they are taught their ABCs and 123s – not critical race theory and he/she/they/whatever,” Levy wrote. “This is about our children and their future and we owe them a world-class education.”
The Star News Network reached out to Blumenthal’s campaign for comment about parental rights in education but received no response.
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Susan Berry, PhD, is national education editor at The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Leora Levy” by Leora Levy.
