In an interview with the Associated Press (AP), the Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona implied that parents who speak out against radical gender theory in schools are “misbehaving in public.”
In a sit-down interview with AP on Friday, Secretary Cardona reiterated claims that public schools are “under attack.”
“I’ve never seen it, where it is now,” the Secretary said. Referring to the movement of parents who have begun attending their local school district board meetings, he said, “I don’t have too much respect for people that are misbehaving in public and acting like they know what’s right for kids.”
In a speech the Secretary gave in July to the American Federation of Teachers, he articulated this concept more directly:
“What’s more dangerous? Educators working to create inclusive and welcoming schools, or politicians demonizing LGTBQ kids who already have it tough enough?”
“You know, these attacks on education remind me of something I used to tell my kids … for every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction … In the Cardona house, it’s sort of Papi’s version of, ‘you mess around, you’re gonna find out’ … We see a lot of efforts to mess around with public education today. Look at the statewide school voucher programs, like we’ve seen in Indiana and Arizona … Or take these so-called anti-woke laws, which censor teachers and librarians and strip them of their agency, trying to rewrite history and promote exclusion and bigotry.”
“But it’s not parental rights, that’s not what this is. These are extremists working to whitewash history and censor educators, at the expense of our students!”
“Secretary Cardona Defends Public Education in Speech to American Federation of Teachers” / DOE
In his address, the Secretary denounced parents’ efforts to monitor what educators are teaching their young children in the classroom. This includes removing pornographic books from school libraries, ensuring that every child has the opportunity to attend a quality school, and labeled them “extremists” — echoing language used by the Department of Justice.
Several parents have had their public comments at school board meetings go viral for reading aloud the contents of books available to minors in most public school libraries. In 2021, one mom checked out two books from her child’s school library, “This Book is Gay,” and “Gender Queer.” She brought both books with her to a school board meeting and explained, “Both of these books include pedophilia, sex between men and boys.” She then urged the board members to remove the inappropriate content from her child’s school.
Last year, another mother, Kimberly Reicks, learned that her children’s school had allowed an unauthorized drag show to take place during class hours without notifying parents. Minors attending the show were exposed to adult males dressed in revealing clothing. After repeatedly seeking answers from school officials and the board, Reicks took drastic measures to get the board’s attention.
Other parents have filed lawsuits against their school districts after learning that their child was encouraged by school administrators to “transition” to a different gender and conceal their new identity.
Parents — who have been ignored, brushed to the side, and told to disregard what is being taught in schools while teachers’ unions arrogantly claim to “know better than anyone” what children need — are outraged, but that indignation is now being misrepresented as “misbehaving.”
