Rules for Patriots in action - school boards

Kudos to these parents for standing up for proper education for their children.  Their hearts are in the right place, and their words are pretty effective.  Following the video I have a few suggestions based on my Rules For Patriots, that could make them even more effective.

Rule #1: Know Your Facts.  How are local school boards elected?  How can the be censured?  Can they be impeached?

There's a great piece on how to remove school board members here. I've extracted a relevant section:

Request copies of public documents and media, such as television interviews, that may support your assertion that the board member qualifies for removal. The specific documents you may need to request may differ based on the circumstances, but good places to start are the school board meeting minutes and the board member's term contract. Any public document must be provided to you under the Freedom of Information Act.

Make a formal list of complaints against the board member you wish to remove. Be as specific as you can. Cite clauses from the documents and media, as well as information such as dates of violations and the names of any other people involved.

Draw up a formal petition stating your reasons for recalling the board member.

Contact the Board of Elections for your county. Ask them for a list of names and addresses for members of the school district in which the board member serves. Inquire as to the percentage of signatures needed in your specific district to put a recall on a ballot. The percentage is determined by the population of registered voters within the district.

Go in fired up, but go in prepared.

Rule #2: Get Involved, Stay Involved. These parents clear are involved - they are already showing up out of concern for indoctrination of their children.  But after these moving displays of concern and shows of disgust for the school boards, what happened?  Did they stay involved?  Were they able to follow up?  It's unclear but if they followed Rule #1 they would be prepared to take things to the next step - board member removals.  If someone's job is on the line for not listening to their constituents, they are more apt to start listening to parental concerns.

Rule #3: Don't Do It Alone. Show up in numbers.  These impassioned parents need to get more people out to support them and work in partnership with each other.  If one person's "time is up", the next person can continue with the same message.

Rule #4: Play Offense. Complaining is not playing offense. Temper is not offense. Showing up with a list of demands and a threat of impeachment, that's playing offense.  Remover CRT from the curriculum or we are coming for your job.  We have 35,000 signatures on this petition to remove you if you do not agree; that's playing offense.

Rule #5: Improve You Arsenal. Speak in terms that school board members will understand.  I'm not talking vocabulary (although talking intelligently is generally preferable to expletives). I'm talking about knowing the size of the district, the size of the population willing to switch to private schools, home schooling or changing districts.  If the district educational need shrinks, their power shrinks.  There is no reason for a school board to feel untouchable.  As long as children are being taught math instead of critical race theory, the school board should feel safe in their jobs.

Rule #6: Set Objectives, Build Momentum, Succeed, Move On.  Understand that this is not just a school board issue. There's state laws, there are union pressures all lined up to defend each other.  Getting a school board member or members to change their tune or having them removed is a good objective.  But it's a battle, it's not the war.  State pressure on the next school board member could result in no value in your victory.  Similarly union pressures to teach a progressive agenda will be unabated.  However, what teachers teach is not within the purveyance of a union.  Their bailiwick is wages, and working conditions. No more.  Lawsuits against overreach of unions is not a bad idea if they are interfering in educational matters.

Rule #7: Be unpredictable.  Show up to these meetings when it's not expected.  Demand more time when they close off public participation.  Raise objections, even on unrelated topics if they have successfully moved on to another matter.  Disrupt.  Civilly and legally of course, but do not let other business proceed if your issues have not been sufficiently addressed.  Have someone else video the proceedings.  Show up and video them yourself even if it is on unrelated business.  Don't let them try to sneak agenda items in on unrelated meetings.

Rule #8: Size matters.  Money matters as always.  You need volunteers and concerned citizens participating.  But you also need large petitions with thousands of signatures.  The bigger the better.  You need to be able to place local television ads condemning school board policies or decisions.  For that reason you need to be organized and legally able to accept donations.  Then, go in with the force of numbers to demand the changes you seek.

There are other rules to be shared in the coming weeks, and some of them were on display in the video already.  Most importantly, these people are more involved than most of us and that is to be commended, not criticized.  This was not meant to be a criticism, but rather a suggestion to enhance their efforts.