The public school system, eager to retain control over children even as they study from home, are taking outlandish measures to micromanage parents and children.
If children don’t attend all their virtual classes and/or complete homework on time, parents risk getting a visit from a local CPS agent, putting the kids at risk of being taken into state custody. Other parents have been asked to sign forms that would forbid them from watching their children’s virtual classes. Others have run into legal problems for asking their public school system for assistance managing children with special needs.
To make matters worse, some are calling for “wellness checks” on all children enrolled in public school, even if these children are doing well in their studies and there is no evidence of problems.
Naturally, authoritarian Democrats aren’t willing to stop with public school children. Some are calling for additional government control over homeschooling parents.
Those being targeted aren’t criminal or negligent; rather, they are often people of color or low-income families struggling to make ends meet while supervising their children’s schooling. In one case, an autistic six-year-old boy ran naked behind his older sister who was taking a Zoom class and the school wrongly told law enforcement officials that “a naked adult male” had exposed himself.
In other instances, school districts have called for CPS to investigate parents for virtual truancy while failing to provide any form of practical support for parents who had a hard time learning how to work with the school’s virtual learning system. One parent faced legal action just because she asked a public school counselor for help dealing with a child whose behavioral problems worsened during the COVID-19 lockdown.
In at least one state, public school teachers can call in the Department of Children and Families if kids look tired or hungry during Zoom lessons. One can only hope that these teachers know the difference between a kid who looks tired and one who is simply bored. Otherwise, just about every single child enrolled in a public school in the U.S. can expect at least one CPS visit during the next school year.
Thankfully, when the DOE in Tennessee proposed “well-being checks” for children in the state, parents and conservative lawmakers created such an uproar that the department was forced to withdraw the plan. One can only hope that the same result ensues if other states come up with similar plans.
Ironically, the same people who are eager to harass parents for “virtual truancy” are the same individuals that are campaigning to keep public schools closed unless their long list of socialist demands is met in full. Teacher unions throughout the nation are refusing to teach in person, yet are extremely eager to make life hell for parents who try to make up for public school failings.
Parents whose children are still in the public-school system may want to consider the dangers carefully and consider alternatives forms of schooling to protect their kids from unwarranted government intrusion.
