“If not us, then who? If not now, then when?”
Public schools in this country are under an unprecedented attack by people who believe unfounded conspiracy theories and by people funding these attacks for personal gain. This is not an exaggeration. Don’t take my word for it … take theirs.
Mark Enget is the Republican endorsed candidate in District 2 in northwestern North Dakota and just won a contested primary. When asked why he was running, he said: “I’m very concerned with the agenda and the ideologies that are being pushed onto the children in our schools, and so this nonsense of a man can be a woman and a woman can be a man, and men can have babies, and on and on.”
He stated this is the No. 1 reason that he is running. Not to strengthen our schools but to take care of an issue that is not happening. If he said he was running to rid public school of unicorns, would we take him seriously? I assume NO.
The Republican-endorsed candidate for Superintendent of Public Instruction, Jim Bartlett, who thankfully lost in the primary, received lots of attention for wanting to put the Ten Commandments in every classroom. Don’t get me wrong, public schools are not the place to push one religion over another, but it’s another thing he has said that has me more worried. In his campaign announcement, he said that we must “unhook from all federal and state money.” His plan is to fund schools on hopes and prayers.
The person who gave a nominating speech for him at the NDGOP Convention, Charles Tuttle, repeatedly said that “public schools are evil.”
This same Mr. Tuttle is collecting signatures to get rid of property taxes. He has been known to attack public schools and teachers to get people to sign this dangerous petition.
If not us, who? If not now, when?
If the members of ND United don’t start standing up for their communities and their kids now, it might soon be too late. These folks that are running for office, many who will win, are telling us exactly what they plan to do. They plan to dismantle and privatize public education. They want to make teachers, librarians, support staff, school administrators and school boards into enemies. We must stick together. We must fight for what is right. We must act now before it’s too late.
ND United members are committed to bringing pragmatism, common sense and real discussion about the real issues our schools and communities are facing. We cannot do that until the conspiracy theorists and the problem creators, with their very loud voices, are drowned out by those of us who just want to do right by our kids.
