Elementary Police State

By Douglas V. Gibbs
Author, Speaker, Instructor, Radio Host

My grandson is in the 2nd Grade, and attends a public school in Southern California.  Tonight, I learned a little more about his education environment that has me ready to figure out a way to yank him out of the iron grip of the public school system before doing so becomes illegal.

Last year I was alerted about new rules limiting parental involvement.  Parents are no longer allowed to make unannounced classroom visits, and approved visits to the classroom has a limit to the number of hours per school year.  My wife and I used to regularly visit the school, get a visitor's pass, and sit in the back of the classroom, not because we were concerned our children were acting up, but because we wanted to make sure the teacher met our standards.  Now, we would not be able to do that in the same manner as often as we did.

Now, our children are grown up, and it's our grandchildren we are trying to protect.

With school newly in swing here in 2016, my son, his wife, and the kids went to Oregon on a short vacation, partly because they are considering moving up there, a couple weeks after school had begun.  Upon return he was scolded by the front office for removing his child from the school for a week, and was told if he did it again without a good excuse, his child would be considered truant, and he (as the parent) would receive a misdemeanor for the action.  Then, as a reminder of the law that his child is required to be in school for "compulsory education," the below letter from the County of Riverside District Attorney was handed to him.

After that conversation, my son and I began to talk politics, and I made my usual remarks about Hillary Clinton, saying that she is unfit to be president.  The grandson spoke up and said that the aid in his class told him I don't know what I am talking about.

I talked to the boy for a while, until I had the story down.  The librarian (I am going to assume they were in the library for this) was talking to the kids about voting, how they aren't old enough to vote yet, but how someday they would.  They were told it is important to vote, and then at one point Hillary Clinton's name was brought up.  My grandson mumbled, "I hate Hillary Clinton."  When asked why, he said, "My grandpa says she lied to the FBI and she would not make a good President."

An aid said to him, "Your grandpa doesn't know what he's talking about," and then something else about Hillary, but the boy couldn't remember all of the words.

They are not allowed to bring home their books because the education system does not want us to know what our kids are being taught.  We are now limited on how much time we can visit the classroom, and are scolded if we take our children out of school for any reason.  This is not even going into all of the arguments regarding the harm Common Core is causing.

In short, it is none of the school's damn business what I teach my grandson, what I say to my grandson, and if they give my son a misdemeanor for removing him from school for an important family function, the school system will have a nasty lawsuit on their hands.

This is no surprise, though.  We know they, the liberal left, is doing what it can to limit the parental role.  It's just incredible when you experience in such a way, first hand.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary