Loudoun County School Official: Parents Seeking to Replace School Board Are 'Alt-Right'
The attempted demonization of America’s parents continued this week after a liberal Virginia politician decided name-calling was a good response to parents interested in the education of their children.
Juli Briskman, who once gave the middle finger to former President Donald Trump’s motorcade and parlayed that into a successful campaign for the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, tried to label parents battling the Loudon County School Board as extremists.
The parent group Fight for Schools recently announced that it had enough signatures to file recall petitions to remove from the school board those members who the group believes have betrayed children by cramming critical race theory down the throats of children, Fox News reported.
That led Briskman to tweet her support for those fighting the parents.
“TY @loudoun4all for a factual & thorough debunking of the alt-right FFS petitions. If they want to fight for schools they should support teacher pay increases, more mental health resources and ending the school to prison pipeline,” she tweeted.
TY @loudoun4all for a factual & thorough debunking of the alt-right FFS petitions.
If they want to fight for schools they should support teacher pay increases, more mental health resources and ending the school to prison pipeline. https://t.co/UKj9IfBmHM
— Juli Briskman (@julibriskman) November 12, 2021
Merriam-Webster defines “alt-right” as “a right-wing, primarily online political movement or grouping based in the U.S. whose members reject mainstream conservative politics and espouse extremist beliefs and policies typically centered on ideas of white nationalism.”
Parents did not appreciate being lumped as extremists considered the equivalent of white nationalists, according to Fox.
“As a Jewish-American, I am completely offended,” said Elicia Brand, a Loudoun County mother who supports the group. “I take that as a personal affront.”
“I know many people in the Fight for Schools organization, and not one of them is alt-right, not one of them is far-right, not one of them is racist,” she went on. “[Briskman] is putting political ideology and political agenda before the needs of the citizens of Loudoun County, and she owes every one of us an apology.”
Brand said parents are fighting for their children, not over politics.
“To call us alt-right is a punch in the gut, a stab in the heart for all parents who fight for their children,” she added.
A black supporter of the group found wry amusement in the label.
“Obviously, as a black dude it’s weird to be called a white nationalist,” said Joe Mobley, a father of four who supports Fight for Schools.
“Instead of calling us names, meet with us and have a chit-chat,” he said.
According to Mobley, Briskman is trying to distract attention from the liberal theory that “parents shouldn’t have a say in what goes on in the classroom because your kids belong to the state.”
Ian Prior, the executive director of Fight for Schools, said Briskman’s “false and defamatory statement is an attack on a diverse coalition of thousands of Loudoun County residents that are utilizing a legal process to remove school board members that have violated the law and their own code of conduct.”
“The best thing Ms. Briskman could do, as an elected official, is publicly retract her statement and cease and desist from regularly attacking her constituents on social media,” he said. “But we aren’t holding our breath.”
Fight for Schools filed recall documents against school board chair Brenda Sheridan in Loudoun County Circuit Court on Tuesday, according to The Washington Post.
The filing said Sheridan broke open meetings laws by using closed Facebook groups as a way to discuss school business without the public being aware. Sheridan is also accused of violating the First Amendment rights of parents by limiting public comment at meetings.
Further, the board chair is alleged to have mishandled a sexual assault case in the schools in which a student who was accused of the assault was transferred from one school to another, where he has been accused of another sexual assault.
Parents said they have petitions with enough signatures to force a recall of other board members who have sided with Sheridan against parents.
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