So here we go again. I was cruising through the airwaves around one of Limestone’s grade schools last week. I noticed another Alabama Senate-originated bill had landed on the desks of all our public-school teachers. Seems our lawmakers discovered they needed to pass the so-called ‘Parent’s Right to Know’ bill. This bill went in effect this past June. It mandates teachers in Alabama public schools from K through 12 post their curriculums online. The idea is to give parents more insight into what their kids are being taught. With lightning pandering to agenda-wielding parents, this bill now adds more to our teachers must-do list. Why does this have to happen you ask?

Teachers have always been available. That’s why they have PTA meetings, one on one meetings, and a host of other meetings some parents never attend. To telephone calls from parents any hour of the day or night, we should also add teachers can be reached by email, too. Now parents, from the comfort of their barc-a-loungers, can gripe about what they think is going on in the classroom after they read about the curriculum online. Of course, let’s remember that a tiny number of crusader parents will decide the curriculum is wrong, and demand it be changed. Really? Do they fear a murky threat that someone is secretly turning second graders into socialists? Could it be that a fourth-grade teacher somewhere will delight that she has cleverly brought Marxist theory to her little tykes? Then again the zealot parent could discover some nefarious teacher says slavery wasn’t a good thing, and in many ways still affects us today.

Let’s try a step in reality. One primary school teacher says parents reaching out to her about her curriculum is nothing new. She notes, “I have parents reach out whether or not they have questions about what we’re working on prior to a test. (Parents) can contact us by email, or phone, (or to determine) whether or not they need to schedule meetings.”

This new mandate can’t be because our legislators believe our teachers need more work. No, it is to bring about control of school studies by the most zealous of parents. They want to take away control of the study curriculum from professional teachers. Professionals? Yes, each college educated teacher has to also be certified to teach through an additional series of requirements. They learn the Socratic method, for instance. Let’s say our parent sees study of World War 1 as the curriculum of the day for a high school junior class. The parents decide to ask about it. When they discover the class didn’t cover all that’s listed in lock-step fashion, they don’t know why. It turns out the teacher used the Socratic method, where a teacher’s questions to students draw answers which direct the class. The parent doesn’t understand. This would require a meeting with the teacher to learn all about it. Really. Do you think the parent will come in to the classroom to learn what the Socratic method is, how it was applied, and thus learn something? Not likely. Here’s why.

The ‘Parent’s Right to Know’ law gives authority to the parent which that person never had before. They can hold curriculum outlines over the head of teachers. A parent can complain they don’t like it at all, or force teachers to respond to every obscure challenge. All of this our imaginary parent can do without having new responsibilities themselves, associated with their new powers. How about this? Everyone agrees that with authority comes responsibility. With the appearance of this new law, every parent, in fact both parents, must attend every PTA meeting. No excuses. So, since they now can challenge any curriculum, every parent must attend any required teacher conference. Every one. Inconvenient? How about the calls taken by every teacher every day, every night, every hour?

Are we to assume teachers don’t do enough, so adding this new mandated curriculum posting is nothing to concern ourselves with? Seems the teachers are never really ‘off work’. Calls and emails can already come any time. Meetings scheduled with parents must be attended by the teachers. Summer time calls for teachers to complete re-certification training, coaching responsibilities, and administrative catch up. And for this they are paid a princely fortune, right? Alabama teachers are not. Let’s be honest. During the summer the teachers become construction workers, technical writers, tax form advisors, even Uber drivers. They do these secondary jobs because they aren’t paid enough. We get more than we pay for with their professionalism, day after day, night after paper-grading night.

Ask yourself, who are those demanding more of teachers? Are they demanding higher pay for teachers too? Anyone could call their little one’s teacher, set up a meeting, and resolve concerns without this new law. A law that gives authority without concurrent responsibility is just wrong.