In Maryland, the largest school district in the state has banned parents from freely attending an upcoming board meeting to discuss parental rights policy.
According to the Washington Free Beacon, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) held a meeting on Tuesday to discuss a policy that prohibits parents from withdrawing their own children from lessons they consider inappropriate. While the school board usually allowed its meetings to be open to the public, this meeting was instead limited to “scheduled speakers, invited attendees, and other guests.”
In a statement, the district’s director of communications Christopher Cram affirmed that “public access to the meeting remains the same for scheduled public speakers, agenda speakers, and other guests.” The district’s only justification for these changes was “safety” concerns.
Last month, MCPS was sued by a Christian family and a Muslim family over their refusal to let them withdraw their children from lessons about sexual preferences in school. The families are arguing that their First Amendment rights to freedom of religion are being violated by the policy. The lawsuit notes that these lessons included the use of “Pride Storybooks,” openly promoting the LGBTQ agenda.
“The School Board’s recent about-face strips away [a] long-standing protection of parental rights,” the lawsuit states. “This violates not just Maryland law and Board policy and practice but also the United States Constitution.”