Parents have a right to be part of their child’s education and schools have a responsibility to be partners -- both have an opportunity to unite for our students

November 1, 2021  The pandemic and contentious politics have left our state with lingering division. Now, more than ever, it is essential that our classrooms stay free from this divisiveness, and remain safe havens where our children can learn, connect, and grow.
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‘We the People’ is more than the first words of our founding document; it symbolizes a common criterion, a common cause, and a common commitment that we can only hope to achieve together. Separating us out and pinning us against one another is fraying the threads that bind us together and keep us unified and strong.

The charge of public education is to educate every child that comes through our doors. It is a charge that I take very seriously as State School Superintendent, and is the very reason I chose to became an educator and spent my life dedicated to public education.

Those who seek to divide us will create more and more ways to sort us, fracture us, and weaken us as Americans, and as Georgians committed to the care and education of all of our children.  They  will continue to pursue their own agenda, ignoring the fact that each and every child has a name, hopes, dreams, challenges, and, most importantly, potential.
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The educators and staff I worked with in my two decades at the school-level and the educators and staff I have spent time with on the frontlines of the pandemic do everything possible to meet the needs of their students. I cannot accept that these fellow educators and staff have innate behaviors or desires to do their students – their children -- harm. I cannot accept that those who answered the call to teach also answered a call to hate. I also cannot accept that our children begin their educational journeys with hate in their hearts.

The charge of public education is to educate every child that comes through our doors. It is a charge that I take very seriously as State School Superintendent, and is the very reason I chose to became an educator and spent my life dedicated to public education.
-- Richard Woods, State School Superintendent

I cannot accept that those who answered the call to teach also answered a call to hate.

The reality is that there are some programs and trainings that preach and promote this very dissention, and turn a profit out of pedaling division. Instead of the public education system being built on the commitment of educating each and every child, they have twisted it into a system reliant on prejudice, hate, and division.

We must be vigilant against embracing polarizing practices, like Critical Race Theory, that only seek to divide us. We must also recognize that anger has united common and valid concerns that simply should not be dismissed.

Do challenges in our education system exist? Yes.

Is poverty a barrier? Without a doubt.

Are there barriers to opportunity? Undeniably.

Have eroding family structures had an impact? Absolutely.

The reality is that these barriers do not discriminate. Public education is not the root cause of them. In fact, quite the opposite – public education works to break through these barriers.

Far too many students still do not learn to read on time. Far too many students do not earn a diploma. Far too many students have inconsistent access to opportunity. Let’s keep our energies and focus on tackling these common issues, for it will take each of us, working together, to ensure a strong public education system that helps our students overcome these barriers to have a successful future.  We must work collectively – schools, educators, parents, students, and the community – on tackling these issues and leave no one out of the process.

At the state-level, we have a robust process of standards review and adoption comprised of bringing together hundreds of teachers, publicly posting proposed standards for review and comment, and making revisions based on that feedback.

While we have this vigorous process in place to ensure that stakeholders, the same is not always true at the district level. Some school districts adopt instructional programs/initiatives and deliver nonacademic programing without the same level of engagement or transparency. This must change. 

In many communities, parents might not be aware that their school is trying to ‘parent’ or ‘raise’ their children and are not given clear opportunities to question, to be notified, or to opt-out. This must change.

Parents, teachers, and community members may not be made aware that politically-charged dialogue and discourse from unelected individuals is being injected into their child’s education – without the safeguard of public discussion or public decision-making. This must change.

Parents, teachers, and community members have a right to be heard – not targeted.
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I am a strong proponent of local control.  Local control requires the understanding that the schools belong to the community, not the district. Public education is a public good. The public has the right – and the responsibility – to engage and to participate.

For as many rights as we have, we also have responsibilities.

Decision-makers have a responsibility to communicate, to engage, to be transparent, and to be responsive. Parents, teachers, and community members have a responsibility to identify common problems and to work with their schools on solutions to the very real challenges we are facing. We all have the responsibility to be respectful, civil, and constructive.

There is a real opportunity for us to come together as Georgians, as Americans. We must overcome divisions and commit to not embracing the programs and practices that sow them. We must not ignore or discount those who call for real and meaningful policy reforms that promote transparency, engagement, and unity.

With the legislative session just around the corner, I intend to do just that. ​

Parents have a right to be heard -- not targeted.
​-- Richard Woods, State School Superintendent

I am a strong proponent of local control.  Local control requires the understanding that the schools belong to the community -- not the district.
​-- Richard Woods, State School Superintendent