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“And extremist religious takeover.” That is how one liberal resident described The Family Foundation’s efforts to give local parents and citizens a voice through its Speak Up! Hanover team and policy engagement tools.
In another social media post, a resident activist in Hanover decried how our government relations team is providing policy and legal analysis to support parent-centered policies to school board members, all while they cheer on LGBTQ groups and support the ACLU’s lawsuits intended to force the school board into adopting radical transgender policies that, among other things, violate the privacy and safety of young female students. See for yourself.
Since the summer of 2021, The Family Foundation has worked to equip and empower the Speak UP! Hanover team to consistently speak at Hanover school board meetings to help encourage board members to:
- reject the transgender-issue policies published under Northam administration that violated parental rights, threatened the bodily safety and privacy of students, and violated core constitutional protections;
- adopt a bathroom use policy based on biological sex that is consistent with current federal and state law;
- implement the model policies published by the Virginia Department of Education that establish procedures for notifying parents when sexually explicit content is used in the classroom and providing parents an opportunity to request an alternative assignment;
- implement a school library book policy that provides oversight and review of literature in school libraries to ensure students cannot access pornographic materials that hold no academic value; and
- adoption of the Model Policies on Ensuring Privacy, Dignity, and Respect for All Students and Parents in Virginia’s Public Schools.
We are pleased that the school board listened to members of their community in support of parental rights – not just those who shout the loudest. Let’s be clear, the Hanover School Board is enacting policies that reflect the conservative values and principles of a majority of residents who actually don’t want woke curriculum and sexually explicit materials presented to their children. If the leftists in Hanover County want to credit The Family Foundation through its Speak Up! Hanover team for helping that to happen, we’ll gladly wear that as a badge of honor. That’s exactly what we exist to do.
In another social media post, that same resident activist lamented that the Hanover School Board received training from the School Board Member Alliance (SBMA), a separate 501c3 entity that our Founding Freedoms Law Center helped launch, which is aimed at providing school board members guidance on managing the board, enacting policies, and other helpful resources. Again, we’re happy to receive credit for helping provide professional advice to school boards. Take a look:
Comments like these about the impact The Family Foundation is having through its Speak UP! Hanover team just goes to show how the light is shining through the darkness. We are having success and making a difference even at the local school board level. And we know that the more successful places like Hanover are at defending parental rights, the more it inspires parents in other localities that could lead to significant pro-family policies.
If you appreciate what we are doing at local school boards like Hanover and want to help us make more inroads in left-leaning school boards, please prayerfully consider a significant year end gift.
We need to raise a total of $330,000 by December 31. We reached out to a handful of our generous supporters who believe that we cannot give up, and we have almost reached the first half of $165,000 of the $330,000 year end goal. They have offered to match every contribution made before the end of this year!
If you have questions, please reach out to Marie Edwards, Development Officer, at marie@familyfoundation.org.
