We also found that when district leaders emphasized the importance of educating for democracy, schools in both liberal and conservative areas were far more likely to support such practices. This is encouraging because it demonstrates that school leaders can act to foster the practices and norms that are essential to democracy.
At the same time, there are plenty of reasons to be concerned about the state of democracy. The current attacks on school boards and district leaders are not politics as usual. They are tied to a much broader effort by powerful and well-funded groups seeking to undermine the legitimacy of democratic governance. This threat should not be taken lightly. As political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt wrote in their 2018 book, the erosion of democratic institutions and democratic norms and commitments is “how democracies die.”
We are not alone in our concerns. The National School Boards Assn. and the School Superintendents Assn. have taken a forceful step, calling for an end to “aggression, intimidation, threats and violence toward superintendents, board members and educators.” And a broad coalition of educational groups and historians formed Learn from History over the summer, partly to educate parents and the public about the need for schools to provide a fact-based history education — and to “teach students to reject racism.”
Local school board members and civic leaders need to heed these calls and stand up for inclusive participation, respectful exchange and deliberation based on facts and evidence. We need more parents, educators and community members to participate in school board meetings. More than ever, they need to be partisans for democracy, rejecting antidemocratic rhetoric, falsehoods and threats being made against school board members.
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-10-15/school-board-attacks-democracy-civics