Martin County School District superintendent Dr. John Millay is facing two challenges this week. Parents in the Treasure Coast area of Florida are outraged after a photo of six students holding up letters spelling out a racist slur circulated on social media. Some are also concerned after Millay met with a far-right parents group, Moms for Liberty, that reportedly has strong ties to the Republican Party. Some have also called it an “astroturf” group.
The group advocates against COVID vaccine and mask mandates, critical race theory, and support for LGBTQ rights, while advocating for banning books from school libraries. Last year The Daily Beast profiled Moms for Liberty:
“School books about Martin Luther King Jr. are too ‘divisive,’ claims a conservative group at the center of a Tennessee book ban battle. A story about the astronomer Galileo Galilei is ‘anti-church.’ A picture book about seahorses is too sexy.”
Also last year, Media Matters reported that Moms for Liberty “appears to be using parents as pawns to advance a far-right agenda,” and has “serious GOP connections.”
In a Facebook post on the school district’s page at least one expressed concern about Millay’s meeting with Moms for Liberty: