Extremists are coming for Missouri school boards. Don’t let them ban common sense

Missouri’s COVID-19 cases more than doubled in the month following Thanksgiving. As more than 1 million children returned to school this month, they faced not only the danger presented by the omicron variant itself, but also a state attorney general determined to interfere with school boards’ efforts to combat the pandemic.

Most of us are trying to prevent the spread of a dangerous disease by following commonsense measures such as wearing a mask and getting vaccinated and boosted. Unfortunately, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt is instead using the pandemic as a cynical opportunity to try to get through a Republican primary.

In December, a Cole County court decision limited local health departments’ abilities to issue COVID-19 restrictions. The ruling had nothing to do with school boards. Yet Schmitt immediately tried to coerce all school districts in the state to drop mask requirements.

I strongly disagree with Scmitt’s decision to try to force school districts to drop mask mandates. I have two kids. They don’t mind wearing masks, because they understand it’s important to help keep people safe. It is amazing to me that children often show more compassion and leadership than some of our elected officials.

Trying to end school mask mandates was bad enough, but Schmitt took it another step by encouraging parents to report evidence of mask mandates in schools by taking photos of schoolchildren. Doing so was dangerous and wrong. He effectively asked people to “dox” kids. The attorney general displayed jaw-dropping irresponsibility.

Having served on a school board for nearly a decade, I know how hard it can be to make the right decision in the face of strong opposition. But I cannot begin to imagine what the last 22 months have been like for school board members or, for that matter, teachers, bus drivers, nurses, food workers, custodians, administrators and other staff all working with parents to help educate kids amid the worst conditions in a century. We certainly never faced anything remotely like this pandemic when I was growing up in the Kansas City Northland or during my time on the Affton school board.

And yet Missouri’s public schools will face another danger this winter: an orchestrated and concerted attempt by far-right, anti-local control zealots to infiltrate school boards across the state in the April 5 elections. Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon has openly advocated this strategy. So while Schmitt is trying to substitute the judgment of irresponsible extremists for that of duly-elected school boards, Bannon is trying to take over the boards themselves.

The threat is real. This year’s school board elections in Missouri will be unlike anything we have ever seen before. As inconceivable as it may seem, dark money from secret donors will be pouring into local school elections this spring.

Last Jan. 6, we witnessed an illegal invasion of our national capitol. Today, we are seeing those same forces attempt to seize control of our local schools via the April ballot.

Please join me in pushing back and making our voices heard on April 5. The future of education and health in our state depends on it.