Deace: Mom Fights Woke School District and the Spirit of the Age. Where Are the Dads?

Even when you catch them red-handed, you’re still the guilty one.

That’s what Erin Jo Chaskey, 37, discovered about how the “education” game was being played in her small Michigan school district, after seeking out some basic accountability in a place where it should have been expected. Four generations of her family had attended this school, and she was a regular volunteer.

But the spirit of the age is a very jealous god.

Chaskey, as many parents have in the last few years, dared to ask some questions about critical race theory being taught in her children’s school back in the spring of 2021. District officials responded by ignoring emails from her and violating freedom of information (FOIA) requests for months. Finally, when a controversial high school teacher told a boy last fall that his “white privilege was showing,” she had had enough and decided to run for an open seat on the school board.

That’s when the cult struck back.

When she showed up as directed to pick up the appropriate paperwork, she overheard a conversation from her position in a public waiting area between the superintendent of schools and a sitting school board member. They were talking about her and their intention to avoid communicating via school email from now on to avoid Chaskey’s attempts to pin them down using FOIA requests. In fact, they were openly plotting against her, so she pulled out her phone and recorded what she heard.

That’s when all hell – literally – broke loose. Like I said, woke education is a very jealous god, and its minions in the Onaway Area Community Schools proceeded to issue a warrant to seize Chaskey’s cellphone, as well as a no-trespass order. According to the spirit of the age, that domestic terrorist formerly known as a “parent” would have to pay for her blasphemy.

Not being a coward, though, Chaskey refused to wilt. She filed a civil suit seeking relief from the no-trespass order so she could attend her son’s school events. That was met the very next day by the school administration with felony eavesdropping charges. She was fingerprinted and had her mug shot taken. All for being a mom who wouldn’t drink the Kool-Aid.

This was all about intimidation and vengeance. Obey or be canceled, said the jealous gods. Chaskey’s lawyer, Daren Wisely, said the school district’s attempt to use a law in a way that had no precedent since its passage in the 1960s showed the lengths it was willing to go to so the world could be made flat. You’d expect all this in Ann Arbor, said Wisely, but this was all happening just south of the Upper Peninsula in a place where everyone knows everyone, the entire K-12 student population is in one building, and Chaskey had even previously gone on vacation with the school principal.

“That’s what boggles my mind,” Wisely said. “From the get-go they weren’t trying to work with her. They were trying to gaslight her. But she has the most conviction and perseverance of anyone I’ve ever met in my life.” And because she did, the charges were ultimately dropped earlier this year as completely without merit. However, where are the consequences for the ringleaders in the school district who mercilessly attacked a parent in order to cover their own tracks? So far, nothing.

Even in small-town Michigan, the spirit of the age has a very long reach.

“It’s been a complete nightmare,” said Chaskey. “I never even had a speeding ticket before. You have no idea what it’s been like. I’ve been ostracized. But when I’m ready, I’m going to put out everything that happened.”

Mama Bear is still fighting, while too many around her simply stand by and watch the train wreck pass them by as it steals the very souls of their children. How did it come to such a pass, when a single woman must stand alone against such darkness and chaos? Where are the dads of this district?

The answer to that question will be our everlasting shame, if not our complete undoing as a nation.

Opinion by Steve Deace for The Blaze.

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