Have a back-to-school battle plan

OPINION:

Over the next month, American children will head back to school, much to their chagrin and often to the delight of parents.

Back in the day, getting ready for the new school year was a time of jitters, naturally, but it was also filled with excitement. The weeks leading up to that first day meant heading to the store for that shiny new lunchbox, Trapper Keeper, the marble notebooks some teacher demanded, new pens and pencils, and the box of crayons that was often smaller than the one you wanted.

For some, getting dragged through the stores for new shoes and clothes was part of the ritual, along with trying on hand-me-downs from older siblings. For parents then, as now, there was the pressure of affording it all, especially in households with multiple children.

In retrospect, it was so innocent. It was so straightforward.

Thanks to the far-left takeover of the American education system, it’s no longer that simple. Parents today have the added pressure of making sure that their school focuses on reading, writing, arithmetic, real science and actual history rather than revisionism, relativism and radicalism.

Parents need a battle plan to protect their children. Whether you live in a red or blue state, whether your child goes to a public or private, school following these steps together with other parents can send a powerful message.

While your high schooler might be mortified by this, it’s imperative to visit all your children’s classrooms to review bulletin boards, decorations and books on display for inappropriate or extremist topics.

Before the school year starts, ask teachers or your school administration to see the syllabus, curriculum, reading lists and videos used in instruction for your child’s class. If they refuse to be transparent, take your case to the school board with other parents.

Visit the school library and look for sexually explicit material in any format.

Understand the grading format. Happy talk about “equitable grading policies” or elimination of grading altogether should prompt immediate parental reaction.

Tell your children that you want to know if their teacher talks about their sexuality or sex life in class, even in passing. Children should be on guard for teachers asking students about those topics as well.

Similarly, if teachers use terms including whiteness, patriarchy, transgender and privilege, you need to know. Frequent talk about racism is another warning sign.

Give your children a list of these terms and ensure they are on alert. Train your children to recognize religious and political intolerance in the classroom and history lessons that trash our nation’s Founders or promote victimhood culture.

If your school refuses to hang the American flag in classrooms, get an explanation in writing and be prepared to circle the wagons to change the policy. Schools that permit pride and trans flags but diminish patriotic expressions need to be challenged.

Find your child’s teachers on social media, including LinkedIn. It may seem like cyberstalking, but activist educators rarely hide their true colors online. Many teachers who view themselves as academics have their own websites where they openly express their social and political views.

It’s a big red flag if they use their pronouns or have hair that looks like a Muppet’s in their profile picture.

Find out what your school’s policy is on boys using girls’ restrooms and locker rooms, and vice versa. If your school has a policy of disregard for your child’s privacy, take action immediately.

Work with other parents to raise awareness, challenge school board members in the next election, or consider filing lawsuits.

If they’re putting litter boxes in bathrooms, treat it like a four-alarm fire.

This is a lot of work, but the likes of Randi Weingarten, the United Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association have made this level of heightened situational awareness and readiness necessary.

Parents should work together in groups to lighten the load and show strength.

Since the pandemic, parents are pushing back with great success. The left has been exposed for allowing people who are emotionally and mentally compromised or radical ideologues access to our children.

Every parent who takes an active role in their child’s education is a victory against the longstanding effort by socialists, Marxists and secularists to remake this country into something totally unrecognizable.

As parents, we are behind the eight ball, but remember, America loves an underdog.

Put a plan together now. We must act before we produce another lost generation that rejects American exceptionalism, blindly trading their optimism, hope and faith for the left’s weakness and nihilism.

• Tom Basile is the host of “America Right Now” on Newsmax and the author of “Tough Sell: Fighting the Media War in Iraq.” He served as an adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq from 2003 to 2004.