Richard Robinson: Outrage as Pennsylvania school board member calls parents 'village idiots'
Richard Robinson, a member for the York Suburban School District Pennsylvania has come under fire for his recent op-ed to concerned parents where he declared “I don’t work for you”.
Robinson is a member of the Pennsylvania Faculty Board who recently unloaded on a column for the York Dispatch, taking a shot at parents who show up for their children's school board meetings to raise concerns and hold board members accountable. The school district board member lashed out on parents and wrote "some members of my community appear to interpret this part of board meetings as the occasion to tell board members why they have the collective intelligence of a village idiot." Robinson’s prime complaint targeted parents who believe that board members work for taxpayers.
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In the essay, Robinson proceeded to run down a list of six key points that he sought to make to explain why he says he doesn’t work for parents, first of these were “With all due respect to men and women who snarl, ‘I’m a taxpayer! You work for me!’ No, I don’t work for you, I was elected by people who voted to represent you.” Robinson wrote.
In the op-ed, he complained about doctors who speak up at board meetings without identifying their “specialties or credentials,” and decried parents who threaten school board members with lawsuits over decisions they don’t like as well as those who threatened to pull their children out of school, calling them “a bully”. Robinson concluded the column with direct insults to parents who are concerned over how schools’ health and safety measures such as masking and school closures affect their child’s mental health.
The piece has garnered nationwide interest and many reactions from parents and national non-profit organizations. Nicole Neily, president of Parents Defending Education said "He is just the latest in a string of elected officials who have finally let the mask slip that this whole part of the… consent of the governed part is really just an inconvenience speed bump on their way to forcing their agenda down people's throats."
Neily also explained how school boards are overstepping their bounds and infringing on parental rights is “extremely common”. hey don’t enjoy “being criticized for the decisions that school boards have made unilaterally”.
Parents who are pushing for more influence in their child’s education are appalled by the way their concerns are being dismissed and mocked by Richard Robinson.