Wayne Gilchrest: “I encourage Members to vote for the Obey substitute because he reemphasizes the fact that we should involve parents in…”

“I encourage Members to vote for the Obey substitute because he reemphasizes the fact that we should involve parents in the situation. As a schoolteacher, I often talked to parents that were very concerned about their children. I also talked to parents where the mother had a live-in boyfriend and she did not care about anything that her child did. I also talked to parents where the father was a drug addict and the mother was an alcoholic and they did not care about their children. I also talked to parents where the father sexually molested his children and abused and beat their mother. There are times, Mr. Chairman, when the school official, which was me in many instances, for years came to the child's aid and counseled them as a substitute parent. So we need all of this. We need parental guidance, love, compassion, discipline, all of that. I encourage the Obey amendment.”