Bobby Scott: “Parents already have the right to address their local school board. It should be done, unfortunately, within reason, but…”

“Parents already have the right to address their local school board. It should be done, unfortunately, within reason, but a reasonable amendment was rejected in committee. You don't need a Federal law to instruct school board members who are elected to be polite to the public. The voters can take care of that. This bill grants a Federal right of action to each and every person who shows up for the school board, no matter how obnoxious, extreme, irrelevant, or repetitive that person may be. This amendment is unnecessary because it doesn't do anything to the underlying bill. The underlying bill gives you that so-called right, but we have heard that some parents have been arrested. As I have said before, they were arrested because the police believed they were committing a crime. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. McCORMICK. Mr. Chair, the attitude that only some parents should be considered, that only some parents should be heard, and that some parents should be arrested is not what we are talking about. We are not talking about the parents who were arrested for doing violent things, and that is a very rare exception. We keep on using these rare exceptions to make a rule. Clearly, there is a need for us to step up and represent these parents that are unheard, because when parents are told they cannot come before a school board, there is a reason for us to step up and take action.…”