Conservative “parental rights” talking points have made their way into this year’s Santa Fe Public Schools Board of Education elections.
Incumbent Sarah Boses of District 2 is the only school board member facing a challenge in the Nov. 7 contest, with Patricia Vigil-Stockton, CFO of her family business, and Cerrillos saddle maker John T. McKenna vying for the seat. her position. While the race is technically nonpartisan, meaning there are no partisan primary matchups, Vigil-Stockton has used messaging that fits with GOP rhetoric about the role of parents in public schools.
Alissa Barnes, executive director of ProgressNow New Mexico, tells SFR that her organization has seen such rhetoric increase since 2021 in various areas across the state. Nationally, state legislators have introduced almost 400 accounts which aims to empower parents, government officials and others to challenge or monitor what schools teach about race and gender.
Barnes says that as a parent, she sees the term “parental rights” as intentionally misleading to voters.
“It’s a very clever term to get people to listen,” says Barnes. “The problem is that it’s not really about parental rights. It is not that I have the right to know if my child is being bullied at school. It has nothing to do with me having the right to participate in their education with the teachers and principals of the school. It’s about limiting access to the curriculum, about inclusion—especially the ostracism and alienation of queer and trans kids.”
Teachers working in the district challenged the candidates’ positions on banning books and the treatment of LGBTQ issues in the classroom—both issues central to the “rights” agenda—at an Oct. 13 forum held by the National Santa Fe Education Association.
For example, first-grade teacher Claire Love asked the candidates who is best qualified to determine which books should be in classroom and school libraries: parents or the American Library Association?
Vigil-Stockton, who has been officially approved by the Santa Fe County Republican Party and has the support of Sarah Jane Allen, president of the Bernalillo County chapter of the book ban advocacy group Moms for Liberty, said she favors the idea of parents deciding which books go into schools.
“Parents are the best at knowing and determining what is good for their children,” she said. “But how will parents know what is being presented to their children?”
Vigil-Stockton also argued at the forum for “parental consent forms” — a nod to the GOP’s platform on education that pushes for more ways for parents to opt their students out of curricula they don’t like. She mentioned the phrase in her answer about books, but did not specify how such forms could apply to books on library shelves.
McKenna, a former Catholic teacher from Massachusetts, asked, “What kid goes to a library now? I see kids on the phone all day.”
He said the school board should be able to control the books, noting: “Children belong to their parents. We have to take what they say and what they believe.”
The Bosses took the opposite approach.
“I do not support book bans. I don’t think censorship leads to anything good,” Boses said. “I think the best body to guide it is the [American] Library Association. There’s a process, it’s well-tested, it’s evidence-based — and I support it.”
Boses tells SFR in a later interview that while she feels the “parental rights” issues distract from what the school board is actually doing, she can’t ignore them.
“That’s not to say parents shouldn’t be involved, but they don’t have to be in the library, and they certainly don’t have to make decisions for other people’s kids about what those kids can read,” says Boses.
SFPS policy dictates that schools must recognize the right and/or obligation of students to study any controversial issue of political, economic or social importance and to have free access to all relevant information that is appropriate for their age. In addition, each school’s library catalog is publicly available on the school district website.
When asked about LGBTQ representation in the classroom, McKenna said he doesn’t want to “get involved in things that are now becoming political football games,” and Vigil-Stockton said the issue should vary by age.
“At the elementary level, we should focus on curriculum and what’s age-appropriate,” Vigil-Stockton said. “And I think it’s very important, to really review the content of the books.”
Boses said she sees LGBTQ representation as a way to increase school safety for students who may feel unsafe at home.
“If they can feel safe at school and have relationships, that really changes outcomes,” Boses said.
The Boses, elected to the board in 2019, also defended the district’s efforts to keep parents involved, noting policies consistent with state and federal statutes.
“I have never heard a teacher say that they would like parents and the community not to be involved in the education of children,” Boses said, adding that “parental involvement should not be confused or intentionally confused with parental or community control ».