School Board Member Cyberbullied by Parents Over Remote Learning Vote

It’s unfortunate I’m compelled to weigh in on this loaded news story from Patch and the Baltimore Sun. Two parents from the Howard County Public School System in Maryland are suing their school board to strip its lone student member’s right to vote on issues before the board. This comes after the student cast a crucial deciding vote to keep schools from returning to in-person classes.

To top it off, following the filing of the lawsuit, the superintendent says the parents and adults involved in siding to return to school and eliminate the student school board member’s voting rights, have taken online to to harass, demean and aggressively bully that student.

“We, as Howard County residents, should be mortified that a community that prides itself on civility has neighbors that would stoop so low as to harass any person, but particularly a student in order to silence their voice,” said Superintendent Michael Martirano in a released statement. 

The attorney for the angry parents, who is also a parent of a Howard County high school student, says that 16 of Maryland’s 24 school boards don’t allow students to vote. Howard County 58,000-student district has been learning remotely since last March, and in-person classes are not scheduled to resume until April 2021. Proposals to allow students to return to in-person classes, if their parents approve, have repeatedly failed in 4-4 stalemate votes. The attorney also questions why the school board has an even number of members, claiming the adult members are using the student member as a pawn to hide behind their internal divisions.

Okay, so why go grossly out of line morally to cyberbully the student member on top of this? This is a complicated matter, and the court could rule this month. I don’t think it’s okay to disrespect student rights, and it appears the rights of a student school board member is clearly established in Maryland state law. 

This student would have remedies against the parents doing the harassment – including intentional infliction of emotional distress, prima facie tort, and perhaps other claims under Maryland Law. This subject is of course a hot topic in the news right now about how and when it is safe to return to school. It seems that these parents did not like the students vote to not return and launched into attacks.

I am glad to see that the school board is standing up and supporting this young man.While we’re safely learning in order to get vaccinated and move beyond these difficult times of COVID-19, I side with student tights. Martirano is correct in his full statement. We’re better than this. Parents, don’t choose civility. Practice it!