It has been heartening to see the success of We The Parents (WTP) in defending their children's school against the well-funded ADF. It's worth noting that the right wing used the Stevens Creek Elementary School episode to gain publicity all over the country about the alleged terrible anti-Christian bias of the public school administration. Their version of the story will likely live on and be repeated all over the place, for year to come, in order to inflame their supporters and further denigrate public education. Hence, the offer by the Stevens Creek parents to help those in other communities is particularly valuable.
John Barton and the other WTP members on their own looked into who was backing the attack on their local school, and recognized that the ADF's actions were part of a larger campaign targeting public schools. The WTP's experience and advice as grassroots activists will be invaluable to others facing similar attacks: (1) find out about the attackers, and don't be surprised if there's a big right-wing apparatus backing them up; (2) don't delay--take action quickly; (3) let everyone (the other parents, the community, the media) know what is going on and who is behind it; (4) don't be afraid to take a stand and speak out for what you think is right; (5) use your critical thinking skills to question others' statements and actions, regardless of where they are purportedly coming from; (6) ally yourself with others to gain strength; and (7) use the internet as well as other means of communication to coordinate, inform, gain support, and help others.
In writing our Commonweal Institute report, "Responding to the Attack on Public Schools and Teacher Unions," Dave Johnson's and my major objectives were (1) to help people understand what is going on and how to recognize it, and (2) to let people know some of the things they can do to counter the attacks and protect public education. Now that their immediate fight is over, WTP members and others who care about public schools may want to read the report with a special eye to Section 5, Responding to the Attack. They may want to implement some of the recommendations there: countering hostile e-mail messages, expanding the WTP website to teach others how to recognize anti-public school propaganda pieces, cultivating strategic allies, establishing a speaker's bureau and promoting their availability, and encouraging critical thinking as part of the education of school children in a democracy, as well as a useful process for their elders.