Fringe Alert: Principal Calls for Violating the Law After Roe v. Wade Overturned
His ILEARN scores are the lowest of any elementary school in the HSE district
On June 24, Fishers Elementary School Principal Brian Behrman posted on Instagram that people should “violate the law” and engage in “direct action” in response to the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade:
The post included a quote from Howard Zinn, the far-left historian who wrote A People’s History of the United States and who said that the United States has done “probably more bad than good” in the world.
“Direct action” can refer to nonviolent actions, but it is also commonly used as a euphemism for political violence. For example, it is often used for the violent tactics of the domestic terrorist group Antifa (examples here, here, here, and here). For this reason, it is important to find out what Mr. Behrman means by calling for “direct action.”
I emailed Mr. Behrman on June 28 to see what laws he wants us to break, and to find out what he means by “direct action” and whether he means to advocate political violence. He did not respond.
On June 29, just one day after Behrman’s call for people to “violate the law” and engage in “direct action,” The Washington Post reported that
…attacks have increased on pregnancy crisis centers, churches, and other antiabortion organizations, with dozens targeted by graffiti, property damage, arson and explosives.
And, on Twitter, people have routinely called for the assassination of Supreme Court Judges:
The Department of Homeland Security has warned that there is an increased risk of violent extremism in response to the recent Supreme Court decisions. It is therefore terribly irresponsible for a leader in our community to call for violating the law and “direct action.”
Board Member Janet Pritchett “Liked” the Post
Mr. Behrman also tweeted his Instagram post, and HSE Board Member Janet Pritchett clicked “like” on his tweet:
I reached out by email to Ms. Pritchett on July 2 asking about her position on political violence. She also did not respond.
Literally millions of Americans on both sides of the political divide know what it is like to be disappointed by a controversial Supreme Court Decision. But we live in a free and democratic society, and when we are disappointed, we don’t break the law or get violent. Rather, we raise our voices, we vote, and we encourage others to vote.
One would have thought that an elementary school principal and a School Board member would understand this, and would want the children under their authority to understand it as well. At the very least, I’d have expected them to clarify that they do not support violence. But I guess that’s asking too much of leaders in our community who oversee our children. Brian Behrman and Janet Pritchett apparently prefer to leave their position on political violence ambiguous. I’ll happily update this post if either of them ever answer me. Meanwhile, you can see my own statement against political violence in our community here.
How is Fishers Elementary Doing?
Should you allow your child to attend Fishers Elementary, where Mr. Behrman is the principal? I would certainly think twice. In addition to his ambiguity about political violence, FES has the lowest ILEARN scores of any elementary school in the district. So I would ask Mr. Behrman some questions before I’d send my little kid to school under his supervision. Specifically: does he actually support political violence, what laws does he advocate breaking, and what is he doing about his school’s low scores?
On the last question, I’m afraid that the answer is not going to be encouraging. He also says on Twitter that
Equating “doing better” with “increased test scores” is a tiresome and outdated perspective.
That might be a reasonable point in some sense, but it’s really not what you want to hear from the principal of the lowest-scoring elementary school in our district. Test scores can be over-hyped, but they’re not worthless, and his focus needs to be on addressing the drop of FES from a top-level, Blue Ribbon school under Principal Mansfield in 2011, down to the worst test-scoring HSE elementary school today. (Also: it’s borderline dishonest to continue claiming the “blue ribbon” status on the website, some eleven years later, given the circumstances.)
The Upcoming Election
I’m afraid that winning the election is the only way out of this mess. Janet Pritchett is seeking re-election, and, if you live in District 2, you can and should vote for her wonderful opponent, Dr. Juanita Albright.
Juanita Albright is against political violence and doesn’t advocate breaking the law when you don’t get your way.
We can use your help to elect Juanita! Volunteer or offer to put up a yard sign by sending Juanita a message. Or consider donating to her campaign by sending her a check or by Venmo (@Friends_Juanita) which you can reach by clicking this button:
And, most importantly, make sure to vote for Juanita Albright, either in the early voting period or on November 8. And make sure your friends and family do likewise!
The last day to register to vote is October 11.
Here’s a map in case you aren’t sure which district you’re in (larger version here). All the people listed on the map are excellent candidates who want the district to focus on academic excellence instead of fringe-left-wing political advocacy. I’ll be talking more about all of them in the coming days.
