This, ladies and germs, is Katie Parent, candidate for school board in Springfield, bragging about having “picked a fight against the district.”
Well, as long as you’ve got an open mind.
Parent has a conspiratorial view of critical race theory. She has posted messages on social media in support of the truckers’ convoy to Washington, D.C., which means she’s cool with closing down cities, being loud and obnoxious, harassing locals, and interfering with daily life. As you see above, she’s also identified herself as part of a closed Facebook group called “Vermont Against Excessive Quarantine.” So she covers the waterfront of far-right activism.
Funny thing, she doesn’t seem nearly so brave outside of her little right-wing bubbles. This week, Seven Days did a long and worthwhile story on far-right candidates for school and select boards, and Parent was one of several who did not answer requests for interviews. Braveheart!
Parent also concealed her beliefs behind the usual code words in a lengthy candidate’s statement posted on social media. She wrote of “transparency” and allowing parents to “have a stronger voice in their child’s (sic) education.” She advocates for a “pro-human approach that all of us are created equal” and claims to want to “remove personal politics completely out of our childrens (sic) classes.”
By which she naturally means NO CRITICAL RACE THEORY AAAARRGGGHHH
Unfortunately, she has a track record that exposes the zealotry she tries to conceal. Last fall, she took to social media to promote an anti-CRT event that was… wait for it… part of notorious fanatic Gregory Thayer’s CRT road show! At that meeting, former gubernatorial candidate “Farmer” John Klar called CRT “Orwellian” and “Clockwork Orange”* and “equated the aim of Critical Race Theory proponents to Naziism or eugenics.”
*Golly gee, I hope the children weren’t forced to watch violent images while their eyelids were forcibly kept open.
In a November story by VTDigger’s Lola Duffort about the CRT “controversy,” Parent was identified as the leader of the Springfield chapter of the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR), a national organization dedicated to fighting the alleged evils of CRT. And yes, another ultraconservative group hiding behind a neutral name. When Duffort tried to reach Parent for comment, guess what? She “did not respond to messages.”
Well, she certainly has the courage of her convictions. Like I wrote previously, these people know they can’t win if they tell the truth about who they are, so they hide behind carefully-crafted talking points and refusals to comment.
But let it be known that Springfield voters have choices to make, and they should be fully informed before they cast a ballot for Katie Parent.
The Vermont Political Observer. 
I am appalled by the lack of professionalism is this article! Your attempt to be funny is an insult to ethical journalism. The topic is very serious. As you have seen in Virginia and San Francisco, parents are tired of the lack of engagement they have in their children’s education. The focus on quality education is in question. The narrow focus on social justice and political reform have no place in education. This is no joking matter! Our children’s future is at stake. Teaching CRT and gender identity in elementary schools can only be interpreted as brainwashing children at an early age! Our children need to be taught how to think critically and compare and contrast! Skills that are inherent in any highly educated society. Children must be able to make choices based on a true understanding of how to investigate and research. It seems that these skills are not truly taught in schools that whole heartedly embraced these social topics. Since when are new curricula adopted before they are viewed planned and purposefully. This is another knee by school boards and teacher unions to intrude into the very fabric of American families. We need to stop reacting and start having unemotional reaction to every whim from the left and the right! What is it that our families need?
What have I seen in Virginia and San Francisco? I’m dying to find out.
Mr Walters,
Can you reconcile for your readers the vision that the esteemed Dr. Martin Luther King had for American with the divisive tenets of Critical Race Theory?
The words of Dr. Martin Luther King.
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
“I have a dream that one day right there in Alabama little black boys and little black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.”
“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed — we hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”
“Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.”
“I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.”
“Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.”
“Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.”
“We refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.”
“In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds.”
“When we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: “Free at last! Free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
I know Katie Parent and she shares the same dream as Dr. King and so do I. Do you?
You selectively quote Dr. King where it suits your interest. I bet you don’t like this one very much:
“The evils of capitalism are as real as the evils of militarism and evils of racism.”
You won’t get any argument from me about the evils of unrestrained militarism and the evils of racism. I am an advocate of free market capitalism which is a completely different animal than the crony capitalism and corporatism that has come to dominate our Republic.
I attended the event that Katie Parent arranged for Springfield. Given Gregory Thayer has a FB group labeled as political, and John Klar is the founder of a PAC, I would comfortably call it a political rally to get support for attacking the Springfield School District. Parent has refused to attend forums that include Q&A. Parent, on SAPA T.V. mentioned she has no political agenda about 4-5 times in a manner that implied everyone else had a political agenda. She is the only candidate for Springfield school board that has organized a political rally. Her apparent running mate attended the event as well. John Walters got this one correct. BTW, Mr. Kell, I can attest that Gregory Thayer and John Klar were not very respectful in their word choice at the event I attended.
I was there and a co-sponsor of the outdoor parents meeting in regards to CRT and it’s intrusion into the Springfield school district. Char was one of the most rude and disrespectful people in the audience. Char routinely travels the Webverse looking for people she despises on The Right and then , as best as she can , slanders and defames them eg: no factual statements ( you know ? Kind of like VTdigger writers on their op-ed pages ). For me , I won’t allow her bullying on me or people I respect …anymore. I’m sorry , Char, that your party is so fearful and anxious over people who don’t tow your line. Have a Snickers.
Char,
Since you live in a the protective and perpetual safe space bubble of the far left of the Democratic Party I doubt anything a liberty and constitutional American has to say would be considered respectful and thoughtful. You should disclose your involvement in the Springfield and Windsor County Democratic Party. This Democrats are huge beneficiaries of Political Action Committees. Your party is the party of Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. The queen and king of dark money. Having served in two school boards no media source or party ever took any interest in my political views. Why are you so worried about Katie Parent? Please explain.