New York’s education officials are waging war on parents — we must fight back

When state Education Commissioner Betty Rosa last month struck down Massapequa’s school-board resolution enforcing Title IX in our schools, it wasn’t just an example of Albany’s bureaucratic overreach.

It was a direct hit on girls — and a warning shot to families across New York state.

Last fall, the Massapequa Board of Education passed a resolution clarifying that our policies bar biological males from using female spaces in local schools, in keeping with President Donald Trump’s executive order on Title IX.

In our Long Island school district, it wasn’t a controversial question; polling consistently shows that most Americans, across party lines, believe boys don’t belong in girls’ sports, locker rooms or bathrooms.

But the New York Civil Liberties Union filed suit with the commissioner, and her April ruling aims to force the district to violate federal law and override the will of the community.

That should concern every parent.

Women fought for decades for equal opportunities, for privacy and for fairness in sports and spaces.

Now those gains are being stripped away by one-party rule in Albany, as Gov. Kathy Hochul and her allies push an agenda that weakens the role of the family and elevates ideology over common sense.

They insist that any student can choose which locker room or bathroom to use, regardless of biological sex.

And if girls are uncomfortable, if they feel exposed, anxious or pushed aside?

They’re told to accommodate, to take a seat and accept their second-class status.

It’s all part of an effort to replace the authority of parents with the authority of the state.

After all, the State Education Department’s official guidance document on transgender students tells schools that “safety concerns or lack of acceptance” mean kids and teens “may begin their transition at school without parent/guardian knowledge.”

It’s instructing schools to keep secrets from parents — as if a child’s own family is a threat.

And the state’s overreach doesn’t stop at locker rooms or parental rights.

Rosa is forcing New York’s schools to degrade their academic standards, redefining “success” by dressing up lower expectations as progress.

They’re not even trying to hide it.

“Those districts that have put an exceeding value on high performing tests . . . are going to struggle,” Rosa declared last year, as the Board of Regents ditched high-school exit exams in favor of project-based “Portrait of a Graduate” requirements.

“They are going to go through a mind shift, a value shift.”

Think about that: In New York schools, high standards are a thing of the past.

Once you accept that shift, and excellence is no longer the goal, students end up with diplomas carrying little meaning, unprepared for the responsibilities of citizenship.

Maybe that’s by design.

Why are school boards across New York going along with this?  

Because they’re boxed in by what I call “Education Inc.” — a network of agencies, associations, lawyers and advisers all pushing the same message: Comply or else.

Albany, we’re told, will withhold funding, or remove you from office, or otherwise punish those who step out of line.

Many board members will tell you privately they know this is wrong. But they won’t dare say it publicly.

Intimidation, fear and silence are undermining parents and pressuring local school boards.

And our children are paying the price.

It’s time for parents to step up and reengage.

Six years ago, many of us were outraged when COVID-era remote learning gave us a chance to see what our schools were really teaching — but since then, we’ve fallen back into complacency.

So find out who is on your school board, and make a point of voting; those elections matter more than you may realize.

Then contact those board members and encourage them to do what’s right.

It’s a lot easier to stand firm when you know your community is behind you.

Finally, we need more people with courage to step forward and get involved.

Your schools should reflect your community’s values — not Albany’s.

Massapequa has refused to quietly accept policies we so deeply oppose.

In December, we filed a lawsuit against Rosa in federal court seeking justice for our students. That matter is still pending.

But no district can win this war on our girls and on our families alone.

This isn’t a fight over locker-room rules anymore — it’s a battle over who gets to decide what’s best for our children.

Kerry Wachter is president of the Massapequa Board of Education.