Parent’s Bill of Rights, Guest: Lisa Chaffee, Ohio Affiliate

In this episode of the Parents Rights Podcast, Suzanne Gallgaher provides updates on upcoming events, such as The Great Northwest Awakening and regular Zoom meetings. The episode delves into legislation matters with two major bills under discussion:

• Indiana's House Bill 1608, known as the "Education Matters Bill", which prohibits teaching K-3 students about human sexuality and requires teachers to notify parents if a child wishes to be referred by a different name or pronoun. There was also an unsuccessful motion to get a preliminary injunction regarding how human sexuality is taught.
• Ohio's House Bill 8, known as the "Parents' Bill of Rights". This bill mandates schools to provide parents with information regarding their child's mental, emotional, or physical health. It also compels schools to inform parents prior to teaching sexuality content. A detailed discussion of this bill highlights the importance of definition in legislation, especially in terms of what "sexuality content" encompasses.

Suzanne also talks about organizational growth, urging listeners to become members and join or create local affiliate groups. She emphasizes the need for greater transparency between schools and parents, especially regarding students' well-being.

The episode features Lisa Chaffee, an affiliate from Ohio, who shares her journey with Parents' Rights in Education and her role in pushing forward Ohio's House Bill 8. Lisa's testimonies, activism, and insights are highlighted, giving a real-life example of a parent's influence on legislation. The conversation underscores the significance of parental involvement, understanding legal frameworks, and making sure educational entities prioritize parental rights.

Link to the Ohio Parents’ Rights in Education website:  https://ohio.parentsrightsineducation.com

Transcript

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Hey everybody, it's great to be back with you. Okay, let's start with some updates from around the country. Don't forget, The Great Northwest Awakening is on Saturday, October 21st in Ridgefield, Washington. Parents' Rights and Education Zoom calls are every other Monday. Get updates from national. And the next call is on Monday, August 21st. That's Monday, August 21st. And our last item is Parents' Rights and Education Zoom Training Calls, which will be every Saturday starting August 12th. More event information is available on our website, parentsrightsandeducation.com. So go to the home page, scroll down to events. 

Let's cover some of the legislation that's come up. around the country. The first one is Indiana House Bill 1608. That bill is called Education Matters Bill, and it went into effect on July 1st of this year. Some highlights of this bill are these things. A school employee or a third party vendor may not provide any, did you hear that? Any instruction to a student in K through three on human sexuality. That's a big one. Number two, this bill states if their child requests to be called by a name or pronoun different from their name listed on the registration, teachers are required to send notification of the request to parents. And the third item of interest is in June, the Indiana ACLU requested a preliminary injunction on behalf of a teacher regarding how human sexuality is taught in the classroom. The teacher claimed that the definition of human sexuality in the law was too vague, and it put her at risk of losing her teacher's license. She felt what she could and could not discuss with students was unclear. Thankfully on July 28th, the federal judge in Indiana denied a motion for that preliminary injunction. 

The second bill that we've got our eyeballs on is Ohio Bill, House Bill 8, enacted the Parents' Bill of Rights. And this bill passed in the House in June, 2023. The bill eliminates staff discretion to withhold information about a student's mental, emotional, or physical health from a parent or guardian. It forces schools to notify parents before teaching sexuality content. And lastly, we have kept our eyes on Ohio House Bill 8 since it was first brought to our attention. And later in the podcast, we will be taking a deeper look into the bill's details. 

Now I want to catch you up on some organizational news and updates. Hey, you guys, you must be spreading the word. Thank you. You know what? We need a point of contact in every single school district in this country. That's our goal. Now those folks are called affiliates. They are a point of contact in every single school district. So first, become a member of Parents' Rights in Education by filling out our membership form located under the Parents' Top Menu option. If you're already a member, Just make sure to update your membership with our updated membership form. You can select which affiliate group you would like to join. Now, over the last week, numerous people have applied to become local affiliate leaders. Way to go, oh, I love that. And if there is no affiliate in your school district, consider becoming one. It's so simple, guys. All you need to do is fill out start an affiliate form. located under the Leadership top menu option. So first sign up as a member and then go to the Leadership option and fill out the Start an Affiliate form. We will contact you with more information. 

So let's dive into our episode topic. What are we really looking for? Well, we're looking for transparency. Number one, from schools on students' mental and physical health. And the parents want that. This is communication between the school district and the parents. So Ohio is one of the leaders making this happen in their state. Ohio House Bill 8. is also known as the Parents' Bill of Rights. Now this bill eliminates staff discretion to withhold information about a student's mental, emotional, or physical health from the parent or guardian. And it forces schools to notify parents before teaching sexuality content. So this bill is really important. First of all, we need to give credit to the legislators who supported the bill because they went over it with a fine tooth comb to ensure that there was no wiggle room for schools to continue hiding information from parents. Yeah, hiding, that's what they do, isn't it? For example, the legislators in favor of the bill reviewed its language and changed the wording from sexuality explicit content to sexuality content, which is defined as oral or written instruction, presentation, image, or description of sexual concepts or gender ideology. That was brilliant because definition is so important when it comes to law, isn't it? What does the word mean? And they have, they have, they went to the max to make sure that we know. Now that language change is so important because it means public schools cannot show or discuss any content related to sexual activity, health, or sexuality in general without notifying parents in advance and allowing them to review the material. first. Yeah, that would be unique, wouldn't it? Not getting the information later. It also requires educators to notify parents about any request by a student to identify as a gender that does not align with the student's biological sex. Wow! I love this! I love this! We will have our Ohio State affiliate leader, Lisa Chafee. We love Lisa. On to discuss what she did to ensure Ohio House Bill 8 got passed and what it means for Ohio parents. 

Commercial:  Becoming a Member

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Alrighty, well, I have the distinct pleasure of introducing one of our very first affiliates, Lisa Chafee. She lives in Hilliard, Ohio. And we met, I'm sure, over the phone early on, didn't we, Lisa? And what a ride this has been. I am so proud of you and what you have done in the state of Ohio. Now, we don't have time to cover all of that, but guys, You need to look up to this woman. She knows what she's doing and her conviction is amazing. So Lisa, tell us now, just remind me, how long has it been since you joined Parents' Rights in Education?

Lisa Chaffee:

2021 when I was running for school board.

Suzanne Gallgaher:

All right, that's right. You ran for school board and you didn't make it, but you didn't give up, did you?

Lisa Chaffee:

No, actually it was rather a blessing. I didn't win. I ran on a slate of three and my two slate mates won. And so I've been in a position now to expose what's going on in the schools and be a staunch advocate for parents and students.

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Terrific, terrific. So tell us more about this Ohio bill that you were involved in recently. We encourage our affiliates and our members to get involved at the local level, which would be their school districts, but there's also opportunity to pass legislation. And why is it so important to do that?

Lisa Chaffee:

Well, it's so important because honestly, even though we already have laws on the books protecting our rights as parents, activist teachers, especially the teachers union are blatantly ignoring those laws currently going behind our backs. We actually filed a lawsuit against our district here in Hilliard because they're withholding information from parents regarding a child's mental wellbeing. And they're primarily focused on the LGBTQ students. So I was tickled to death to hear representative swear gen introduce HB8. And, um, actually suggested a change to it, which I'm not going to go into detail on that, but he took my advice and, uh, I worked with him getting the word out there. And that now what people need to understand that once this pass, we still have to be advocates for our kids and paying attention because they're going to get even more devious. They're already breaking the law in Ohio because there's a law in the books and I forget the revised code number, but they're only supposed to be teaching accidents and they're not doing that. So they're already breaking the law there. So we're going to have to stay on top of these teachers and make sure that they are following this once it's passed in the Senate and the governor signs it.

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Absolutely. And I love the fact that you're looking at the law, Lisa, and trying to figure out, you know, that's how we establish, you know, what our rights are. If you think about it, what does the law say? And this is what I found also in Oregon, Washington state and in other states that have gone so sideways in undermining parents going behind their backs and just teaching what they want. And parents are somewhat intimidated and they don't know where to look. So tell me more about how you decided to get involved and what actually you determined that you needed to do to help this bill move forward. What are the strategies that you used? Teach our other affiliates and followers what they can do in their state.

Lisa Chaffee:

Yeah, well first I reached out to the sponsor of the bill, Representative Swearingen, the main sponsor. There's over 40 sponsors on this bill, which is very exciting. And I asked him, what can I do to help? And it was simply start familiarizing myself with the bill and I'm not a lawyer, so they explained it in layman's terms for me so I could easily explain it to others. And I just started on social media educating people. Telling all of my friends, all the parents that are involved in our group. And I encourage them that when the hearings took place, if they could not testify in person, submit written testimony. And we help people prepare their testimony. And it's really, it can be intimidating, but they don't like hearing all these prescribed pre-written testimonies. They wanna hear from the heart. So, and I encourage them to do that. Got all the email addresses of all the committee members. So this particular bill went before our primary secondary education committee, put their email out there on social media and said, email them, tell them that you want this bill passed. And it worked. Overwhelming majority passed in the House. It's wonderful.

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Fantastic, fantastic. Tell me a little bit about your experience testifying yourself. How did that feel for you?

Lisa Chaffee:

That's been an interesting ride. I actually have lost count now of how many times I've testified because I've testified for several bills, including the Safe Act bill, which will prevent the transitioning of minors, medical transitioning. The very first time I was so scared. I mean, it's not like testifying in front of your school board. It's very intimidating. You're standing in the... I was standing here in the governor's mansion, the state house, in front of all these elected officials in these incredibly beautiful rooms with all these people left, you know, support and con, pro and con, and I was shaking like a leaf. So I, but the scariest part was after I read my testimony, and I highly recommend in that situation. write your testimony out, time it, practice it, read it verbatim, then they will ask questions if they so choose, and that's where it gets tricky.  So the first time it was really scary. And then the second time, it was really scary and I don't think I handled myself well. Now I'm ready for it. I try to anticipate the questions the opposition is gonna ask me, and I actually have fun with it. So, I like to get those gotcha moments in on those people, on the Democrats, cause I am a conservative, so.

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Yeah, you know, that's fantastic. And really practice does make perfect. And you can start by testifying where? At your school board?

Lisa Chaffee:

Exactly.

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Good place to start. 

Lisa Chaffee:

Exactly.

Suzanne Gallgaher:

And yeah, I think it's so gratifying to know that we still do have a voice. And I wanted to mention that, you know, People who join Parents' Rights in Education automatically have access to our social media platforms. And in Ohio, you have how many affiliate groups all around the state?

Lisa Chaffee:

Right now I think we just have one official, but we have over 2,000 followers on our social media page and I try to limit those to just people in Ohio.

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Right, right. And so they will spread the word. And there's something about, you know, this issue that gets people's attention and they want to know what they can do. So, congratulations, we are so proud of you, Lisa. And I know you have many other projects out in the works. 

Lisa Chaffee:

I do.

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Hey, you guys, come to come to Parents Rights in Education. Go to the Ohio page on our site. It's a separate website, just for Ohio. Check, check Ohio out on Facebook and we have some of Lisa's testimonies on our website. So we can put that in the show notes. People can see that, you know what, you didn't start out waking up one morning, did you Lisa? And thinking, hey, I think I want to testify before the state legislature.

Lisa Chaffee:

No, never in my life would I imagine myself ever doing it. And like I said, now I'm having fun with it. I take it very seriously,

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Mm-hmm.

Lisa Chaffee:

but you got to have a little bit of enjoyment. And, you know, it, we're really in a war. We're in an ideological war and we have to arm ourselves and we have to recognize that we are the, the parents are the army. And we need our legislature to do the job and be the leaders and listen to us and recognize that if we want to save this country, we have to take back our schools from the Marxist union. And we've already lost too many generations if we don't do it now. You know, when I'm 51 years old, when I'm 80, 90, it's time to retire. Who's going to run the country?

Suzanne Gallgaher:

Exactly, exactly. And that's what we're doing. Lisa, congratulations. We are raising leaders. And again, we are so proud of you. We encourage every, everyone listening to this podcast to join parents' rights and education. We can do it. We're raising an army. Thank you, Lisa Chafee, Ohio affiliate leader.

Lisa Chaffee:

Thank you.