Stand With Parents and Families Who Want Great Teachers, Safe Classrooms, and Kids Who Feel Valued
As the new school year kicks off, families have received a not-so-welcome “Back to School” letter from Governor DeSantis and the Florida Department of Education urging parents to monitor and report teachers.
Unsurprisingly, his focus is not on addressing the real issues facing Floridian families. Instead, he’s doubling down on creating fear and division in our communities using the same surveillance and government intrusion he pushed through his “Don’t Say Gay or Trans” law. This agenda has led to book bans, curriculum censorship, and relentless attacks on LGBTQ students and families.
While this letter is unnerving and upsetting, we’ve seen this playbook before - and we know how to fight back. Parents packed school board meetings to demand policies that protect every student and respect every family. Thousands of Floridians showed up in Tallahassee to make their voices impossible to ignore, defeating every anti-LGBTQ bill this legislative session. Together, we’ve created the blueprint of resistance for advocates across the country to use as they face similar attacks.
Now it’s time for us to come together and fight for our communities. Educators aren’t our enemies, and children aren’t problems to control. Our kids deserve better. Make your voice heard and stand in solidarity with LGBTQ students, families, and educators across the state - add your name to the letter of support now:
Dear Parents and Teachers,
I want the same things you do: for every child to be safe, supported, and challenged in schools where they can learn and thrive. That’s why the letter sent by the Florida Department of Education didn’t sit right with me. In fact, it broke my heart.
What should have been a Back to School letter of welcome was instead a message designed to divide us. It told parents to monitor, report, and police our schools as if teachers are enemies and students are problems to control. That’s not what we want for our kids.
The truth is, most of us actually agree on what we want from our schools. We want great teachers, safe classrooms, and kids who feel valued. The politicians want us to believe we’re more divided than we really are. That serves them, not our children.
We stand with parents who know that raising children isn’t about serving as informants for politicians or their partisan agendas. It’s about teaching our kids to treat their classmates with dignity and respect, not ridicule. It’s to show our kids what it means to care for a community, even when people are different from us. Especially then.
We believe parents, families, educators, and caring adults, know what’s best for our kids’ education - not politicians on TV. We don’t want government surveillance in our schools. We want trust and connection with students, not political games that turn students against each other, their teachers, or even their own families. If something isn’t working at school, the first call should be to the teacher or the principal—the people who actually know our children. That’s how we build trust. That’s how we solve problems. That’s how we make schools stronger.
We all remember the best teachers whether from our own school days or our children’s. What made them great wasn’t their political affiliation - it was their care, dedication, and the way they helped students grow. No politician will ever know what’s right for our students better than we will, working with the teachers and administrators who see our kids every single day.
And to Florida’s teachers: we’re with you. We know how hard you work. You didn’t choose this profession to be caught in a political crossfire. You chose it because you believe in children, all children. Don’t let the bullies at the top push you to turn your back on the students who need you most. They deserve a champion in the classroom, not silence.
Our voices matter. And we can’t be quiet while the state distracts from the real issues hurting our schools: teacher shortages, stagnant wages, and the hollowing out of public education.
We want excellent schools, not political theater. We want our kids to learn how to think critically, not how to fear and mistreat those who are different. We want classrooms filled with curiosity and compassion, not suspicion and silence.
Let’s say it plainly. The state does not get to define who we are as parents or a community. And it does not get to turn us against the teachers who show up every day for our kids.
Raise your voice. Let your school know where you stand. Our kids are watching. Let’s show them what courage and community really look like.
With resolve,