Posted on 08/20/2026 7:46:36 AM PDT by Morgana
I am a Portland mother of three. My oldest son, now 26, attended Lewis Elementary and had such a positive experience there that my husband and I built our home only blocks from Lewis so we could send our two younger children there as well. Lewis wasn’t just our neighborhood school. It was the school our family already knew and trusted.
I’ve lived my entire life in Portland, Oregon. I am also a Christian, and I believe parents have the right and the responsibility to know what their children are being taught. I never imagined that asking would get me banned from my children’s school.
It began when my 11-year-old brought home an “identity flower” assignment requiring him to identify his gender and share his answer with his class. I had received no advance notice and no opportunity to excuse him from an exercise that conflicted with my beliefs.
So, I did what parents do when they don’t understand something happening in their child’s classroom: I asked.
When I requested a meeting with the principal, I arrived to find three additional staff members waiting for me, including both of my children’s teachers and a school counselor. My questions were hardly revolutionary: What did “gender” mean in this assignment? What had the children been taught? Why hadn’t parents been informed?
At one point, my son’s teacher raised her voice and demanded, “Why do you need to know?”
Because he is my child.
It remains astonishing to me that this required an explanation.
The materials I eventually obtained only raised more questions. They instructed children to consider what gender “feels right” to them that day and suggested that the answer might later change.
People can disagree about whether that belongs in an elementary-school classroom. What should not be controversial is a parent’s right to know it is happening.
I joined the PTA in part so I could raise these concerns there, but when I asked to speak, I was prohibited from doing so. With that avenue closed, I wrote an open letter to other parents and distributed it peacefully from a public sidewalk outside the school.
Then came an argument with another parent during pickup. His wife and I had been speaking respectfully when he interrupted us, repeatedly shouting, “White people are disgusting!” within earshot of children. I called his comments racist, used language I regret, and walked away. I did not threaten him. I did not assault him. I was not arrested.
The next morning, police officers came to my home.
In front of my neighbors, they handed me an order barring me from my children’s school for one full calendar year for allegedly harmful and threatening behavior.
The man who raised his voice at me, to my knowledge, received no trespass order.
The principal then emailed the school community, accusing me of “harassment, intimidation, and threatening behavior” and referring to my views as “hate speech.” Parents were told to report me if they saw me on campus.
I appealed. Portland Public Schools (PPS) gave me a 30-minute Zoom “hearing” conducted by a panel consisting of two janitors and a basketball coach. One panelist emptied garbage cans while I spoke. No witnesses were called, and no meaningful evidence was presented.
They upheld the order, and because they did, I missed my son’s fifth-grade graduation.
Children get one fifth-grade graduation, and parents get one chance to be there for it. Other children looked at their mothers when they crossed that stage. My son looked for me and saw an empty chair.
PPS wasn’t finished.
When I later objected publicly to how I had been treated, the district threatened something far more consequential: it threatened to bar me permanently from every PPS property.
My daughter still has years left at this elementary school, and my son is beginning middle school. The message was difficult to misunderstand. Continue speaking, and you will be excluded from their schools forever.
So, I stopped.
That is the part of this story that should concern people regardless of what they think about gender, politics, or me.
Government doesn’t have to duct tape someone’s mouth shut to silence her. It merely has to make the price of speaking high enough. For me, that price was the possibility of losing access to my children’s schools forever. And for a while, it worked.
But parents do not need the government’s permission to ask what public employees are teaching their children. We do not surrender our right to criticize public officials when we enroll our children in public schools. Disagreement does not become “harassment” simply because officials find the speaker difficult or her opinions unwelcome.
That is why I am suing PPS.
I’m not asking a court to agree with my opinions. I’m asking the court to affirm that government officials cannot punish parents for questioning them, and that access to our children’s education cannot depend upon saying only what those officials want to hear.
I cannot get my son’s graduation back. That day is gone. But I can refuse to let fear silence me.
“I” was kicked out of my daughter’s kindergarten class because I had requested that she be put in a class with English speaking kids. I talked to two friends who were school teachers and they said, “Take her out of that school” and that’s what I did. That was in the day when “early childhood education” was becoming THE THING!
Took her out of that school and walked her to a Christian school every day through the 2nd grade when we moved...she was in public school thereafter without HER MOTHER being the problem. LOL
I acquired two other kindergarten kids whose mothers did the same thing and asked me to WALK their kids to the Christian school...Only problem with any of it was, “you walk too fast.” It was a healthy walk and we needed to leave on time..didn’t encounter the same complaint walking home..
Funny thing - I never told my daughter any details or how I disliked her teacher but she had picked up on it and mentioned it long after the dust settled...
We tend to believe that public insanity is in some other neighborhood. Often it is. Sometimes, it is not.
This woman has less of an excuse since she lives in Portland Oregon. Yet even in Portland there may be pockets of common sense and sanity. There are likewise pockets of leftism in the most conservative states. Are there any conservative big cities or college campuses?
Is this woman conservative on this matter only? Just curious.
I assume there was a time when Portland was conservative. Did her ancestors live in Portland then?
So, in the spirit of transparency insist that all classrooms have 24/7 CCTV installed. Any time anyone wants to see what is being taught they dial in and watch (and record). Alternatively, every classroom will have a smart phone onna ladder in the back — same goal.
Then, ask them why they are afraid to show what is going on.
I’m in Indiana and I think we are pretty conservative here.
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
Article 18
....
4. The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to have respect for the liberty of parents and, when applicable, legal guardians to ensure the religious and moral education of their children in conformity with their own convictions.
https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/ProfessionalInterest/ccpr.pdf
The US is a state party to the Covenant.
Portland sucks.
Portland used to be the center of the lumber industry. It has been going downhill into a liberal hell hole utopia for at least thirty years.
Most of those companies moved somewhere else. At least to Bend or other saner locations.
It is now a smaller version of San Fran.
I questioned my children’s school. Then the police came to my door.
I don't know Oregon law. But after a little scratching the law seems to support the parent in the context of education.
So did referenced mom possibly confront a renegade school staff? Maybe such groups are all over the place?
3. The right to make medical, educational [emphasis added], and other important decisions
People complain about public education but our 4th graders are testing gay at a 12th grade level (hat tip Babylon Bee). As others stated this is not a Christian vs tranny issue, it just common sense, decency and being anti-pedophile grooming. Also be sure to use the term tranny as much as possible because the left will get the sads and start screaming.
there’s a lot missing from this story. Maybe the complete truth. There is conflict and aggression incidents with the school staff, and then a parent while picking up children. Later there is a visit by the police. It seems like a lot.
I might be wrong, though, because this is a big problem area for parents and children. I feel Federal law needs to be passed making it illegal for schools, or doctors, or anyone to abuse the mental health of children by promoting gender confusion. Why aren’t there any such laws? I don’t think we can expect much leadership from President Trump hereon legislation, unfortunately, his approach seems centered around executive order, which won’t get the job done and which will fly out the window when his term ends.
At all.
At all.
“I’m in Indiana and I think we are pretty conservative here.”
I’m sure you are right. Still, you might be unpleasantly surprised at some things being taught/learned at Indiana Colleges and Universities. Some of that has drifted down to K-12. Your three largest cities have Democrat mayors. Most church members In Indiana are conservative. Their dues support the church leadership which, in many cases, are far-left crazies.
I did this, then I went there, then I spoke with X, then I, I , I. What about daddy?
That sounds right to me.
I assume that environmentalists killed the Oregon timber industry. Bringing back the timber industry would be good for jobs and for home construction.
If she has time for all this crap she has time to home school.
There's your first big mistake.
For example, there used to be 30 sawmills in Montana. There are now four. None are very big.
The biggest in the western US is Sierra Pacific. There are only three other sawmill companies left in CA other than Sierra Pacific. That is because Red Emerson owns so much private timberlands. Weyerheauser still has a lot of timberlands in WA. Potlatch/Raynier still has a lot in northern Idaho.
Idaho Forest Group is the largest in Idaho. The smaller mills that relied on public timber sales off of Federal lands have mostly gone out of business. There has also been a lot of consolidation. Just like in all other industries.
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