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.
President Trump has been very clear on this issue and yes, he has issued executive orders, but he cannot force the Congress to pass laws. It's a separate branch. At least he has driven DEI and transgender indoctrination out of government agencies and the Pentagon, including schools run by the Pentagon for military dependent children.
The moaning on this Forum about why Trump doesn't do this or do that is exasperating. He is not a King or a Pope. There are still checks and balances. He is doing everything he can in a very corrupted nation. What are you doing to help?
Oh, by all means, pile on. Should she remain silent if he is unwilling or unable to fight this? What if he is deployed? What if he is in a high-security agency and cannot by law get into a political fight? What if he dumped his wife and kids for someone he met online? But by all means, criticize the mother.
Perhaps you are a very well-to-do person. But perhaps she is not. She has several kids of different ages. Why not send her a donation so she can stop working and take care of them properly, according to you?
“ Why didn’t she immediately pull her kids out of that school?”
This is more my point
I tell young women do not get married to anyone that does not have his career in order and is planning logically to provide for a family
You have to have leverage to be able to say “take my child off your roster” at any given time. Ten minutes notice
Christians are no more perfect than anyone else...that's why we need Jesus.
What happens if the kids dad does the same thing and gets barred from the school?
Who then picks the kids up from school?
And if he then complains and then gets barred from all the public schools in the district?
If I were that mom or dad, I would take the kids out of public school and send them to private school or homeschool them.
Normally depressed people are primarily a danger to themselves. This woman was a selfish little bi#ch that should have told the cops she was going to kill her kids. Go FY.
Your hypotheticals don’t answer the question...where is daddy?
She initially talks about the whole family moving next to this wonderful school, and then its only I,I, I...me, me, me. Where is we, we, we?
“Mississippi would be better.”
Mississippi’s academic scores are #2 in the nation (after MA), so going there might not be a terrible idea. Plus, it’s in the south, so a more Christian place to raise kids - Bible Belt area.
“”Christians are no more perfect than anyone else””
So you think it’s ok for Christians to use foul language? What a cop out....REAL - not phony - Christians will NOT use foul language - emphasis on REAL!!
Yup. They turned around pretty good.
I know it's rhetorical, but should it *remain* astonishing? Human nature hasn't changed all that much. "Get a clue" they say. Ownership is more than just an economic term.
Could be portland maine
Easily.
Could be portland maine
Easily.
5th grade graduation is a process for the teachers to keep everyone busy.
Right back at ya, champ!
Your objections to her defending her child and the rights of parents are based on whether a man approves? Are you sure you're on the right Forum? Adult female citizens of the United States can act as individuals according to conscience.
I don’t think you have to be well to do to home school. Why do you want to make this involve class envy? Is that necessary?
“Adult female citizens of the United States can act as individuals according to conscience.”
Acting as an individual didn’t seem to get her anywhere. Maybe if she would have put aside her ego, she would have been more successful. Ya think? After all...its the children that suffered her failure. Sometimes teams do better.
And that's why she contacted one of the best public interest law firms around, who took her case on First Amendment grounds. And will win, unless the judge ignores the law of the land.
PS
There are men on that team, in case you're still clutching your [pearls] over this.
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