The School Board Wars, Part 1

<p><i>This episode contains strong language.</i></p><p>A new battleground has emerged in American politics: school boards. In these meetings, parents increasingly engage in heated — sometimes violent — fights over hot-button issues such as mask mandates and critical race theory.</p><p>Suddenly, the question of who sits on a school board has become a question about which version of America will prevail.</p><p>We visit the school board meeting in Central Bucks, Pa., an important county in national politics, where the meetings have been particularly wild.</p><p>Guest: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/campbell-robertson">Campbell Robertson</a>, a national correspondent for The New York Times. </p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/newsletters/signup/NTTD?smid=pc-thedaily">Sign up here</a> to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/newsletters/the-daily?module=inline">subscribe to our newsletter</a>. </p><p>Background reading: </p><ul><li>Since the spring, a steady tide of school board members across the country have<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/05/us/politics/school-board-threats.html?searchResultPosition=3"> nervously come forward with accounts of threats</a> they have received from enraged local parents.</li><li>Republicans are heading into the 2022 midterm elections with what they believe will be a highly effective political strategy<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/03/us/politics/school-republican-campaign-issue.html"> capitalizing on the frustrations of suburban parents</a> still reeling from the devastating fallout of pandemic-era schooling.</li></ul><p>For more information on today’s episode, visit <a href="http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-thedaily">nytimes.com/thedaily</a>. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. </p>