Hey everybody, it's David Axorod. Happy Holidays to all of you. We're off this week, but

I want to take a few seconds to introduce you to a new podcast from my splendid colleague

Audie Cornish. It's called The Assignment and each week Audie pulls listeners out of

their digital echo chambers to hear from the people who actually live the headlines.

From the sex work economy to the battle over which taught in classrooms, no topic is

off the table. For this episode, Audie talks to two parent activists turned elected school

board officials about what motivated them to run for office and the changes they hope

to make while in power. You can check out the assignment wherever you get your podcasts.

And while you're there, I hope you'll continue to make sure you follow the axe files. Happy

listening. Okay, before we start a little bit of personal history, my mother was an elected

school board member. And in my small hometown outside of Boston, and this was back in the

mid 90s, that meant she spent long nights at meetings in salary fights with teachers

unions or with parents angry over a lot of things. Fast forward to today, and I have

a kindergartener, and I can't get these images out of my head of parents raging at school

board members last year.

Thank you.

What time is up?

My time is up because I got my hand. This wave of parent activists were upset about how

schools handled the pandemic, handled teaching gender identity, handled issues of race.

Diversity is a code word for anti-white.

Since when did the public school system take it upon itself to become the moral authority

from which our children learn their values?

...