Days away from the deadline to cast ballots, some New York City parents say elections for little-known Community Education Councils are becoming the next front in the culture wars that have shaken school boards across the country.
The councils are elected by parents, and have some advisory power over the city’s education policies. But this election cycle has generated more attention as some parents have mobilized to highlight the growing reach of a conservative-leaning group and its members who have protested “woke-ism” in the city’s public school system.
Last week, the nonprofit news site The City did a deep dive into the volunteer parent group PLACE NYC, whose members and preferred candidates have already secured spots on many education councils and are now looking to win more.
PLACE, which stands for Parent Leaders for Accelerated Curriculum Education, originally formed in 2019 to fight to preserve and expand selective admissions policies in the city’s public schools. Critics at the time said the group employed racially-charged language to oppose changes to admissions policies that would have allowed more Black and brown students to attend elite schools.
Some parents argue the group has since taken on more radical positions that reflect messaging by far right leaders.
They point to some group members’ public support for book bans, transphobic internal group messages, and anti-”woke” tweets.
PLACE’s local Congressional endorsements last fall included Republicans George Santos and Nicole Malliotakis, both of whom won their elections.
“I want people to know that PLACE’s facade about being about gifted and talented and selective admissions … the leadership of PLACE is not just about that,” said Anne Hager, a school parent in Manhattan.
In response to the criticism, PLACE leaders said the group’s members aren’t united by a single political ideology, but instead by their support of rigorous academics – like pushing to preserve the…
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