Protesters impede the necessary work of running schools

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This article was submitted on behalf of several parents with interest in the Edina Public Schools. Their names are listed below.

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At the Edina school board’s March meeting, the board members faced an unenviable task — closing a $3.6 million budget shortfall. The board prepared to debate and vote on budget cuts, and community members attended to weigh in via public comment. But nothing went as planned.

Ten minutes into the meeting, protesters from across the Twin Cities transformed the room into a raucous pro-Palestine demonstration. The protesters’ chants drowned out the chair’s calls for order, and the board was forced to recess. The demonstration continued for three hours. When the meeting finally resumed at 10 p.m., many community members — who had come to speak about the music and nursing and special ed programs facing budget cuts — had returned home without a chance to have their voices heard.

This was not the first disruption. In December, the same protesters overtook the school board meeting during a discussion about taxation. That demonstration forced the board to adjourn early, with critical items remaining on the agenda.

Each of us currently has or has had children in Edina Public Schools. Since December, we have watched our school board struggle to conduct essential business on behalf of our kids. At the school board meetings we attended to show support for our board, protesters yelled “Shame!” in our faces and accused us of killing children. We were followed through hallways, along with our elementary-age children, and were escorted by security out a side entrance to avoid the protesters who were harassing us.

Parents who spoke out about this intimidation had their images posted on social media accounts run by the protesters. Many hateful labels were tacked alongside our pictures, including being referred to as “the Aryan moms of Edina” — though some of us are Jewish. Our Community Center and an elementary playground were covered with signs laden with expletives.

We were disturbed to find that the leaders of these ongoing disruptions have an extensive history of posting violent and graphic antisemitic imagery online, including calling for the destruction of Israel and the United States. It has become evident that this small group of activists has deployed these same intimidation tactics across the metro area.

For these reasons, there are many parents who wished to sign this letter but chose not to, out of fear for the safety of their families.

Edina’s school board has now announced that future meetings will be virtual-only until further notice. We commend this decision, because it is the only way to keep community members safe, though we are dismayed it has come to this.

As protests like the ones in Edina unfold across the country, we ask that local officials and community members be allowed the space to focus on the issues they can control. We thank Edina’s police for keeping the school board meetings free from physical harm, and Edina’s school board members and superintendent for their courageous leadership. They have been steadfast in keeping the focus where it should be — on our students.