“If you want a good education, go to private schools. If you can’t afford it, tough luck. You can go to public school.” -Paul LePage (1948- )
As we all feel in our solar plexus, Moms are protective as bears of their children and hence the omnipresent term, “MamaBears.”
But Moms who have taught in public schools are particularly ready to pounce because they know the often-deadly public-school systems hold special dangers for their offspring.
“Schools in particular are supposed to be safe havens for our children,” began Perla Munoz Hopkins, “over two decades of parenting, nothing has prepared me for what has ensued. I was a teacher here in Texas at Leander independent school district, and my three kiddos joined me there. I was teaching at the same high school as my eldest daughter. We were a retired military family.”
It’s a fascinating contrast between the prim and proper appearance and talk of Perla and the fact that she is an activated and fighter Mom.
Perla met her husband while both were serving in the US Air Force and Perla recalled fondly, “No regrets, what a beautiful life we had.”
She then added ominously, “But at the same time, looking back, I felt we were living in our secure, little, military bubble.”
At this point, Perla decided to go back to school herself, earing three Master’s degrees in Education. “I wanted nothing more than to continue working with children.”
Perla is talking about children, hers, other peoples’, all children; she has such a unique joy for them all. It really came across to me in our talk and made me well up.
A strong Catholic, she said “So, all I know is loving on kids, being a nurturing educator and being that supportive mentor that our kids need.”
“Speaking as a Mom with three children,” Perla was gaining steam, “there’s no way that I would ever think of sending my kids to (a public) school. Come to find out, I had been sending them to the wolves.”
Perla Hopkins comes from a military family and a teaching background. This gives her real insight into what it means to serve her community. And she sees the ways in which teachers and administrations all the way up to inept superintendents are letting down and harming our children.
“I am always so saddened to hear about the atrocities that happen in our public schools, that ultimately lead to our children’s depression, the trauma and thought of ending one’s life.”
“Things have gotten so bad in Leander (Texas), at Tom Glenn High School, that in the middle of the day during school hours, there are (student) protests.”
As Roe v. Wade was headed to SCOTUS, Perla said, “the school and the district gave them posters so they could draw on them, amplifiers, speakers and microphones and the first thing you hear a student say was ‘who here wouldn’t give an (obscenity) if they were aborted.’”
Perla tells me with a very real sense of relief that she pulled her youngest out of this torturous pit in her senior year.
“There’s a coalition of teachers,” (I say, I don’t like the sound of that one bit), “supported by the school board and the superintendent. We’ve had fights that are so horrible the kids are literally being picked up by ambulances. There was a seven-minute fight at lunch hour and not one … not one administrator or teacher was around for that” or stepped in to stop it. Perla said it was a 19-year-old girl (with an arrest record) beating up on a 16-year-old girl.
The ambulance in the story above is a metaphor. A great, big ambulance is what America’s public schools need stat.
Meanwhile, Perla Hopkins wasn’t just standing around complaining. She ran for the TX State School Board, where she got over 237,000 votes and for State Rep. District 19. Unfortunately, she lost both races. She remains undeterred.
She takes her (measly) three-minute slot to speak at her local school board meetings where she likes to organize a press conference first and bring more Moms and family members in to protest with her.
And Perla started SchoolBoardWars.com, a website to raise money for documentaries she wants to produce on the current public schools’ situation.
“It’s been a tough journey,” Perla concluded, “but I’ve learned a lot.” “I just try to be obedient to the Lord,” Perla told me convincingly.
“Parents have absolutely every right to express their opinions at public school board meetings concerning their children’s education.” -Lauren Boebert (1986- )
Vision for the Future
Perla is committed to championing the removal of the Obscenity Exemption in Penal Code 43.24, which currently allows graphic sexual material in public schools. She stands firmly against CRT practices and ideologies in Texas classrooms and is a staunch advocate for parental rights in education.
Continuing the Mission
- HB 3979 (HB 178) Social Studies Curriculum
- SB 3 Civics Curriculum & Transparency
- SB 797 US National Motto “In God We Trust” in Schools
- Education Code Chapter 26, Parental Rights & Responsibilities
- HB 3932 & Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children, Education Code Chapter 162
(This is a story I’ve written. We all have our stories. If you’d like to share yours with me, I’d love to hear it. My email is [email protected])
Bill Robinson has appeared on EpochTV, Fox News, NewsmaxTV, CNN, PBS, Bloomberg, BBC and had his own segment on SKY News. For seven years was the only Conservative columnist for the insufferably Liberal Huffington Post. He has written columns and articles for The Texas Insider, Newsmax, The Wall Street Journal Europe, Forbes.com, Fortune Small Business, The Financial Times, The Moscow Times, United Airline’s Hemispheres Magazine and many others.
