Laura Pappano with Gavin Downing and Ken Johnson

Laura Pappano, an award-winning journalist and author launches her new book. School Moms is an on-the-ground look at the rise of parent activism in response to the far-right attacks on public school education. Moderator Ken Johnson will interview Laura alongside librarian Gavin Downing. In School Moms, journalist Laura Pappano explores the on-the-ground story of how public schools across the country have become ground zero in a cultural and political war as the far-right have made efforts to seek power over school boards. Pappano argues that the rise of parent activism is actually the culmination of efforts that began in the 1990s after campaigns to stop sex education largely fizzled. Recent efforts to make public schools more responsive and inclusive, as well as the pandemic, have offered openings the far-right have been waiting for to organize and sway parents, who are frustrated and exhausted by remote learning, objections by teacher’s unions, and shifting directives from school leaders. Groups like Moms for Liberty and Parents Defending Education are organizing against revised history curricula they have dubbed as "CRT," banning books, pressing for "Don't Say Gay" laws, and asserting "parental rights" to gain control over the review of classroom materials. On the other side, progressive groups like Support Our Schools and Red, Wine & Blue are mobilizing parents to counter such moves. Combining on-the-ground reporting with research and expert interviews, School Moms will take a hard look at where these battles are happening, what is at stake, and why it matters for the future of our schools. Laura Pappano is an award-winning journalist and author who has written about K-12 and higher education for 30+ years for national news outlets including The New York Times, The Hechinger Report, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, USA Today, Slate, and The Guardian, among others. She has long volunteered to teach and mentor young journalists, through a program she created to have students in grades 3-8 with college students to report on real news (note: If you want to know what's REALLY going on, ask a middle schooler!) Ken Johnson retired in 2019 after 43 years as a reporter and editor at The Patriot Ledger, an award-winning daily in Quincy, Mass. Gavin Downing is a veteran teacher-librarian. In 2022, while at Cedar Heights Middle School, his administration attempted to ban books from the school library, leading to a fight that garnered media attention and for which Downing received the Candace Morgan Intellectual Freedom award. Downing then transferred to Kentridge High School, where he remains. In 2023, he received the Student Involvement Award from Washington Education Association. He is chair of the Washington Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Section.

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