By Leann Schenke

MILFORD — Emotions ran high at an alternative education town hall hosted by Patriots for Delaware Thursday that aimed to provide information for parents looking to take their children out of public schools or “government schools,” as they were termed by attendees and panelists.

The meeting, held at the Milford Senior Center, is the first of three alternative education town halls. The next two will both begin at 6:30 p.m. — one on Aug. 31 at the Executive Banquet & Conference Center in Newark and another Sept. 2 at a private residence in Millville.

Some parents said they feel as though the decision to seek alternative forms of education for their children was made for them when Gov. John Carney announced most public school students would be required to wear masks in the fall 2021 school year.

Others were tearful as they said they were overwhelmed with how to begin the process of educating their children themselves on top of working full-time jobs.

In addition to the debate about masks, reasons for seeking alternative education options also included fear of critical race theory being taught in public schools, that children are being educated about LGBTQIA+ terminology and that transgender students are able to use bathrooms of their choosing.

“As a high schooler, I was thinking back, what would I do?” asked James Davidson, chairperson of the political action committee within Patriots for Delaware. “How would I be exploiting this, I mean, I was not the perfect kid in school.”

The meeting lasted for two and a half hours with a slew of panelists offering information on the history of homeschooling, how they began homeschooling their children, which format of homeschooling worked best for them (co-ops or unschooling), as well as arguments against masks.

In information provided by Patriots for Delaware to attendees, alternatives to public school are charter schools, private or Christian schools and homeschool.

While homeschooling is not directly associated with religion, Christianity and religion were entwined throughout the evening, with the majority of the panelists identifying themselves as Christians.

Panelist Dan Williamson, a former military police officer and current public speaker who grew up near Harrington, said his small, Christian private-school education taught him about leadership and morality.

“I hear people say all the time, ‘If I send my kid to a private school, a Christian school, are they going to grow up weird?’” he said. “I’m here to tell you that it served me pretty well. The things I learned from going to a Christian school about leadership, about morality, and, maybe Jesus isn’t your thing … but even if it’s not, there’s nothing I learned that hurt me.”

He said the smaller class sizes typically found at private schools foster autonomy and confidence and help children learn how to build relationships.

Panelist Alyssa Acosta, a mother of four, said she made the decision to enroll her children in homeschool for reasons similar to those Mr. Williamson outlined — small class size and a more individualized education.

Ms. Acosta argued that, due to the larger class sizes typically found in public schools, it is unfair to ask students to make life decisions when they graduate at 17 or 18.

“I’m like how, how do they do this?” Ms. Acosta asked. “If we gave them to someone else to train them up with all these other kids in a classroom, 30 other kids, there’s no way a teacher can know what the gifts and talents of my kids are.”

Mr. Williamson, as well as the other panelists, spoke to the freedom homeschooling and private schools may afford in education, saying he doesn’t need to know algebra in his life, but his children should know life skills like changing a tire.

“These are things you can do in small schools when you don’t have an agenda pushed by the state saying, ‘You have to do this,’” Mr. Williamson said. “You should be looking for schools, for alternatives where the kids are the focus of everything.”

Sandy Ward, who said she began homeschooling her children in the 1980s, said a trip to the grocery store, for example, could be considered a lesson in horticulture. Cooking could be considered a lesson in fractions.

Mr. Williamson said the world is in need of “strong, ethical leaders,” but said those types of leadership skills are not being taught in public schools.

“If the teacher can’t get out of their own way, how can they help that kid, that young person, be the best version of themselves if they have an agenda that they’re being forced to push,” he said.

Mr. Williamson said Christian school students are not inherently morally superior to public school children, but noted there are less “potholes” or opportunities for students to get distracted from their education. He identified “potholes” in public schools, such as violence, drugs and nonsense, as things “Satan can use to pull these kids into,” he said.

Panelist Rachel Mullaney spoke of how social media has made homeschooling easier for parents looking to find support. Ms. Mullaney is the founder of the Delaware First State Homeschool group on Facebook, which has helped parents connect with one another for more than 10 years.

As opposed to homeschooling or enrolling in private schools, panelist Jason Zerby spoke to the method he chose for educating his children — unschooling. He defined it as listening and watching his two sons, and then in turn “feeding” what piqued their interests.

He said he takes his sons to the library or to museums for learning opportunities.

While homeschooling has been around for years, many parents are looking into it as an option now due to masks. Panelist Tanya Hettler, a psychologist and writer who had two children in the Brandywine School District, spoke to what she identified as the dangers of long-term mask wearing.

Dr. Hettler said COVID-19 symptoms are similar to that of the seasonal flu.
“It’s really no worse,” she said.

Dr. Hettler cited a study, “Facemasks in the COVID-19 era: A health hypothesis,” that was published earlier in the year on the National Center for Biotechnology Information’s website. The study has since been redacted, but argues that face masks are ineffective against the spread of COVID-19.

Dr. Hettler said students being made to wear masks can stunt their social emotional learning, that masks are dehumanizing and can make children accustomed to having their freedoms denied.

“Many of our children, including my own, have become accustomed to wearing face masks and don’t really mind being forced to wear them,” she said. “Our kids, in their short lifetime, have seen this limit on their freedom for a good percentage of their days. They’ve become accustomed to it and accepted these limits on their rights.”

She likened mask wearing to a child being born in a communist country.

Most states’ mask mandates were in effect (aside from during the summer) for about a year and a half. Per current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, masks are effective against the respiratory particles that cause COVID-19 to spread.

According to a study, “Use of Cloth Masks to Control the Spread of SARS-CoV-2,” which was updated May 7 and is available on the CDC’s website, masks effectively reduce the emission of “virus-laden droplets” as well as the inhalation of those droplets.

“The community benefit of masking for SARS-CoV-2 control is due to the combination of these effects; individual prevention benefit increases with increasing numbers of people using masks consistently and correctly,” the study states.