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Happy Tuesday, y'all. Today, we'll be exploring a group called The Parent Association, Inc. parentassociation dot org. This group has been on my radar now for a while. They are not the traditional #REOPENSCHOOLS, but are adjacent & act as a legal resource
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PA caught my eye early on due to their twitter activity & as of late, many parents who have their FB profile pic as this group's icon. These individuals carry themselves as what I can only describe as "members" yet claim they are just volunteers.
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That may be well & true, but they are pretty aggressive & confrontational. The group itself frequently engages in arguments on Twitter, comments on school districts all over CA, & make pol charged comments like this one w/my ol' friend Jonathan Zacherson
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For further clarification, that comment was in re: to a teacher from Sacramento they were doxing live on Twitter.
PA's site claims they are the following:
Sounds harmless enough! But who IS Parent Association? The "Team" is well, not very diverse.
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PA's site claims they are the following:
Sounds harmless enough! But who IS Parent Association? The "Team" is well, not very diverse.
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One particular member caught my eye, a Director named Todd Maddison.
Todd runs a PUBLIC FB page called "San Diego Schools", but looking at Todd's bio and background, he's not in academia & I can't find anything to support said qualifications.
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Todd runs a PUBLIC FB page called "San Diego Schools", but looking at Todd's bio and background, he's not in academia & I can't find anything to support said qualifications.
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It's notable he doesn't CLAIM this, however, he is the sole admin of a group created in October 2019. Again, the description sounds harmless, but it's just odd that someone NOT in academia wouldn't partner w/folks who are & have them mod the group 
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The actual content of the PUBLIC group is problematic at best w/a lot of stats constantly being posted by the admin re: union pensions. School Choice (education privatization) is a constant posted topic w/resources & BOOTHS to get more info!
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Todd lists his employer PUBLICLY as Transparent California. Who is TA? Well, a billionaire funded dark money Libertarian think tank funded by Koch that picks on teachers, fire fighters, and....BART janitors? LMAO. LOSERS.
8/ https://eastbayexpress.com/how-a-billionaire-funded-anti-union-think-tank-in-nevada-shapes-bay-area-news-media-coverage-of-public-employee-pay-2-1/
8/ https://eastbayexpress.com/how-a-billionaire-funded-anti-union-think-tank-in-nevada-shapes-bay-area-news-media-coverage-of-public-employee-pay-2-1/
TA is part of the California Policy Center, another Koch backed Libertarian think tank that specializes in SCHOOL CHOICE among other anti-union, anti-organized labor policies
9/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Policy_Center
9/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Policy_Center
More on their attack on labor and the working class
https://www.ibtimes.com/political-capital/conservative-money-behind-attacks-labor-2614063
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https://www.ibtimes.com/political-capital/conservative-money-behind-attacks-labor-2614063
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California Policy Center is part of the bigger umbrella, State Policy Network
11/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Policy_Network
11/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Policy_Network
Now that we're clear on who Transparent California is, again, I must ask, how someone w/these ideologies is a Director of a group that claims, as their mission statement, but I digress
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The PA website states over and over again The Parent Association, Inc. is a non-partisan 501c3 not for profit corporation. Again, these are their claims, not our insinuations.
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Also on their site, you can donate to their legal defense fund to reopen CA schools (i.e. fund them to sue districts). I figured their donation page would provide more transparency, but no, it doesn't. If you're on mobile, you can even Apple Pay them
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There is no mention about a goal of funds, how much funds have been raised to date, or the expenses thus far in their legal affairs. I can only imagine these are county filing fees & presumably the attorney billing hours?
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All searches via the IRS, Secretary of State website, nor open corporations pull ANY registered non-profits w/ this name or any combination. The closest is the THE CALIFORNIA STATE PARENT ASSOCIATION, INC. w/SUSPENDED FTB status & is currently inactive.
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We even went further and searched each "Team" member to find a potential match of a registered agent, NADA. So, once again, we must ask ourselves if parents who are desperate are being exploited due to the circumstances of COVID & school closures.
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We welcome their response presuming it is in good faith and full transparency. We would also like to know how they plan to achieve and uphold their mission statement & public schooling with Executive Team members who are categorically against it.
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