Pennsylvania parents furious after school board member calls them 'vile': 'The kids are the ones suffering'

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Pennsylvania parents speak out after school board member calls them 'offensive, vile'

Mothers Cortney Hendrickson and Nicole McCleary joined 'Fox & Friends First' to discuss their effort to remain an influence in their kids' classroom.

Pennsylvania parents are furious after a school board member wrote an op-ed calling them "offensive" and "vile" for being concerned about their influence in their kids' education. 

PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER BLASTED FOR ‘APPALLING’ MESSAGE TO CONCERNED PARENTS

York Suburban School District mothers Nicole McCleary and Cortney Hendrickson, who pulled her children out of the district, joined "Fox & Friends First" Thursday to discuss the fiery remarks garnering national attention. 

"I think it's telling us that some people might be a little ego drunk," Hendrickson told co-host Todd Piro. "I think it makes so much sense to Nicole and I and so many other parents that are supporting parental choice as well that these people are absolutely not listening. It's falling on deaf ears."

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Richard Robinson, who is a school board member for the York Suburban School District, wrote the op-ed in the York Dispatch earlier this month that garnered nationwide attention, explaining why he says he doesn't work for parents, who he dubbed both "offensive" and "vile." 

He writes, "Finally, with all due respect to the charlatans who claim health and safety measures are responsible for destroying the mental health of children simply to justify their own social agenda, you are the most offensive and vile of all."

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"There are members of this community who tried to draw attention to the warning signs of increasing mental distress among our children long before you ever thought of mental health as a potential cudgel. To listen to your repeated distortions of the facts is nauseating," he continued. 

The pair emphasized the importance of children's mental health, highlighting the impact the pandemic has had on their emotional well-being. 

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"Any restriction that we have or are thinking about, you know, putting on our kids, we have to really rethink that from a mental health perspective," McCleary stated. 

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"Because these are collective, we have been more restricting the way kids sit at lunch, how they do the bus rides, virtual learning and all these things collectively are taking a toll, and we really need to rethink doing any of these things anymore," she continued. 

Despite the national debate over parents' influence in the classroom, Hendrickson underscored the real victims in the ongoing clash. 

"The kids are the one suffering," Hendrickson said. "Our kids are not political pawns in this, that's for sure."