The Great Schools Initiative
Bishop Francis Kalabat addressing the Great Schools Initiative.
By Weam Namou
In 2020, Nathan Pawl’s son, an honor-roll student, felt attacked because he wouldn’t wear a mask in school. This was in Walled Lake School District, and when Pawl, the father, tried to resolve the situation, he felt frustrated that he wasn’t being heard.
Pawl then decided to act. He teamed up with Monica Yatooma, a former Oakland County Commissioner candidate, and Matthew Nelson, a Walled Lake parent, and they founded the Great Schools Initiative (GSI), a non-profit organization based in Michigan and dedicated to advocating for premium public education.
Later other parents jumped on board, and the number increased to today include over 5,600 parents. GSI also quickly gained the support of several organizations, legislators, and legal institutions. “We’re now a super team,” said Maron Yousif, Organizing Director. “We go from community to community to teach parents what their rights are.”
In this ongoing initiative, the group plans to host discussions at different places including churches and schools. The Chaldean Diocese has supported this initiative, and in August, they hosted a talk at St. George Chaldean Church in Troy, led by Bishop Francis.
“There’s an ongoing attack on family,” said Bishop Francis. “We want to protect children’s innocence and to prevent a mental health crisis.” He discussed the laws that have been implemented, and others that the government is attempting to implement, regarding LGBTQ issues – and outlined how harmful he felt some of them are and how they affect the rights of other groups.
“How did we get there?” asked the Bishop. “God’s death! The death of God in society, in the schools, in the government. It’s no longer a separation of Church and State. It’s the abolishment of the Church so that the State can become small G, god.”
The Bishop encouraged people to fight back for what they believe in while simultaneously respecting and loving those with different viewpoints and lifestyles.
“This fight is for public education,” said Yatooma, a wife and mother of three school aged children, whose public address followed the Bishop’s talk. “When someone was telling me how to live and what I could do or couldn’t do, and that I had to put a mask on my kids that they weren’t comfortable with, I wasn’t comfortable with that.”
She went to the Oakland County Board of Commissioners meeting with approximately 1,500 other parents to learn what was going on and to express their views. Deciding that their commissioner was “not being the voice that she was elected to be,” Yatooma ended up running for Oakland County Commissioner.
She didn’t win, but she knew she wasn’t done yet, so she prayed for what steps to take next. That’s when the door for the Great School Initiative opened. Pawl approached her about becoming one of the directors and after some thought and consideration, she accepted.
One of the things they did was pursue a lawsuit for the mask mandate. They partnered with Thomas More Society, a premier not-for-profit public interest law firm championing life, family, and freedom. As a result, that mandate was dropped. From there, they went on to pursue their next initiative.
“We asked Thomas More Society to support GSI, and thank God they said yes,” said Yatooma. “They pledged the first million dollars, and pledged to be our legal resource so parents like all of you can have the legal support behind them that they needed if they had issues in their schools or if the schools were violating Michigan’s MCL 380.1507.”
Through research, the GSI learned about a law in Michigan (MCL 380.1507) where no public school district can teach or talk about sex education in any classroom setting other than in a sex education classroom with a certified sex education instructor. Pride flags or other sex related information can’t be placed in the school anywhere outside that classroom. They also must have a sex education advisory board that must include in it a clergy member, parents, school staff, and at least one student.
“If schools are not already doing this, they’re in violation of this law,” Yatooma said.
The other part of the law is that all parents have the right to opt out of this classroom, partially or entirely. The schools provide an opt-out form that’s very basic and generic, claims Yatooma, whereas GSI has one available on their website that is more specific to what the parents want to opt-out of. “When we were in school, we talked about traditional reproductive health,” said Yatooma. “Now, it’s called Comprehensive Sex Education. It’s backed and funded by Planned Parenthood.”
Every school has a sex education advisory board and a school board. The sex education advisory board makes the recommendations to the school board as to what the children should be taught in the classrooms. Ultimately, the school board makes the final approval. “That decision is set for seven years until the curriculum is visited again,” she said.
That’s why, Yatooma emphasizes, it’s important to get involved with the sex education advisory board or for parents to have their voices heard. GSI had a follow-up meeting at Mother of God Church on September 23 to further educate the public. Parents shared their concerns.
“As an adult, I’m confused by all this,” said one parent. “Then imagine what it’s doing for my children.” Another parent complained that her children were taught to accuse her of being a homophobe if she disagreed with the LGBTQ ideology. She also said that as someone who wasn’t born in the United States and is multi-lingual, it’s difficult for her to use different pronouns than what she learned when she came to the country.
Pawl has been married for over 25 years. He and his wife are the parents of two biological children and two godchildren from Rwanda (rescued from the genocide). He assured attendees that, “If we organize, we can be powerful for really good change.”
More information on GSI may be found at greatschoolsinitiative.org.