Episode
A Big Tent: Parent Voice for Public Educatiion
- Published
- Nov 19, 2025
- Duration seconds
- 3346
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Summary
In this episode, we’re stretching the boundaries of our “big tent”—the messy, hopeful space where we try to build a public education system worthy of all our kids. We sat down with Ms. Keri Rodrigues, President and co-founder of the National Parents Union, for a conversation recorded inside the U.S. Senate building (a first for us!). Ms. Rodrigues brings her whole self into this work: mother, organizer, daughter of immigrants, former student who didn’t always get what she needed from school, and fierce believer in the power of parents showing up together. While the methods of school improvement NPU has advocated for the in the past may not have felt fully aligned with our values, we share a commitment to the common good of public education—and in a moment when that institution feels increasingly under attack, widening the circle of who we can struggle with feels essential. In This Episode We Explore: Parent voice as expertise Why parents—especially those who’ve historically been pushed to the margins—carry knowledge that our systems often ignore, and what’s lost when family engagement is treated as transactional rather than transformational. The conditions that fuel fear-based parent movements Ms. Rodrigues offers a nuanced take on how groups like Moms for Liberty gained traction, and how a lack of authentic, respectful engagement with parents created space for bad actors to step in. Trust between families and schools What it means to leave “our hearts outside our bodies” every morning, and the very real fears that get activated when schools feel unwelcoming, dismissive, or unsafe—especially for Black, Brown, immigrant, and disabled students and their families. The broader crisis facing children From ICE raids to unregulated social media to defunding the Department of…