The initial six parents are Celia J. Chiu, Denise Brown, Veronica Jenkins, Denise Kirke, Alfred Kirke and Kenneth Johnson. Foundation lawyer Thomas Stack said the lawsuit will demonstrate that PISD has an obligation to recognize the educational desires of the parents of its students. The debate now is parental rights. It's over the right of parents to request with reasonable expectation that it's not going to be denied the addition of a specific class. Former Texas Education Agency commissioner Mike Moses ruled that section did not apply in the specific case of connected math in Plano.
Stack insists that it does apply.
The district violated the fundamental right of parents to direct the education of their children. In addition to issues of educational choice for parents, the lawsuit will allege that individual parents' rights were abridged by the district during the ongoing conflict over connected math. Mr. Kirke and Mr. Johnson were specifically forbidden from distributing literature at public meetings, and that is a violation of free speech. Veronica Jenkins was told she could not have a position on a parents' committee simply because of her perceived agenda on the math program. A lesser claim in the lawsuit concerns the experimental nature of the connected math curriculum.