(WXYZ) — Schools continue to face a number of challenges during the pandemic - including a divisive society.
We're being joined for the 7 UpFront segment by President of the American Federation of Teachers Michigan David Hecker to talk about it.
You can see the full interview in the video player above.
"We're all for free speech, obviously. We're all for intelligent discourse. But, when it comes to the issue of COVID, when it comes to the issue of teaching the truth about racism, things are getting way out of hand," Hecker says. "At a school board meeting in Zeeland, one speaker said they were going to contact the Michigan Militia if the school board didn't change their position. In Birmingham, a speaker equated the work of the school board and a position they were taking to Hitler. In Grand Haven, the president of the school board resigned because of what was going on at school board meetings. We need to have intelligent discourse about these issues, we need civility. Luckily, this is a vocal minority, but a vocal minority could upset things like they are doing. In addition to doing this the right way, we need to do it the right way because we need to show our kids, the students, how you behave, how you have intelligent discussion. It's not threatening to call in the Michigan Militia or equating someone's statement to Hitler."