OCTOBER 2023

FEATURE
The Great School 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
Bishop Francis Kalabat addressing the Great Schools Initiative.
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.
32 CHALDEAN NEWS OCTOBER 2023