Democratic state Rep. loses it, calls parents ‘incompetent,’ tells them to ‘shut up’ over plunging test scores

A New Hampshire state representative blamed parents for student test scores plunging nationwide, calling parents “incompetent teachers.”

“Do your children a favor, let the teachers teach, and shut up,” Democratic Rep. Tommy Hoyt wrote to a parent in an email. “You’re clearly no professional.”

A screenshot of the email exchanged was shared by Corey DeAngelis on Twitter.

The impetus for the exchange was an email sent by a parent of four who urged Hoyt to support the parental Bill of Rights in the New Hampshire legislature, the New York Post reports.

“Do you know why children’s results tanked during COVID. Their parents were incompetent teachers,” Hoyt added in the email to the parent.

Hoyt confirmed that the email was genuine, but did not apologize, saying only that he could have chosen his words better.

Lawmakers in New Hampshire narrowly voted down the passage of a parental bill of rights, after amendments were added to it, which watered down the protections for parents, reported local WMUR 9 News.

One of the provisions that was eliminated was the requirement for parental notification on matters of gender dysphoria amongst children.

“If there’s anything that we should count on government for us, it should be transparency, openness and honesty,” said Republican state Rep. J.R. Hoell, according to WMUR. “If we can’t get those simple things, then what is our government doing for us?”

Hoyt for his part said that while he doesn’t support lying to parents, he supports keeping gender matters secret from parents. When asked if he thought that parents presented more of a threat to children than other adults, Hoyt said yes, according to the NH Journal.

“I would certainly say some parents would be,” he said. 

The NH Journal then mentioned a multitude of cases where teachers sexually abused children.

When he was asked about those cases, Hoyt compared them to cases involving child sexual abuse by priests.

The Journal then cited a federal Department of Education report that noted that sexual abuse by teachers is more common than sexual abuse by priests.

The parent who was on the receiving end of Hoyt’s email said the email shows most plainly why a parental bill of rights is necessary.

“That’s the mentality which we’re fighting against, which clearly says ‘You’re stupid, shut up. We don’t care what you think,’” the parent, who wishes to remain anonymous, told Fox News. “So that attitude and mentality are the reason that we even have to be trying to pass a parental bill of rights.”