On Wednesday parents organized by the Connecticut Parents Union and Connecticut Parent University had a message for legislators: We will be holding you accountable. 

“We are here to let you know that we will no longer accept excuses for not doing right by our children,” said Michelle Muhammad, one of the rally attendees who spoke in front of the Connecticut Education Association’s (CEA) office building in Hartford.

“If you’re silent your days are numbered. If you are turning around and hiding it your days are numbered.”

Muhammad is referring to a push to pass SB 1017, a bill that was pushed forward by the Education Committee two weeks ago that would wipe unsubstantiated claims of child abuse from the school staff personnel records. SB 1017 could make it harder to track repeated incidents of abuse.

For more In-depth look at SB 1017: Here’s a piece a wrote last week on it

Parents say they will work to oust legislators who support this bill, demanding that the general assembly rejects it. In addition, organizers of the rally want to meet with the leadership of the state’s two largest teachers unions, AFT-CT and CEA.

“We stand with great teachers,”  said rally organizer, founder of the CT Parents Union Gwen Samuel. “But we won’t allow any institution, including us as parents, to harm children”

To check out the rally, here’s the video below: