Maryland is an ocean-deep blue state, having elected Obama twice.  The governor (Martin O’Malley, former mayor of Baltimore) is a Democrat with presidential ambitions; both senators (Benjamin Cardin and Barbara Mikulski) are Democrats; the eight-member congressional delegation includes only one Republican (Andrew Harris); Elijah Cummings, Steny Hoyer, and Chris Van Hollen are powerful minority members of Congress; John Sarbanes is the son of former Senator Paul Sarbanes; a Democrat, Michael E. Busch, is speaker of the House of Delegates; another Democrat, Thomas V. Miller, Jr., is president of the State Senate; the attorney general is Democrat Douglas F. Gansler.

So, it should come as no surprise that La Plata High School officials – the school is in Charles County, Hoyer’s district – would show their true colors and go into dictatorial mode if anyone dared to challenge their authority.  Having powerful Democrats “in their pocket” – as do unions around the country generally – carries enormous clout.  There’s no need to worry about accountability when the big bosses have your back.

Luckily for us, Kevin Wood is not afraid to speak his mind to the powers-that-be, which he did last month, as reported here and here.  A Marine veteran of the Iraq war and a Catholic, Mr. Wood blew his stack when his daughter, an 11^th-grade student at La Plata High School, came home with an assignment requiring her to study Islam’s five pillars or flunk the mandatory World History course teaching this material.  He received a no-trespass order banning him from school grounds after a phone conversation with Shannon Morris, the school's vice principal, during which he reportedly told her that “you could take that Muslim-loving piece of paper and shove it up your white a**.”  The order claimed that Mr. Wood “made verbal threats against the school,” which he denied was his intent.  Evidently, in Democrat-controlled Maryland, expressing outrage to a public official about matters of policy is considered a threat to an entire institution.

La Plata High School spokesperson Katie O’Malley-Simpson denied that Mr. Wood’s concerns had merit, telling Fox News: “We’re not teaching religion, we’re teaching world history.”  Mr. Wood’s wife Melissa found this response unconvincing, commenting: “My husband’s issues, and mine too, are that they’re teaching Islam, but they are not teaching the current events on Islam.”  She added: “The people do not understand what he endured when he was over in Iraq; he lost friends, and he lost brothers and sisters to these people.”

Need I mention that ISIS beheadings are probably not included in the course curriculum, certainly not viewed as consequences of “the religion of peace”?  Ignoring or downplaying inconvenient facts about Islam is the norm in academia generally, as well as among the MSM.  The Obama administration has yet to acknowledge any link between Islam and ISIS terrorists wreaking havoc in Iraq and Syria (for now).

The La Plata High School fiasco reflects a disturbing fact of life in America: many parents feel they have completely lost control over what their children are taught in school and that no one is listening.  The feeling of helplessness is even more pronounced now that Common Core State Standards (CCSS) have been adopted around the country despite ample evidence that CCSS will harm students.

What is to be done?  Maryland’s seven Democrats are certain to return to Congress in January, so the Woods family is good and stuck – unless the publicity their case is gathering persuades La Plata High School officials to reconsider.  In any case, it’s clear who the real guilty party is here.  Voting Democrats out of office, not only at the federal level, is a critical step on the way to national recovery.  There’s a lot more at stake next Tuesday than whether Harry Reid gets to keep his job.