BOSTON — School board meetings: once a venue for bake sales and PTA chatter. Now? The latest political battlefield — where parents speaking out risk being branded extremists.

Thanks to a controversial, taxpayer-funded police training program rolling out statewide in 2025, police officers across Massachusetts are being trained to view concerned parents as potential extremists. The training is developed and delivered by the Municipal Police Training Committee (MPTC), the state agency responsible for setting standards and providing training for municipal, MBTA, environmental, UMass, campus police officers, and deputy sheriffs performing police duties.

The curriculum relies heavily on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC) controversial “hate map,” widely criticized for broad and politicized designations.

Enter Moms for Liberty, a grassroots parental advocacy group that’s now officially “extremist” enough to merit police suspicion. Known for protesting school policies such as teaching first graders that boys can be girls, Moms for Liberty has rallied against what it views as overreach in education on topics like gender ideology and race curriculum. Despite no evidence of criminal activity, just voicing concerns about these issues is enough to get flagged.

Political commentator Mike Urban, known for cutting through the noise with sharp insight, recently dropped a bombshell video exposing the full scope of this training. In “What Massachusetts Police are Being Taught Will SHOCK You,” Urban reveals how Massachusetts Democrats are quietly funding a program that surveils citizens for their political views — all under the banner of “hate crime” prevention.

The Southern Poverty Law Center’s “hate map” might be infamous in activist circles for its sweeping, often questionable classifications. Even the FBI has warned law enforcement not to rely on SPLC lists as an objective source — yet Massachusetts has doubled down on it, turning parents into suspects and making free speech a liability.

Where’s the outrage from Governor Maura Healey and her Democrat allies? So far, deafening silence. Instead, the Governor continues to bask in a progressive glow while her administration funds a program that undermines the very civil liberties she claims to champion.

The program has sparked outrage among parents and free speech advocates, who warn this training chills civic engagement and risks undermining public trust in law enforcement.

Let’s be clear: Massachusetts faces a real problem with extremist groups. Neo-Nazi outfits like Nationalist Social Club 131 (NSC-131) and Patriot Front have been increasingly active in the state, staging provocative public demonstrations designed to intimidate and sow discord. These groups have carried out banner drops with hateful messages, engaged in aggressive confrontations at public events, and spread white supremacist propaganda throughout communities. Their actions have contributed to a marked surge in hate crimes across Massachusetts, reaching levels not seen in decades.

But conflating vocal parents with violent extremists? That’s not just absurd. It’s dangerous. It waters down police efforts where it counts and risks turning law enforcement into a political thought police, alienating communities and eroding public trust.

Governor Healey might consider addressing why taxpayer dollars fund police training programs that treat concerned citizens like criminals — rather than just issuing platitudes on social media.

Massachusetts prides itself on being a bastion of liberty and progress — but when law enforcement is taught to police ideology instead of crime, something has gone seriously wrong.

The line between public safety and political policing is razor-thin. Massachusetts risks crossing it — and it’s up to Governor Healey and state leaders to decide whether to pull back before civil liberties suffer irreparable harm.

Watch Mike Urban’s full exposé here: What Massachusetts Police are Being Taught Will SHOCK You