A small East Bay school district’s effort to protect children of nontraditional families from being bullied has sparked a lawsuit from an out-of-town Christian legal group and a campaign to recall three school board members.
On one side are parents who believe the Alameda Unified School District board’s decision to authorize a lesson in the so-called Caring Schools Community Curriculum violates their rights to teach their children about sexuality issues on their own terms and will indoctrinate their children into what they call the homosexual lifestyle.
On the other are parents who believe the curriculum’s Lesson 9 is vital for preventing children with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered parents from being bullied or harassed while attending school in the 10,000-student district.
The board’s decision in May followed several standing-room-only hearings and touched off an effort to recall trustees Tracy Jensen, Ron Mooney and Nielsen Tam, who voted for the lesson. Trustees Trish Spencer and Mike McMahon opposed it.
“Basically, these board members decided that they didn’t want to do what the people of Alameda who elected them wanted to be done, and that was to strike down Lesson 9,” Alameda parent Adam Wooten, one of the 10 city residents to sign the original recall notice, told a local online news site shortly after the effort was announced. “If they don’t want to do what we elected them to do, then why should they remain in office?”
District administrators have said the board’s decision stemmed from concern that teachers of kindergarten through fifth grade had no lesson plan ready if they encountered LGBT-oriented intimidation.
Alameda educators have also said repeatedly that because the lesson is not about sex or sexuality, state law prevents them from granting parents the right to remove their children from school whenever the lesson is being taught.
The opt-out issue is what prompted the Sacramento-based Pacific Justice Institute, a nonprofit conservative Christian law firm, to file a lawsuit over the lesson. Because of that suit, district Superintendent Kirstin Vital said late last week she could not comment on the controversy.
But the institute’s chief counsel, Kevin Snider, argues that because the district is broaching the issue of helping kids from LGBT and nontraditional families who face campus bullying, the lesson is a de facto endorsement of that lifestyle. Snider says that, just like any sex education class in California, parents should be able to opt out or remove their child from attending that class if it runs counter to their religious or moral beliefs.
Moreover, Snider said, a state Public Records Act request filed by the group shows that most bullying on Alameda school campuses involves racial tensions and opposite-sex sexual harassment, not sexual orientation.
“Parents do not support LGBT indoctrination that fails to address the main causes of bullying and harassment in the district and intentionally omits children belonging to the other five protected classes,” Snider said in a statement. He was referring to the protected classes of race and ethnicity, gender, disability, nationality and religion.
“It is their right to remove their children from this highly controversial program, and we intend to vigorously defend that right,” Snider’s statement added.
Proponents circulating the recall petition are part of a larger local parent group called SERVE, or Seeking Equity and Respect for all Viewpoints in Education. They have until December to collect some 8,600 signatures of local voters to qualify the recall for the ballot, officials said.
SERVE representatives did not return phone calls or e-mails seeking comment for this report.
Jensen, one of the targets of the recall, has subsequently appeared on the Fox News Channel to speak on the controversy. She says she has no misgivings about her vote supporting the lesson, adding that while no student with an LGBT background has yet to formally complain of being bullied, research indicates it’s just a matter of time.
The curriculum was created to assist teachers in reacting to incidents of bullying of all students from all classes, protected or not, she said.
“People at SERVE and PJI are intentionally ‘sexualizing’ this issue,” Jensen said. “To do that is intellectually dishonest, and they know it.
“This isn’t about sex or trying to indoctrinate anyone into doing anything. It’s about the district giving its teachers a tool to deal with a difficult and very real problem.”
I had a great idea for Black Friday! Go to your nearest Wal-Mart and pray for people. Ask if they need any thing prayed for.
This is a great website and organization. I met the founder Jamie twice. Once at an event my dad hosted called Stop The Bleeding and once at Cornerstone. He signed an Arby’s bag for me. You should check them out and support them.
follow me on twitter @ http://www.twitter.com/blake_schaffner
Please
” Shut the heck up man… your just af fat faggot! Nobody wants you here. Now move out of our spot you fag!” As he started to sulk out of the precious “popular” kid seat, I had a choice to make.. let this kid fell hoorible and worthless and that noone likes him.. or stand up for the kid. I decide to stay in my comfort zone, just as we all do, all the time as we have for thousands of years.
The same thing happens week after week and the situation gets worse… so I decide to at least tell an adult. But nothing happened, then is when I realized that I can’t let this go on any longer. So i stood up and as clear as the bright blue sky I pronounced ” Why shoould He?!” The reason that iI capitalized “He” is because He is just treated as an it and in Gods words… we are all equal through his eyes. Then the “leader” of the pretties said “What the hell did you just say to me? I know you didn’t challenge my opinion, did you?” I just stood there and before I knew it I ws shaking my head as nasty as ever. He walked over to me slowly and right when he was about to speak. I moved my right arm so fast… I had no clue what I was doing. As soon as I heard the popping noise of my bare knuckles to that kids chin I knew that he would leave me and that kid alone. He fell over and I forgot what happened after that because he knocked me out cold but I do know this… the kid that I stood up for called me the next day to tell me that He has stopped cutting for good and that he will never hurt himself again.That boy I still don’t konw Him to well but every once in a while He says hi to me in the hallway. If you notice how much bullying is going on then please do something don’t be content with your average life of football games and occasional beers… Go Make A Difference http://www.fringeconversations.com/
